Saturday morning I had a few chores to do then went out for breakfast, I returned home at 9am and checked the e-mail where I found out those interested were meeting at 9am, That took care of that, I had another item to do then decided to see if I could catch the riders at Ocean State Job lot. I arrived there at 9:30 and found four bikes there from the Riders of Fire. The limo had yet to arrive. Once there the limo driver went inside to get some flags for the run so the limo would match the bikes. We left Gales Ferry and ran down route 12 to I-95 north . In Rhode Island another Rider of Fire joined in at the rear.
We cruised into RI on 95 then jumped on the Post road into Cranston and arrived at the Army Reserve Center: 1 Narragansett St, Cranston, RI (~65 mile ride). Once there we met the Flag van, had coffee and took up position along the entrance the facility at the gate. The plan called for us to line both sides of the road and after the bus passed by to swing the line and form a line of flags across the back of the field. The RI Riders Association bikes came down the hill and turned off into the parking area before the bus. The bus passed through the flag line, the line began to move across the field, with the line out of position we realized the Troops were not on the bus. The Units First Sargent had changed the rules. The troops dis-embarked from the bus before arrival and were double timing it down the hill and around the corner with Cadence. Unfortunately the troops did not get to arrive between the flags and a few of them actually apologized to us for messing us up and blamed the First Sargent. I have to say though, the double time was impressive and the families really got a kick out of it. There was a lot of hugging and tears and before long we had SSGT Lajoie and his family in the Limo. The six of us (original 6) lead the way back with four RI Riders between us and the Limo as Road Guards and the remaining column of bikes following the limo.
The next part of the plan was the most enjoyable, while we were cruising I95 to 138 to 165, the Staff Sargent was changing into his dress blues. The family had his mother and children go to Buttonwoods for ice cream and to meet their mom there. As we pulled off the road into Buttonwoods the Marine was standing in the limo up through the Sunroof with his arms out stretched. More tears and hugs as his mother and three daughters realized who was there.
The group had ice cream, then planned on riding from there to his house in Gales Ferry, I had to be somewhere so I said my good-byes and headed home down a ....empty rte 201 to Old Mystic.
An absolutely great day!!
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