Good Morning Sailor...Welcome Home!

This was definitely one the more interesting Missions for me since being with the Patriot Guard Riders. There have been alot of delays with the airlines of late and shortly before we were to head out to this one we were notified that the 9:00 pm time was changed to 1:30 am (O Dark 30). Well we both decided to take a bit of a nap as this is just a tad past our bedtime. We got up, put on warmer clothes as it was a bit chilly out & headed to our staging area. The night crew was there...Spike even brought coffee to warm folks up (and keep em awake). 6 bikes & our pickup is pretty impressive for that hour. We headed to the airport to wait for his arrival. The airport was empty except for people who work there. He had no family waiting as his wife is out of country...he will be meeting up with her at a later date.

He came thru the gate to meet with us....very surprised. We were supposed to escort him to Naval Center so that he could pick up his car but he was just too tired. He requested to just go to his motel so that he could get some well needed sleep....not sure how long this guy had been traveling but I know he had put in many hours in the air. After getting some photo's we headed out. Spike had called ahead to Alameda PD to let them know we were coming thru because of the hour & as we were riding thru there was a police car on a side street. As we drove by lights started flashing....an honor for the IC1 (INTERIOR COMMUNICATIONS ELECTRICIAN). It was very kewl for sure. As we pulled in front of the motel a woman was at the drivers door of the pickup. She yelled "YOU GUYS ROCK!" She asked what was up & we told her. It turns out she was retired Navy. She went up to Mario & invited him to stay out her place...she had food, pool table & beer. We all could come too. Maybe back in the day but we were all too tired for such an invite. We thanked her & she gave Mario her number in case he changed his mind. I can't wait to do this again.