Three FJRs riding with PGR for Tony Butterfield

[OrangevaleFJR]

Yesterday ToeCutter, RocknFJR and myself rode with Patriot Guard Riders to show support and respect to the the fallen and the family of Tony Butterfield, aged 19; US Marine.

If any of you have thoughts about riding your FJR with PGR, you should do it. It was a very rewarding experience for me, and our fallen soldiers deserve it and their families benefit from the support.

Here are my comments after the mission:

First and foremost my deeply felt thanks to Tony, and his family that now live on with the sacrifice that they made when they lost Tony.

My thanks to all PGR riders that showed up, but more importantly, I have a thanks to relay to you. As Tony was being placed for transport and we were rendering our salute to our flag and fallen Marine, Tony's Grandmother and Grandfather were stopped directly in front of me. His Grandmother looked up with eyes overflowing with tears and looked to me for something. I tipped my head while holding her eye and she said, "Thank you so much." The "you" was the Patriot Guard.

I don't know if I've ever been brought to tears faster than I was at that moment. I will never forget the loss that each family suffers and we should never forget that people are suffering and this is much more than a statistic. Human lives are lost and dealt tremendous blows by this. I know you all know that, but these are the thoughts that are rambling through my head.

Next, it was good to meet a bunch of new people. To everyone I met and those I didn't, thanks.

Lastly, I want to talk about the community that Tony came from. I was deeply moved to see yellow ribbons on every post, sign and tree along the route between the church and cemetery. 6 miles of ribbons. On several occaisions, people were waiting for the procession with flags and signs of thanks and memory. Fire stations were in dress blues and standing in front of their lighted trucks at attention. City workers had parked and stood showing their respect, construction workers on a lift stopped welding and turned and stood at attention. Tony was certainly shown a high degree of respect for what he gave to this community and I have to say that his community earned a huge amount of respect from me. I don't live in Fresno, or Clovis, but if I did I would be very proud to tell people that I did.

 

[Groo]

Good going Andrew!

 

[fjrchik]

Very cool guys. I appreciate you going and representing the FJR community.

 

[radman]

Have seen this very thing many, many times. In addition, upon my return home, after having interfaced with numerous LEO's in the process, have gone through numerous radar sites at high double digit/triple digit speeds with nary a look on the way home. Just an interesting observation I tought I'd pass along. Good on ya's for being there when needed.

 

[rogdeb]

Good going Andrew!

+ 1

 

[Toecutter]

Gosh Andrew, I thought I was done crying for that mission...Good report. We should be able to post up some pics in a few days.

A real big thanks to Orangevale and Rockin for getting up in the wee hours to make the 200 mile journey and represent "those Beemer guys" so well. And represent we did. Since I am residing in Clovis, the ride captain put me and another Clovis guy (on a Sportster) right behind the hearse. As we pulled out of the parking lot on our way to the cemetary, the Harley sputtered and died. I had to stifle the laughter. It was only a fuel petcock issue, so he got back in line not too much later. Technology rocks!

Afterwards, we were invited to the local American Legion Hall for some refreshments and food. Although we were the last ones out of the cemetary, we were standing next to our bikes in the parking lot by the time the cruiser crowd showed up. Those Beemers aren't only faster and quiet, but they're smarter as well. All the others took routes on surface streets, while we went a half mile out of the way to the freeway onramp.

Well, there was no food, so we soon decided to head 50 miles out of town into the mountains for some lunch. A quck stop at the station to change clothes, hydrate a vest or two and we were off to Oakhurst, hooligan style. after a nice lunch break, about 4 pm, it was onward to Sonora via the highly popular Hwy 49 (always a pleasure, unless you leave the pavement. Once we got to Hwy 108, I waved goodbye to the buddies from Nor Cal and turned back for home. Like I told Eve on the phone from our lunch stop, "When the FJR boys get together, there's probably gonna be some riding done".

Thanks again guys for making the journey and providing such good fellowship. You're welcome back anytime and I owe you in case you have to lay another hero to rest in your neck of the woods, God forbid.

Here's a shot of my quickee flag mount. Eve was a bit slow on the shutter, but she was also on the cell phone at the time:

I got caught on the back page of today's paper, and since I'm working today, the ice cream's on me tonight. Luckily it's overtime and that will help with the ice cream costs:

 

[dcarver]

Most excellent. Thank You all.

Can you tell me about the logistics? Do all riders meet at a central location then get 'deployed'? What did the overall PGR dress code look like? Toecutter was going in dress blues; under/over or just right? What rider base constitutes the majority of the bikers there? Any protestors around?

Thanks if you can. Otherwise 'I'll just go and find out for myself." I'm still really pissed I was denied the day off work.

Sounds like this was a most rewarding experience. Good on ya'll.

EDIT - link to newspaper article.

 

[kaitsdad]

Good on ya guys !!

Way good.

Thanks.

 

[radman]

Most excellent. Thank You all.
Can you tell me about the logistics? Do all riders meet at a central location then get 'deployed'? What did the overall PGR dress code look like? Toecutter was going in dress blues; under/over or just right? What rider base constitutes the majority of the bikers there? Any protestors around?

Thanks if you can. Otherwise 'I'll just go and find out for myself." I'm still really pissed I was denied the day off work.

Sounds like this was a most rewarding experience. Good on ya'll.

EDIT - link to newspaper article.

Riders generally meet at a central location in the town where services are at-often, sub groups have meeting points around the state/states, and deploy from there to the central, States have "Ride Captains" that gather these smaller groups up and then lead to the main gathering spot, usually a school or other large public place. In one town in Iowa, a local Ag shop hosted the whole shebang, offering free coffee, doughnuts he had rounded up from several towns bakeries nearby, and free mechanical assistance should any problems have occurred on the way there. The police then escorted groups from there to the church where ceremonies were to be held. The whole town turned out for that one, and one gas station fueled several dozen bikes at no cost! The people do appreciate the PGR

 

[twowheelnut]

:good:

 

[SilveradoSlick]

Thanks for being there, guys.