PGR - USA Korean War Veteran, Gary Macleod

Click on a pic for a larger pic, text for a pic is under it.

PGR was asked to honor a fallen Korean War Vet, and an Honor it was!

We met at GGNC - Golden Gate National Cemetery for the service.  When I arrived the riders were wrapping up from a mission,  I asked Doug/Sgtmaj if I was late?  He said there were two services and the first one was wrapping up, I did not hear about this one.

So we had a break pause and I ate my lunch while folks were getting ready.  Cliff/Flagman did an outstanding job!  For both services!!!  Flags everywhere!

Just before Doug gave us our instructions, I took a pic of some of Flagman's flags and the ever 1/2 staff flag on the hill.  I have see it full staff, but rarely.

Doug giving us his say-once, how we should do it.   Most folks were to go up to the top of the hill by the flag where the service was to be.   It was windy down here, up there was much worse!   I'm talking push you out of your stance!

Doug selected four flag bikes to escort the family up to the service site, Sweet Ruby and I were one of them.

A great turn out and I think the family appreciated our show of respect.  He was a true hero and decorated many times.  God Bless family and friends during this time of passing.

PGR - POW MIA SFC Joseph Steinberg US ARMY

Pics are top to bottom, text for a pic is under it, click on a pic for a larger 
pic.

PGR and all riders were invited to pay respects to a fallen MIA/POW, 
and it was an honor to be there.  Comforting Prayers for family and 
friends.

Mission Part II information:

We will Escort SFC Steinberg from the Mortuary in Los Gatos to 
Golden  Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno Ca. Here is a little 
bio on SFC Steinberg

•Sgt. 1st Class Joseph D. Steinberg, U.S. Army, Battery C, 15th 
Field Artillery Battalion, was lost on Feb. 13, 1951, near Hoengsong, 
South Korea.  He was accounted for on May 30, 2013. He will be 
buried with full military honors in the summer of 2013, in San 
Bruno, Calif.

I am very proud of the fact that we have the technology to identify the 
remains of our Missing in Action. As they return home to their Families, 
We the Patriot Guard Riders will be there to show this Family that their 
loved one is an  American Hero and has NOT been FORGOTTEN no 
matter how much time has passed. At Golden Gate National he will 
be buried next to his brothers who died never knowing what happened 
to him.

Please bring your Flags and lets show his Family and the rest of our
Community and Nation that our Hero's are never forgotten. 

It was an outstanding service, many attended and great news coverage.
Channel 2 

A footnote,   SFC Joseph Steinberg passed 62 years ago, at that time 
I was only 8.     He also served in WW II.  Thank you for your service.

One of the mission options was to go directly to GGNC, which I prefer to do.  The front entrance gates always gets a main focus.  We had police from many departments, Fire, Boy Scouts and others in attendance. 

Views of the parking area inside the gates.

You can see Cliff's flag handiwork and he did a great job in having flags all through the service.  Thank you for what you do!

We all lined up for a welcome, the mission just needed us to walk a little to the mission location.

Dianne L in foreground taking some pics with Raider/Lynn T, John P and Tim/Sloopdog in the background.

The plan was to line the pathway from the scoots to the service location with flags, and a good one it was.   Thanks again to ARC  John P for a great job and very happy to see him on his scoot, looking great!  To my left.....

My right, leading to the service site.

The escort scoots that arrived from San Jose.

 The service was surrounded by many flags and they were flying quite nice in the 45mph wind gusts!   Typical for this time of year, wind and fog.  

All four brothers are now rejoined!  God Bless them and May they be Resting in God's Loving Arms!

 

PGR - Purple Heart Ceremony US ARMY Spc Alex Hussey

VAPAHCS

Pics are from top to bottom, click on a pic for a larger pic text for a pic is under it.

PGR was asked to stand in honor for one of our finest and an honor it was!  Thanks to the VAPAHCS for asking us to attend.

Mission Post:  The Patriot Guard Riders have been requested to
participate in a Purple Heart Ceremony for US ARMY Spc Alex
Hussey. Alex was wounded on 8-12-2012 and is a triple amputee.
His recovery is going well and it is time to recognize this Hero.
Major General Hillhouse US ARMY will be presenting the Purple
Heart to this Hero. There will be a BBQ after the Ceremony where
there will be food and a Cake Cutting Ceremony in Honor of the
Army Birthday which is on June 14th. 

It was a fine ceremony and our hero seemed to be in good spirits.

I arrived late, as usual and joined the folks inside.   Nice line of scoots, 8 here...

