Andy's Memorial and 9/11 Memorial Ride

The memorial for my nephew Andy Hernandez was held on Saturday September 10th at Will Rogers State Park.

Andy was the only child of my older sister Julia. He passed away on July 9th at the age of 38. This was a tribute to his short life

My oldest son Robert and nephew Skyler created a beautiful Indian ceremony for their cousin.

The high point was when we all created a big circle of life, held hands and hugs one another. Then had a wonderful pot-luck lunch. The food was wonderful and so was having lots of time to chat with everyone that came from as far as Mexico, Nevada and Oregon

It was great that everyone stayed for a family photo. What a family.

The 9/11 Memorial Ride 2011

Ruth bought a special flag just for 9/11 ride. It added a little GLAM don't you think???

We were all supposed to meet at our house but decided later to meet at Warner and PCH. Here Ruth and Sophie hold Harley and Bebe. Notice the Harley-Davidson clothes on the dogs. CUTE!!

Markus on the left lives next door to Henry and both ride and kite too. Markus borrowed Henry's motorcycle to try it out while waiting for Klaus. He was going so fast that the lens from his glasses fell out and he didn't even know it.

It's 11:30 and we were ready to get started. Klaus suggested we drive to Cook's Corner via PCH because it would be a beautiful ride. Here we go...

Here we are in Huntington Beach, cruising PCH. Klaus and Ruth are getting use to the ride.

Look how cool Markus and Sophie look. Very Hollywood for being at the beach. For me it was a challenge driving, dealing with the dogs and taking pictures. NO PROBLEM!!!!

Well we made it to Cook's Corner and all in one piece. Now let's go spend some money.

You can see that the crowd is growing so we went in for a few beers. We did run into one problem....

they would not let the dogs into the place. Sure, spend over a $100 bucks on drinks, food and t-shirts, but sorry NO DOGS!!!! The dogs and I went back to the car to wait for the ride to start.
Then the traffic jam started.... let's party, but don't be in any hurry.
Klaus and Ruth passed us on the way up Santiago Canyon Road.
Then is was down the 133 freeway. It was very interesting sharing the road at 70 miles an hour with cars..... Very scary and I was in a car.
Ruth got a great shot of the spectators along the road. There was a lot of support.

Another great shot she took was while riding on the bike and shooting back and getting this long line of motorcycles.
So in order to get a shot of the passing parade I drove around the ride, went up the 405 and cut down Warner and then drove up PCH, found a parking spot and with the dogs walked up to this traffic signal.
Double click to see how long the line is. I only wish I was a lot higher to get a better shot of the bikes.

The end of the ride was coming. All they had to do was make two left turns off of PCH and find a parking spot. No problem. There were only about 2000 motorcycles ahead of them.

Check this view out. Block after block of motorcycles on both sides of the street. Next stop, get everyone together and go into the party.
We all made it. Bebe and Harley were happy to see Ruth, Klaus, Marcus and Sophie. Henry made it but not in this picture. Now were looking for something to eat and drink.
Klaus took this great shot of the crowd in the parking lot of McKenna's. The flag was huge and the speaker was Chris Howard who lost his father in the 9/11 tragedy.
Klaus also took pictures of the dual fly-over and....
the four plane fly-over. His camera and lens are so clear and crisp.
This is how it all started eitht years ago when Gary Biggerstaff built these 343 crosses representing all of the firemen that perished in the New York Trade Center.
Now it's time to pack it in and head for home.... in the comfort of our CRV.

Ahhhh, so quiet, comfortable.... and I can hear the music too.