Day 9

Day 9. I called the closest Harley shop and told them that my bike was a few hundred miles over due for servicing. The service manager, Jamie, told me to bring it in and he would put someone on it. Besides the regular servicing they discovered a nail in the rear tire which had not gone through to the tube and that my read brakes were worn. Four hours later I was on the road again. It only cost $100 per hour to sit in the waiting room at the Harley shop but they had real comfortable overstuffed leather couches and the work on the bike was FREE!. I went to see my friend Peter J. Dingle who was my best friend in Viet Nam. When we were young we laughed together, we cried together, we went to war together, we drank together and we built some big bridges. We hadn't seen each other in 42 years. The years have not been as kind to Pete health-wise as they have to me. We both have surely been blessed to have lived through the experience of war. It is sad to see what we once were physically, and what we are today. It brings to mind a realization of from the moment we are born where we are heading. I'm glad I made this journey and that I was able to spend some time with Pete. The hours I have spent on the road were hours of self reflection. I am so fortunate to have the things that I have; family; friends and I have lived a great life. Tomorrow I will stop and see my friend before heading west again. I have achieved the goals that I set out for myself but I leave here with a sadness in my heart. If there was only some way to capture the glorious days of youth...but they are gone forever. Attached are some pictures of Pete and his wife Pat's house (on a lake front), of Pete and Pat and of two broken down old men that were once soldiers. Not heroes, just good soldiers.