Sunshine in the ole’ stomping grounds.

Today is day 2 of 22 for these 2 guys on our 2 bikes.

Black Butte

Black Butte

Our route saw us leave Medford, Oregon in route to Turlock, CA. This is very familiar territory as I spent my High School days in the Sacramento Valley.  As we passed Mt. Shasta City, I could hear distant echoes of the Christmas Classic Basketball Tournament, where a much younger me stood victorious alongside my much taller teammates who carried the load. I was number 11 of 11 men on that team. But, “I was on the team”.  Someone had to be number 11 and I’m glad it was me. Those memories, I’ll never forget. I did get to play some, but mostly I had a closer seat to the action and got into all the games for free.

SQUIRREL

It was a great ride through a sun drenched 80 degree Sacramento Valley, into and out of Sacramento and down the San Joaquin Valley into Turlock.  Mt. Shasta was a bit shy, hiding behind the remainder of the rain clouds that soaked us the day before.  However, it’s neighbor, Black Butte, stood tall in the midday sun.

Flanks of Mt. Shasta

Flanks of Mt. Shasta

We made a pitstop at Cycle Gear in Redding to replace waterproof gloves that were instead water laden and to grab a bite of lunch nearby. Other than this stop in Redding, we pretty much just kept the throttle down, with only short stops for gas and liquids.

Why are we doing this?  This question has a lot of answers, some of which I may offer later on this journey.  The first and foremost is to give honor to those who have served in our military. Our brothers who served in Vietnam, never received a hero’s welcome or a parade in their honor.  This is that parade. We also ride in memory of those lost in battle, those who served but never returned, now classified as POW or MIA, and those who returned but have gone before us.  I’ll introduce you to two of these men in subsequent posts, but for now I’d like to mention one in particular.

GySgt, Thomas A Shirey, USMC.  Pops and I have been given the honor of carrying a flag P1000143retired from the GySgy Thomas A. Shirey memorial at the Orting, Old Soldier’s Home, in Orting Wa., to Washington DC. Gunney was a true hero, not just during Vietnam, but to the countless Veterans he served afterwards. His devotion to others, was an example to everyone on how to live a selfless life. We’ll take more photos of the flag at various memorials as we travel across the country, but today, we captured a quick one in Galt at one of our gas stops as I wanted to post it here tonight.  A cool thing, that would P1000144make Gunney proud is that we accidentally captured it underneath the image of another
Marine being honored by the City of Gault.  Semper Fi, to the Old Guard, and the new Faithful.

Photography disclaimer.  Pretty much everything I’ll post on this blog until I get back home, will be general snapshot documentary photos.  The quality won’t be as high as I prefer to post, but I really want to get something out here while the memories are fresh.

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One Response to Sunshine in the ole’ stomping grounds.

  1. Pingback: All ready to go! | Daniel Slocum

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