A good couple days

Saturday, Reuben (Sandwich) and myself headed to Montville to the Dunkin to hook up with those members heading for the PGR flag stand in Taftville. We arrived to find Paul N. and Tom L. at coffee. We were joined by Evert G. and Danny D.. At 9am Paul lead the six of us up 32 to 2a (395 north) to 2, bypassing Norwich, past Backus then 169 to South 2nd in Taftville. We pulled into the Knights of Columbus to meet the PGR riders. After a little bit of standing around outside we moved inside to the heat. As a recognition of Sandwiches Holiday visit he and I had drink.

As the time approached for the flag stand we mounted the bikes and moved a couple blocks up and parked the bikes on a side street, picked up the flags and waited. Here there was a simple intelligence test given. The only Club members who passed this test were Dave Adams, Myself and Sandwich, We stood on the sunny side of the road while the rest of the Club chose the shade. Failing this simple test were, Tom L., Paul N.,  Kim St. H., Marty C., Tammy P., Patty and Bill D..  There was a significant difference between the sun side and the shade. Those in the shade suffered cold fingers and feet, while we were noticing how warm it was wearing leathers.

At the designated time The Norwich Police escort rolled in followed by the PGR flag bikes and truck, and the Norwich Police bringing up the rear.

A member of one of the last groups to come home from Iraq, U.S. Army Pfc. Tyler LaFlemme (82nd Airbourne) was met by about 40 flags, friends and family.

It still amazes me how young these kids, volunteering to risk their lives to protect this country, are. And this was one of my more favorite PGR missions. It is an absolute pleasure to welcome them home while they are alive.

For more photos visit theday.com

http://www.theday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Site=NL&Date=20111224&Category=MEDIA02&ArtNo=122409999&Ref=PH&Params=Itemnr=9#galtop

After the stand was over, many of the Club went their own way. Sandwich and myself joined Tom for his annual Christmas Eve shopping spree, while Kim St. H. joined us for the ride down as far as New London.

We met Jason at the mall, Tom did his shopping while the three of us took up position as his entourage.  Shopping over we headed for Applebees for lunch. This over, I headed to Wally world, Jason home, and Reuben followed along with Tom to Mikes Harley. Mikes was closed, Tom headed west, Reuben headed to North Stonington.

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Christmas day:

I awoke to find my favorite type of Christmas...brown. Most people get all ooy and ahhy over a white Christmas, I find that to be totally over rated. A white Christmas to me means a number of things. First, there will be some shoveling to be done, NOT one of my favorite things, Second, anything not shoveled will turn to ice on concrete and pavement. Third, I will not be able to have a bike under me.
Forth, Snowy icy roads means rock salt and sand, This means wet slushy, salty dirt, all over the bike when the roads are clear.

So Brown it was and I was happy, I took off and cruised through Stonington, had lunch and hugs at the EQ, then cruised Mystic and Groton.

Tomorrow with any luck will be the same, and Sandwich and myself will be on the roads.

What do you think? Three good days?

klay