Hi Carron,

Today was the first day of my weekend (I'm off Sunday & Monday each week). Today, we met up with the American Legion Riders and some guys from the Moose Lodge and headed to DFW Int'l Airport. Each day of the week, there are troops returning from Iraq for two weeks of rest & relaxation and we went today to greet them and give them a warm welcome home. It was amazing and somewhat emotional. We lined up on either side of the walkway and applauded them and shook their hands as they came through. It was pretty damn neat until the last guy came in. He said "Hold up, hold up....if you want to applaud someone, applaud my commander....he was killed two days ago....right before being scheduled to return home." That pretty much affected my mood for the rest of the day. However, we did get some riding in and went to the historic Stockyards in Fort Worth for some kickass bbq and that helped out with the mood.

My wife will be going to Houston on Wednesday to spend the holiday with her folks. Fortunately, I have to work on Wednesday and Friday so will be unable to make the trip (hehehe). They wanted to me to come down on Thursday but I'll be damned if I'm going to spend eight hours of drive time on a single day off.

Next Sunday, we have a benefit ride to help out an eighteen year old girl who was diagnosed with cancer and has no health insurance. We will be meeting at Longhorn H-D and then riding to our destination, where there will be a hog roast and a live band. Cost is only $5 to enjoy all the food, drink and music you can handle. They are also selling t-shirts for $12. Their shirts and flyers were donated free of charge so all proceeds go to the family's medical costs.

Here is some info and pictures from weekly "greet the troops" gatherings. I failed also to mention that we put together care packages and hand them out as they arrive.

Y'all have fun Saturday night and definitely have a few for me and wish everyone a happy turkey day. I wish I could be there!

http://www.welcometroops.com

Brett