Tribute Ride

Dennis had a great love of motorcycles. This passion, coupled with his outgoing personality, led him to become involved with the Ulysses Club and the Queensland Motorcycled Riders Association (QMRA). He is a past president of the Brisbane branch of the Ulysses Club and former president of the QMRA.

It was Dennis’ love of motorcycles and his expressed wish to be laid to rest along side our parents that inspired me to use my motorcycle to transport his ashes from Seattle to his resting place in California. My wife Liz and Dennis’ love, Gaile, escorted me in my Chevy Silverado.Golden Gate

Dennis and Gaile had hoped to visit his homeland together, but unfortunately that was not possible. It was an honor for Liz and I to welcome Gaile to the States on July 4th, 2013 and to show here many of the places and things Dennis had told her about.

The trip from Camano Island, Washington to Ballard, California took four days and followed a route that Dennis and I had hoped to one day ride together on our bikes. We had travelled the route together in cars, but often spoke of our hopes to do the trip together on motorcycles. Hence the decision to transport Dennis on this Tribute Ride.

Moro Bay

Day one of the trip found us at the Best Wester Pony Soldier in Portland, Oregon.

BEST WESTERN Pony Soldier Inn - Airport

An interesting thing happened when we went to Elmer’s for Dinner. A group of Aussie’s strolled in and at least one of them was sporting the unmistakable Ulysses logo on his belt buckle. We just had to introduce ourselves and find out more about them. It turned out that they had flown into Portland from Australia for the expressed purpose of renting Harley’s and riding around the West Coast. Some would call such a chance meeting a mere coincidence, for us it proved to be a comforting confirmation that Dennis was truly with us in spirit!

Elmer's

Our second day took us the through Oregon and into California where we stopped a the foot of Mount Shasta. We stayed at the Best Western Tree House.BW_treehouseThe third day of the trip was the longest stretch. I took us from Shasta to Salinas. Along the way, it seemed appropriate to stop at one of Dennis’ namesake restaurants… a Denny’s.DennysOn this stretch we crossed Golden Gate Bridge and visited our Cousins Cheryl and Margaret Chester. We visited Cheryl’s apartment which was near the top of Hyde Hill in San Francisco. Liz and I realized that we hadn’t factored in what it would be like to maneuver an 800 pound bike and a 1 ton Cheyy Dually around the streets of San Francisco. After a warm reunion and a bite to eat at a Hyde Street pizzeria we headed south to the Best Western Salinas Valley Inn for our digs for our third stop.pizzahouseBW_Salinas