Very sad news

[CaptainJoe]

Never meet the man, but he must have been something special with all those testifying on his behalf.

Pennys and my thoughts and prayers for him and his family... as well as his extended family.

[jburrell]

I just dont know what to say, other that we will miss Don. He was the first Venture Rider member that I met. He was the most gentle friendly person you could want to meet. We all loved him and will miss him. He will always be remembered. Its really hard to believe. Gunboat was always there when you needed him. Several times Its really hard to understand that he is gone see Gunboat and I are Exactly the same age.....to the day. We shared this as well as the friendship of all the Venture riders and he will be missed.

 

James

[Rookie725]

My condolences to Don's Family and to the VR Family.

 

Gunboat will be missed!

[Rocket]

I never been able to get him, over to one of the more western rally's. But met up with him in 2008, at the International. I have at home pics of him & squid in what I called the Rally WET T SHIRT CONTEST (a pair of drowned rats at a broken 2nd gen). I have previously posted them, during that Rally. I will not re-post them as I am currently almost 1,000 miles from home & don't expect to get there for a few weeks.

 

 

I will miss having the occasional conversation with him & meeting up with him again.

[Santa Hal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Halmost There

That sounds awesome as Val and I were thinking the same thing. Oh yeah a funny thing happened last night. As you know I am Halalmost There and we were going out to dinner last night with the wedding group on our bike, and using the GPS. It took us to the wrong resteraunt. So then I put it in again with a little bit of a different name to the resteraunt we rode down the road a couple of miles from there and took a right and on the right hand side of the road was a big business and on the Side of the building it said Blue Bell Ice Cream. Unbeliveable but TRUE and on the end of that street was the resteraunt we needed to be at. We hope you can wait till we get back this week from our trip. We are 30 miles just outside of Memphis. We would really like to go on that ride with y'all. Don was truly an awesome guy and he will be missed. But, if you go before we get back we understand. We should be back by this Wednesday.

 

Hal n Val

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squidley

I know it's what Don would like for us to do,

 

but i thought this is what Don would like us to do eat BluBell icecream and lots of it

 

 

 

 

We made it back home. Round trip 1765.7 miles. Last night we were in close to Hot Springs Ark at Vals Uncles and Aunts House. We had just been talking about Don, and then Vals Uncle asked me if I wanted and Ice Cream and he pulled out a Blue Bell Fudgcicle. Go Figure.

 

So, let us know when you are all ready for the ride, just say the word we will be there. Let us know if you need anything

 

Hal n Val

[Pegasus1300]

Sad thing to hear. I was never able to meet him in person tho we have both been here for a long time. I have always enjoyed his posts and his friendliness to all. My sympathies to his friends and families.

[Marcarl]

Going on to the next place is always difficult for those left behind. For those who departed hopefully it's for the better, and they can celebrate the journey, but for us who are still here, it reminds us that we will have to go that route someday as well.

 

I'm sure that Gunboat would not want us sitting around mopping, but rather to celebrate the time we had together. Yes we will all miss him, some a lot more than others, and that's what happens when a person has a large impact on your life, and he had a huge affect on many.

 

Someday I will see him again, and if my memory goes with me, we'll be able to talk about VentureRiders.org and the blessing it was to us to be part of such a special group. Hopefully there will be many more to share stories with when we get there.