Pete Gets Hitched

Matt and I headed down to Pete's house this past Saturday for his wedding.  I hadn't seen the big lug in some time, but when we pulled up to his house, he was out in the street, helping to direct where bikes should park.  And man...talk about a smile!  We shook hands as I coasted on by him and then we proceeded up the driveway, following the bikes in front of us.  Once the plan became clear, we took our places beside the other bikes already there, staged along opposite sides of the driveway, facing each other.  A gauntlet was forming!  A gauntlet of bikes which the new bride and groom were going to walk down after they'd tied the knot.  Cool!

Setting the kickstands, we turned to greet Pete, who had come up the driveway to greet us.  Handshakes were forgone, replaced by hearty hugs and hellos.  Man, this was one happy guy!  He looked so completely elated - it was truly a great sight to see him so excited.

He had lots of things to take care of so we didn't hog too much of his time.  Looking around, we spotted...hey, is that a bar?  Why yes,  yes it is.  We should go check it out!  So of course, we did.  Many, many times.

I took advantage of the lead-up time to the ceremony by walking around and snapping some pics of the bikes that caught my attention.

Oh yeah, first; the gauntlet of bikes;

I liked the teal on this old goat...

This bike and sidecar is driven by a guy named Vincent.

I "met" Vincent on my first trip out to the Rendezvous.  He was riding out with a buddy that had a trike.  We weren't all riding together, but we happened to keep hitting the same gas stops along the way  (this was back when I had the Shovelhead and my gas stops were much more frequent than they are now).  At any rate, I didn't exchange any discussion with either of them at the time, but I did notice them.  Why did they stand out? Because they each were missing a leg.
Since that ride out, I've noticed Vincent at the 'Vous every now and then.  One year, it was very, very late and I was stumbli...er...strolling back to the campsite from the watering hole and I stopped to talk with Vincent.  He was playing some kind of musical instrument (I don't recall what, but I don't think it was a guitar), and we got to shooting the shit.  I asked about his buddy and unfortunately, his buddy had passed.  I gave him my condolences and we hung out for probably an hour or so, talking about this, that, and the other thing before I took my leave and ambled off into the darkness.

Ok, back to the bikes...

Just imagine the stories this beast could tell...

I liked the contrast of the deep crimson against the gloss black on this one.

I love the old stuff, and I love the body on this one...I love everything...except that front end.  I can't even begin to imagine trying to turn this thing around.

I thought this was pretty cool.  Hanging out with it's older brothers, kind of thing.

Ta da!  The ceremony!

I didn't get a shot of them walking down between the bikes because I had one hand on the throttle and one hand on the clutch.  (There was just enough of an angle that I'd had to leave it in first gear to keep it from rolling away.)  Seeing as how I certainly didn't want to be "that guy" that mowed down the bride and groom, I figured it'd be much wiser to put the phone away at this point.

After the ceremony was done, we all mingled, said hello to old friends not seen in a while (many from the Pot Belly Pub - I really do need to get down there more often), and basically had a great afternoon.  The rain came down off and on, but there was room under the canopy when it was hard, but most of us didn't care that much when it was just light, and meandered about anyway.

When the afternoon had gotten long in the tooth, Matty and I figured it'd be better to head closer to home.  So we shot to Natty Green's for dinner, then headed over to Aaron and Chrissy's for a bonfire to round out the evening.

What a day it had been.  Bikes, beer and...a bride!  Great times with great friends.  It doesn't get much better than that.

Ride Hard, Take Chances