.... 3 over on the other side.

Going into the  ceremony area..

Taking some shots before the service starts.  Cliff did a great job with his flags, as always!  Thank you for what you do!

Off to my left...

... right and podium area....

And straight across.   Nice area set aside for special presentations.

Just before the ceremony, filling up quite nice!

This is the cake cutting for US Army Birthday.  Our hero just to the right.  

A fine day for a fine young man!  God Bless and Thank You for Your Service!

PGR - Gilroy '13 Memorial Day Parade

Pics are top to bottom, text for a pic is under it, click on a pic for a larger pic

PGR was once again invited to participate in Gilroy' Memorial Parade and it was an honor to be there.  Small town atmosphere and we all have fun!

I arrived last, and that is where I like to be.  Nice turnout, I'll guess 16 scoots.

Better shot of our group.

We were first off in the parade and the rest were behind us.

Nice ol' '63 Lincoln with the suicide doors.

Nice Caddy...

Guess something happened to the rest, I'll call him hamburger for short but not for long...  

Mr Garlic, Cliff knows him.  Someone asked him why he did it, "I get a ton of hugs" was the response..

Folks lined up for pics wherever he went.

About 15 minutes before we start the parade, everyone gets into position.  Those behind me...

Those in front.  We'll make a right turn on 10th st and we're on our way!

Cliff and Squeezer's flag van.

We were to line our flag bikes in front of the Honor list of home town Hero's with the rest behind them and escort them during the parade.

This was our parade fly-over... NOT!  

Here they come,  round 1...

Round 2.. 

And then break off in the Missing Man formation.  Let the Parade Begin!!!!

This marks the parade start, and off we go!   Riding in a parade is difficult and very much a fun thing to do, and all appreciate it.

Honked my horn, I have very unimpressive stock pipes, but a 139 db air horn!  Lots of waves and of course waved at as many children as I could.

Thanks to our Ride Captain Mark Z for leading and organizing the parade!

PGR  WWR - USA Spc. Delfin M. Santos Escort to San Jose

Pica are from top to bottom, click on a pic for a larger pic, text for a pic is under it.

WWR was asked to escort a fallen Hero from Moffett Field to San Jose, and as always, they asked all to ride in Honor.

All missions are different and this one was, well, the same....

The staging point was Moffett Field Main Gate, left parking lot... I followed the instructions and I like to be late, and this time I missed the welcome at the airfield.  

They came and asked the riders to come on base early, Spike left a rider to wait a while for late comers and I just missed Doug, fellow ALR Dist 13 rider. 

I waited the allotted time and left, I knew where they were headed and went ahead to await for their arrival.

My Sweet Ruby, we waited for the escort and we were not alone.

The view from outside the gate.

More guests for the honor welcome.

Traffic control taking charge.  The San Jose Police Support was OUTSTANDING!

And they led the escort in to Oak Hills.

We had riders and many are my friends.

The rest, my Sweet Ruby on the end.  

It was an honor to ride for one of our Finest!  God Bless family and friends of our fallen Hero.   Please cherish and remember the good life lived. 



 

 PGR - Welcome home USA Sgt Michael Snodgrass - Mission Accomplished

Click on a pic for a larger pic, text for a pic is under the pic, blog is top to bottom. Blog is in two sections, Mike's Welcome Home and my visit, return trip and cleaning the mess up.

Mike's year in Afghanistan is over and time for a PGR Welcome Home!  Going to be great to get him back home!  Askin' the Good Lord for all of them to come home soon!

Uneventful run up to Portland, I went up 5 as 97 thru east Or was 31.5 and snow flurries two days before and I didn't want to push my luck.

Arrived at my motel at the airport and started swapping messages with Chris Keller, Or State PGR co-captain about Mike's mission.  Finally got it all straight Sat night for a Sunday night mission, kind of normal, sigh.....  She did a FANTASTIC job!  Thank you for what you do!!!  Our RC Was Bob Williams, and thank you for what you do!

We had ~24 members and three of Mikes stateside unit showed up for 27!  Outstanding!!!  Mike said he was VERY impressed!  Thank you ALL!   I think by default, I get long rider pin!  GBG  And as a foot note, the only time I got rained on was headed into the airport, but Portland got me again....

My "on the road again" pic,  wife said they're all the same, I said Yup!  Onea more time!  On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again, sing it Willy!

The reflection blocks the impact of the flashing led's on the sign, very nice!

The 3 young ladies from Mike's stateside unit let us join them!  GBG

The flight before Mike's, soldiers from his unit coming off their flight!

