Riders,

Here is a mission summary of the escort missions for 10 JUL 08.

5 riders started off the morning by heading out from Stewartville, MN to the Wisconsin border near Dresbach to escort a group of Soldiers headed home to Mankato. Our plans had changed from the night before, as we anticipated arriving early to welcome home the West St. Paul soldiers, but their route was changed at the last minute. So, we took our time getting down to Dresbach but where still 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled arrival time of the Mankato Troops. Well, low and behold, the Mankato Troops left Fort McCoy early and where waiting for us when we arrived. As the C.O. stated, "We're infantry, we get out early whenever we can". We both had a good chuckle at that.

We made some phone calls to let our Rochester LEO Escort know that we'd be arriving early, along with Al Dekruif and the 2nd leg of the Mankato Escort group. We headed down I-90 to Rochester and passed several MN Patriot Guard Escort Groups on their way to meet up with their soldiers near Dresbach. As we made our way to Rochester, we where joined in the escort by one of Rochester's finest, who, along with our MN State Trooper, led us to our escort change-over location. As we rode closer and closer to Rochester, we could see the looming black clouds hanging above the Rochester Skyline, what a site that was. As we arrived at our designated change-over location, the Mankato Riders where just pulling into location from their pre-staging area, perfect timing. As we pulled onto Hwy 14 West, the Mankato Escort seamlessly pulled in front of the Rochester Escort and bus. We followed them to our exit 1 mile down the road, keeping a close eye on the ominous clouds overhead. As we exited, we all gave a big wave and a few honks to the troops as they rode past us. As we sat at the top of the ramp, we could see the storms letting lose and coming down the road as we where directly in it's path. We edged our bikes up to the stop light in anticipation of a green light as we could feel the temperature drop 20 degrees in the 15 seconds we sat there. Finally, the light turned green and we high-tailed it south to ride out of the storm and headed to Stewartville to await our departure for our second escort mission of the day. What an awesome morning.

As we arrived at our staging location in Stewartville, there was a large group of riders already their, including a few extras that I did not anticipate. I made sure they where all capable rides, gave a quick briefing, and with the kickstands up, we headed back to Dresbach for our second escort of the day, 16 bikes total. Almost immediately after entering onto I-90 East, we passed the Austin Escort on their way to the Austin Armory. Again, many thumbs up and honks of appreciation. As we traveled Eastbound, we kept our eyes peeled for the Albert Lea Escort, and about 45 minutes after we left Stewartville, we passed them as well, again with a big thumbs up.

As we arrived in La Cresent to re-fuel before our return trip to Rochester, we ran into the aftermath of the storms we had avoided earlier in the day, as there was no power at the pumps. After several minutes of anxiously waiting, power was restored and we where able to re-fuel before heading to our rendezvous point in Dresbach. As we arrived in Dresbach, I was informed that the buses did not want to stop to meet up with us, but wanted to meet us on the Interstate. After a quick phone call and a show of concern for our safety on the shoulder of a busy interstate, the buses decided to meet us at our staging point as was previously planned. As the buses arrived, we gave them a loud round of applause. After a few minutes of coordination between the bus drivers, State Trooper and MN PG, we headed for Rochester.

En Route, we where joined by 2 Olmsted County Sheriff's Deputies and 3 Eyota Volunteer Fire Dept Trucks along I-90. As we approached our exit to the Armory, we where met by several Rochester PD and Fire Trucks, who blocked all intersections and controlled our traffic flawlessly. As we arrived at the armory, we could see all the people on hand to welcome their troops home. We announced our arrival by a few twists of the throttle and pulled into the Armory to greet the troops. As the buses pulled in, they were flooded by 100's of anxious family members. Then, with blue skys above, things seemed to get a bit foggy. Must've been the humidity.

After about 20 minutes of hugs and kisses and introductions of newborn babies, the troops where wrangled inside the Armory for their formal dismissal. Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede gave a few short words of thanks and with a loud and long anticipated "Dismissed" and a thunderous "Til The Last Man" response from the troops, they were dismissed.

I personally had a chance to thank a few friends who where on the buses and they had nothing but the best of words for us. They where so very appreciative of the escort and everything we do for our troops. I had a chance to meet up with one of the solders later on that evening and let me tell you, they are doing a lot of good things over in Kosovo.

I would like to thank all the riders who where able to make the escort and all the MN PG that held the flag line at the Armory, with a special thanks to Scott Smith for stepping in as RCIC at the Armory and to Trooper Tom for the excellent Escort from Dresbach to Rochester. And also a very special Thank You to Terry Throndson who contacted all the local Law Enforcement, Fire Departments and radio stations who joined us for this very special Welcome Home.

(@) PGR National Thread

Thank you for doing the right thing!

--
Craig Ugland
Senior Ride Captain - Southern MN
Ride Captain - Rochester Sector
MN Patriot Guard
Patriot Guard Riders
rochrc@patriotguard.org