How this came about:Our STAR Touring and Riding Chapter 230 STARVet Rep Stan brought up the possibility of an unofficial ride to the Loma Vista Memorial Day event (the oldest ongoing Memorial Day event in Orange County and it's their 70th year!), and those of us at Bike Night the Thursday before jumped on it. On the right is my bike as I WANTED it to look, but quite didn't work out-the side plastic thingys kept hitting me in the arm and the leg, and they STUNG at 50 MPH.Pre-planning and recon: I did a leetle pre-event communication with PIO Silvia from City of Fullerton who was thrilled to hear our group'd be there; went to the site on Saturday morning after class to help place flags and crosses on military gravesites at the cemetery...oopsie, I mean memorial park; met up with Silvia there and gave her some information about STAR Orange County Chapter 230 AND incidentally to get a map of the site and scout the layout & parking so that we could all (hopefully) park together; and bought a red choker necklace to match my RWB outfit. (Guys, I know you don't understand all this pre-planning stuff, but I'd been a Girl Scout Leader for TOO many years to not know the value of planning in case of Murphy's Law! Plus my outfit just HAS to match since I don't have a STARVet patch and most of you guys do. So there.)
Weather should be ok with temps of 59-65, partly cloudy. This memorial event will probably last for a few hours (10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and I have the program).
I think that Stan is a great STARVet Rep (even though I owe him a smack because of a comment about women riders not EVER being ride captains, but I'll save that for a later post-Stan, you are DEAD MEAT, you hear?) and we should maybe do this event every year, maybe even help with it, plus maybe do something for the 4th of July as well! Like to the Brea Country Fair.
'Way to go, STAN!!!
I'm going to plan a ride afterwards for myself (or if anybody wants to go) to Long Beach to pay my respects to my family-we have 3 vets buried there of my parents, grandparents and my mother's first husband).
It worked out FANTASTIC, and Stan is planning many more!
And the arrival of Stan & Connie.
This is Connie Partin (Mrs. Stan) (left)
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More pre-ride T-CLOCS with Paul checkin' out his bike & gettin' ready for the trip up to Fullerton. 
We arrived safe and sound and of COURSE parked in the usual Chapter 230 linear way! Parking control at the site knew we were coming since I stopped by there earlier that morning, so they just waved us over to this paved area. (Sometimes it pays to be a lady motorcyclist because you can get guys to agree to stuff while their eyeballs are still spinning, heh-heh-heh.)
Here he is, Joe Cool aka Mr. Richard, SIR!
The group: Richard, Johney, Paul, John, Joe, Connie Partin in the short brushed red leather jacket (VERY cool jacket, Connie-I noticed it right away) & Stacy & Keith Limbaugh. 
The main speaker arrived via OC Sheriff's helicopter-a nice landing, I must say, RIGHT middle of one of those really small cemetery streets. The video is below-pretty cool entrance.
I did ride to Forest Lawn Cemetary in Long Beach after this ceremony was over (thanks, Paul, for going halfway with me!) to pay my respects to my parents and grandparents buried there (3 vets in my family-my father USN WWII, my grandfather US Army WWI and my mother's first husband who was killed in WWII).
All in all, a great day; an honorable day; a memorable Memorial Day. And all flags at half-mast this day.
NEXT WEEK: Civil War GETTYSBURG Reenactment at El Dorado Park on Saturday May 31. $7 to get in to the park, $10 for the reenactment entrance fee, but my coworker and buddy David Dewey is in it and I've been PROMISING to go for the last few years. This should be COOL. Here's the website for more information on these reenactments:
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