Hot, busy day

Today was a very hot day, with the Heat Index here in NC reaching 110 or better. I was out in it most of the day.

At 7:30 a.m., I left for Wake Forest to form a flagline in honor of World War II Veteran James E. Steffens. There were more than 20 PGR members there and we lined to road to the service on both sides. The family was gratified.

I ate lunch at the Olive Garden in Wake Forest, then visited Barnes and Noble until time to leave for the second service of the day.

World War II veteran Richard Kantzler's funeral was held at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Goldsboro. There were about 10 PGR members there. Once again, the family was gratified.

"Jammer" Bill served as Ride Captain for both events. He did a superlative job. He is conscientious, considerate, and makes everyone feel good about what is going on. I always enjoy working with him.

I ate dinner at Bojangles on Best Road in Goldsboro: a place to avoid.

Got home late. The Triumph functioned perfectly. An excellent bike for the freeway, just as I had hoped.

The heat was punishing, but I wore my Veskimo cooling vest. It did a great job. Every time I started getting overly hot, I turned it on and it circulated cold air under my shirt. It is going to make standing on the flagline a lot less unpleasant this summer.

Long, wet day

James Micheal Harris II's funeral was today and I rode with the PGR to honor him.

Left Jacksonville at 9:10 in the rain for Washington, NC. Then helped transfer the casket from the funeral home to the hearse. Then we escorted the hearse to the family home, where the family joined us, and we went to the cemetery, near Pantego--about 45 miles away. At the cemetery, the rain finally stopped, so I took off my Frog Togs rainsuit. The funeral was fairly long, and the ride there and back was longer, so I was running behind.

I left the cemetery and started back to Washington, then Jacksonville. It started to sprinkle, but I decided to ignore it and press on--big mistake. By the time I hit highway 17 back to Jacksonville, it was coming down in buckets and I was soaked. So I kept on.

By the time I got back home, I headed straight for the Presbyterian Men meeting. Delicious dinner.

250 plus miles on the bike, most of it in the rain.

My Frog Togs rainsuit did very well, but no rainsuit will keep you dry when it is in your saddlebag.

Sad week for the North Carolina National Guard

In the last 8 days, I have participated in 9 Patriot Guard Rider missions to honor the fallen in our armed forces:

Sunday, July 5: presented a plaque to the widow of a Ft. Bragg soldier whose funeral we participated in last month.

Monday, July 6: SGT Bittiker, NCNG, killed in Iraq, arrived in Onslow County. We escorted the hearse from the airport to the funeral home.

Tuesday, July 7: Flag line at the funeral home for the visitation for SGT Bittiker.

Wednesday, July 8: Funeral for SGT Bittiker--flag line at funeral home, escort to cemetery, flag line at interment.

Thursday, July 9: Funeral for SGT Kramer, NCNG, killed in Iraq, in Wilmington. Flag line at Church, escort to VA cemetery, flag line at interment. Driving rain for the entire time.

Friday, July 10--morning: SP4 Adams, NCNG killed in Iraq, casket arrives in Onslow County. We escort hearse from airport to funeral home.

afternoon: Memorial service for SGT Baldeosingh, NCNG killed in Iraq, in Morehead City. SGT Baldeosing will be buried in Arlington National Cemetary.

Saturday, July 10: Flag line during the visitation for SP4 Adams at the funeral home.

Saturday, July 11: Funeral for SP4 Adams. Flag line at Jacksonville High School, escort to veterans cemetary, flag line at interment. Extremely hot, but there was a breeze.

The four men (SGT Bittiker, SGT Kramer, SGT Baldeosingh, and SP4 Adams) were all members of the same National Guard unit and were riding in a humvee destroyed by an IED. They were all within one week of coming home.

I sincerely hope we never again have so many missions so close together.

More about rescuing my pictures

It seems I made a rather stupid error when I saved all my pictures to the same file. I am now, rather slowly, moving them one at a time to a series of different files, with no more than 20 pictures in each one. Because of the size of the files, this is slow. But it is working.

Here is one image I have saved. It shows the finish at the Camp Lejeune Run for the Warriors 2008, a run to raise funds and awareness about the Wounded Warrior Battalion there. A Marine is running with a wounded warrior, who made the run in his wheelchair. His buddy ran beside him the whole way, encouraging him and even helping him on the hills.

I participated as a member of the Patriot Guard Riders. We provided escort and road guards for the runners. It was truly a moving experience.