I attended the SSG Keith Matthew Maupin “Celebration” today.

I will write more about it in coming posts, but I just wanted to make a few observations. First, the Patriot Guard was in attendance. What an awesome, awe-inspiring thing. There were thousands of bikes and bikers all of whom were there to pay there respects to a fallen hero and to, as their mission states, make sure that the family was given the respect they deserved without interruptions from outside influences (such as protestors).

There will be several photos in our photo gallery (to be completed in the next day or two), but here’s a couple of special significance.

To the right is Michigan Ride Captain Jim Kehres with his bike.

Jim was a Marine in Company Hotel. The art work on the front fairing represents the 16 that company which were killed during Operation Starlite Aug 18, 1965. It was the same day that Jim, himself, was wounded. There are 16 names at the left side and 16 shadows inside the wall.

The mural depicts his fellow soldiers on the inside of the Wall and Jim is on the outside professing to them that they will never be forgotten while they are reminding him that they have not forgotten him, either. The mural was done as a Memorial to his fallen brethren.

Of those 16 soldiers named, four earned the Silver Star and 1 earned the Medal of Honor. The Medal of Honor was earned by a 19 year old Marine named J C Paul from Dayton, Ohio.

Unfortunately, my photos, due to the bright conditions, don’t do it justice, but check out the rear of his bike and the custom painting on the front. It’s amazing. The custom paint job was done by Lori Eby. Her web site is: http://www.ebycustoms.com and she comes highly recommended (understandably so) from Jim.

One other thing. Imagine all of these bikes and people and the noise that they can create… And then imagine them dropping to absolute silence when SSG Maupin’s motorcade came off of the highway on it’s final approach to Great American Ball Park.

It was chilling. Absolutely chilling.

SSG Maupin, rest in peace and thank you.

There will be more on the event and more about the bikes I saw there in up coming posts. Meanwhile, feel free to dig through our photo gallery…

- Ray.

SSG Keith Matthew Maupin was a soldier in the US Army’s 724th Transportation Company which was active in the KIA Operation Iraqi Freedom war. He gave his life in the line of duty defending those who could not defend themselves.

All of us here, at BikerRainChaps.com wish to express our condolences to the Maupin family and to let them know that while their son paid the ultimate price, he did not die in vain.

Thank you to their son and to their efforts fundraising and drawing attention to this topic.

We also wanted to commend the Patriot Guard Riders. They are participating in the funeral processession departing from Great American Ballpark tomorrow (April 27, 2008) afternoon at Noon. For more information about this event, please visit their site.

I plan on attending and hope to bring back some photos from the event. I don’t know if it is accurate, but I heard there would be 30,000 bikes departing from Great American Ball Park tomorrow.

That alone sounds impressive. Please attend if you can to show your support to the family.

Matthew, thank you!

So, this is Motorcycle Safety Week. Be careful out there as the biking season begins. Safe biking is happy biking.

Here in Cincinnati, we’ve serendipitously had a motorcycle accident every day of Motorcycle Safety Week. Two of them were severe. Just be sure that you’re respectful of the motorist and know that they probably aren’t going to return the favor.

By the way, the announcement of this made me wonder where “Motor Cycle Safety Week” comes from. Is it a nationally designated thing or is it just designated in various areas?

If you have any information on the origins, please let me know. I’ll post it up here.

Happy riding & don’t let anything (even accidents) slow you down!

- Ray