Well - where to begin? My wife is heavily involved in out local homeowner's association and through it I met a guy named Ralph - (his wife was involved as well). Ralph was an older guy (57) but man did he love bikes. He had a Goldwing trike that he and his wife rode together, and a Valkrie that was all his. I did an ABATE Toy Ride a couple of weeks ago and Ralph and I had a blast there... well, last Sun morning, Ralph passed away - Sat was his anniversary and he had played a round of golf, gone on a ride and then took his wife to a rally were they were voted thier club's couple of the year for this year... when he went to sleep that night he never woke up.
I went to the viewing the other night and it was a little strange... all goldwing riders sort of looking at me wierd because I choose to ride to the funeral home to see him - sort of seemed like the right thing to do, you know?
Anyway, while there, his widow asks me to participate in the funeral procession - I could not say no. So, today, at 0830, I show up to the funeral home again. The ride Capt doesn't know that I was asked, so he sort of gives me grief about the ceremony being private, etc... well, the last thing I wanted to do was cause trouble, so I get ready to mount up and just meet them at the cemetary... when someone comes running back just about screaming at the ride capt for chasing me off... turns out that Ralph had mentioned me to a few of his group friends and had intended to try to recruit me into thier GWRRA chapter (Gold Wing Road Riders Association) - someone recognized Bessie from Ralph's description. Anyway - then all of a sudden everyone is my friend...
Anyway, we head out to PCola to the Military cemetary and he recieves a military funeral - complete with a rifle volley -
It was really a humbling experieince - anyway -
Senior Chief Libertini - rest easy Sailor, we have the watch.
I went to the viewing the other night and it was a little strange... all goldwing riders sort of looking at me wierd because I choose to ride to the funeral home to see him - sort of seemed like the right thing to do, you know?
Anyway, while there, his widow asks me to participate in the funeral procession - I could not say no. So, today, at 0830, I show up to the funeral home again. The ride Capt doesn't know that I was asked, so he sort of gives me grief about the ceremony being private, etc... well, the last thing I wanted to do was cause trouble, so I get ready to mount up and just meet them at the cemetary... when someone comes running back just about screaming at the ride capt for chasing me off... turns out that Ralph had mentioned me to a few of his group friends and had intended to try to recruit me into thier GWRRA chapter (Gold Wing Road Riders Association) - someone recognized Bessie from Ralph's description. Anyway - then all of a sudden everyone is my friend...
Anyway, we head out to PCola to the Military cemetary and he recieves a military funeral - complete with a rifle volley -
It was really a humbling experieince - anyway -
Senior Chief Libertini - rest easy Sailor, we have the watch.