I didn't know they from Mike's unit at the time, but GREAT timing!  They got a welcome home too!

A young man visiting and having a fun moment.

More get together moments...

The main body of the PGR group coming in, they were having a briefing and made it in time to get some hugs and salutes.

Like I said, some hugs....

More coming in...

Folks getting into  "formation".

On my right, caught a pic of Chris K next to me.

On my left, I walked over there so I could be the first to see them coming.   Mike's family opted to get passes and go to the gate, I explained with all my gear and some metal in my right knee, I did not want to do security..  plus I felt that the family should be the ones up front, only right.

Getting ready for the big moment, a passenger walking thru...

Here comes Mike's oldest daughter Samshel and you can see Mike over by the sign on the glass.

Big smiles!  He's home!!!!!  Mission accomplished!!!! ... sorry for the pic, it's what I have...

Just aw struck! 

And folks, here is the money pic!!!!!  Mike and family, son Wyatt in front Samshel to his left and wife Nisel...   Of course the Cranky ol' dude had to horn in on the pic!!!!  GBG

This concludes the welcome home portion, we let them get their bags and head home to Tillamook.  It was late and I had no desire to ride thru the country side and hills so stayed one more night at the airport Super 8.

Went out early afternoon the next day for a short visit, this is THEIR time!  I did stay one more day to help with things like getting a truck started, an off road Jeep and a few little things, and wanted to leave them alone.  

Mike visit, trip home and cleaning Ruby follows.....

The kids had a special request, Smores,  trip to the store for the makin's and start the fire for the marshmallows!

Wyatt and Samshel waiting for the fire to burn down a tad...

OK, patients be darned...   GBG

It was cool out, Nisel was foot toasting...

Next day - Tues, Wyatt does like my scoot!  Methinks Mike will have a challenge in a few years!

He knows how to do it!

Well we got Mike's Ford 350 Diesel running, on to the Jeep,  if Ya look close, you can see the tail light on, it's running!  Had a coolant leak, so another day.   That is the "it's only temporary" shed we built last year before he left.  He wanted to protect it from the Tillamook weather.

Mike bought a laptop off Ebay and it didn't work, well it looks like we have it working, on a roll here.  He gave me his netbook to fix, it went belly up.... I used some linux programs to determine the hard disk operated.... up to a point...  DEAD, ordered a new hard disk for $50 bucks and will load a Win XP Pro  on it, and GTG.

Wed - Time to hit the road, on to Crescent City, 300m of slow road down 101 and the Or coast,  then a 400m stretch to San Jose.

I've traveled that road many times, fog, cold, rain, fire smoke, dunno what else.  For ONCE I had a beautiful day!!!!!   The coast was CLEAR!!!  Gorgeous!  Loved it!

I like to hit a deli or if I have a breakfast at a restaurant, I get a sandwich to go so I can pick a nice place in the middle of nowhere to eat and enjoy....  this is the middle of nowhere!  GBG

My simple process of note taking... a pic...

Some of the waves were smacking pretty hard as they came into this narrows.  No big blow, but nice smacks.

I've always wanted a pic of the beach line, as you can see, where I stopped was not too smart, I forgot that there was another spot not too far up....

Not too far up, sigh, about 1/2 mile.   Love this shot!  Ore coast...

Ocean was gorgeous...  Just have to take pics...

So. Ore or No Cal, forget, nice shot of a long beach.

Time to pay the piper.... the front of my scoot looked like my right mirror, sigh, can't stand it.... hours...

Left mirror, after...

When I started the trip, I would've normally changed oil, got lazy, run Mobil full syn 15x50 and don't really worry about it.   

Well, while I was cross threading my side oil drain, I got a good look at my front motor mount.....  A lot more than I should've!!!!  Sigh...

Did a stoopid on restarting the plug, it started to get snug and I felt the gap, and said, hum, that is NOT right, backed it out and got it straight.  I find sooooo many ways to @*)!#$*%!#$*%! an oil change, it is unbelievable!!!  $*$)#!#$%*

As to the motor mount, it has obviously pulled out of the other side and guess what?  Well, duh, the weight of the motor sunk down a tad  and the $*)!$%*% thing didn't want to go back in!!! 

Had some 2x4 chunks, wedged 'um under the pan and rolled the bike up and the wife smacked it back in, good fix coming soon, sigh... guess the torque spec was a tad loose, sigh...  

Nice little 1542m trip!  ... just about 6K more planned for the summer... on the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again....  Sing it Willy!