Ch M The Moonlighters
GWRRA
Getting to Know the Moonlighters Contest

The Moonlighters at McDonald's Observatory

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The Moonlighters at the Apache Trading Post's Jackassic Park - Alpine, Texas

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• Rider Name: Kevin Lynch
• Rider Born In: Fort Bragg, NC
• CoRider Name: Kim Lynch
• CoRider Born In: Woodbine, KS
• First Bike At Age: 25
• Number Of Bikes Owned: 2
• Longest Ride: 1032 miles in 24 hours
• Longest Day: 24 hours
• Number Of States Ridden: 14
• Bike Name: The White Knight
• Favorite Accessory: My Radio
• Favorite Place Or Trip: Gettysberg, PA
• Favorite Camping Place Or Experience: Never Camped
• Highest Mountain Bike Has Been On: None...yet
• Would Love To Ride Or See: Grand Canyon...Yellow Stone...back to Mt. Rushmore
• Bike Always Stops At: Cracker Barrels
• Dream Bike: I love the Wing I have but...I would have loved to have gotten one with the new radio & navigator.
• Place: Place
• Place No Name:
• DONOT Place:
• Date: Saturday, April 21, 2007
• Time: 09:47 PM

Memorable Experiences_Places_People

Proudest of attending the Run To The Wall...in 2005.
My older brother Jay is on Panel 3E-25-1.
My second favorite...my first and only Iron Butt Run...1000 miles in 24 hours.

My Brother

Author:  Kevin Lynch
  June 3, 2007

I am not sure I would be able to talk for very long about my big brother Jay, without breaking down in  tears.  Even today, at 56 years of age, I am still teary eyed when I think about him. 

What I would talk about, if I could, would be memories of Jay, as we grew up, and how much I have missed him over the years.

I think what I most miss was not having him to learn from, as I grew up.  And his strength and kindness, much of which may have been bravado, to lean on.  He was a "studmuffin"....all the girls loved him.  He was a jock...he lettered in Basketball, Baseball & Football in Highschool...and all the guys wanted to be his friend.  To me, he was just my "big brother."  He taught me how to cut grass with a lawn mover, so I could earn money to buy my first 10 speed bicycle.  He also convinced me, as a kid, to give him my dimes in exchange for nickels, because nickels were bigger.  And I did!

I also wonder what he would have done as he grew up, after the military.  He was smart.  His highschool grades were far superior to mine.  He was mechanically inclined.  He love to read books.  He and I use to read The Hardy Boys books together.

In 1966, a survivor of the battle visited our home in Fayetteville NC, and told my dad exactly what happened and how my brother died.  Jay was killed in action on 11-06-1965, in a battle before the one we all know about, from the Mel Gibson Movie, which occurred over 11-14/15-1965   The battle was mentioned in the movie, but I doubt many people, other than true Vets would have picked up on it.  What actually occurred was a Special Forces camp in the Ia Drang area, near Plei Me was under attack and was in danger of being overrun.  The 1st Cav sent in two companies to relieve them.  Jay was in  the second company.

The first company walked into an ambush on the way to the Special Forces Camp.  Their losses were tremendous.  As the second company came upon the action, they too were hit by surprise and suffered extremely high casualties.   Jay was the ammo bearer/assistant for an M-60 Machine Gunner.  Both of them were killed by grenades and small arms fire, towards the later part of the battle.  It was partially because of this battle that Operations X-Ray & Albany took place.

In 1997, I talked on the phone with the man who actually carried Jay's body off the field of battle.  By 1997, he had become a writer in VA and I met him through a Viet Nam Vet's bulletin board, online.  In November, 1965 he was a Radio Operator (an RTO) and had gone through basic, AIT and jump school with Jay. He assisted in the delivery of Jay's body to my dad, who was in Viet Nam at the same time, as a CSM in 5th Special Forces.  My dad actually accompanied Jay's body home for burial.

In 1969 -1970, my first six months in country where my dad's last 6 months in country...he having served in Viet Nam, simultaneously, with both of his older sons.

Today, my brother and my dad are buried side by side at Lafayette Memorial Park, Fayetteville, NC.  My dad died at age 53, after 32 years of military service, from a disease to which he was exposed, on one of his three Viet Nam tours, or his tour in Thailand. They were never for certain.  Jay, of course, was KIA at 19. Both of them died much too young. 

It is ironic too, that less than 20 feet away from Jay's grave is the grave of M/SGT Gabrial Alamo.  M/Sgt Alamo was also killed in Viet Nam.  At his funeral in 1964, the two alter boys serving at his funeral mass were Justin M. Lynch and Kevin M. Lynch.

Because of Viet Nam Vet online sites and the Viet Nam Memorial Tribute sites, over the years I have heard from different people who knew Jay and served with him.  I even corresponded by e-mail with a young man named after him and his father.  His dad and Jay were best friends in the army.  I can't count the number of people who know and either loved or hated my dad! (smile)  One thing for sure, he was a no-nonsense military professional...and to him, there was no honor greater than wearing The Green Beret.

Wow...I have gone on a bit, haven't I?

Let me close with this...my son Kristian Marshall Lynch served 4 years in the Army, and he is coming up on his 1st anniversary of being discharged.  I find it hard to contain the pride I feel for his service to his country and even moreso because he served 13 months in Iraq, as a member of the 1st Cav. Kris and I share something I shared with my father, we are all Veteran's of Foreign Wars.

When Kris came home in the Spring of 2005 and saw the slanted news reporting about the War, the one thing he told me he will always remember was the faces of the citizens of Iraq, on the day they voted.  He will always remember the purple fingers and their smiles.

For me, the strongest memories were the disrespect I felt, as a young man of twenty, coming home from Viet Nam, and being "flipped the finger" in San Francisco Airport...and the feelings I felt the first time I stood before the Viet Nam Memorial in Washington, DC at Panel 3E, looking at line 25 and the name Justin Marshall Lynch.  The first memory is fading and is all but forgotten 37 years later...but the later was only reinforced Memorial Day, 2005.  On that day, My Goldwing and I were among the thousands of bikers participating in the Rolling Thunder/Run to The Wall Event, in Washington, DC. I have never before, or since, seen that many motorcycles, or even people, in one place, at one time.

God Bless America and God Bless our Troops, where ever and how ever they serve!

• Rider Name: Dennis Martini
• Rider Born In: Omaha, NE
• CoRider Name: Carolyn Martini
• CoRider Born In: Bondurant, IA
• First Bike At Age: 18
• Number Of Bikes Owned: 12
• Longest Ride: 3500 miles
• Longest Day: 760 miles 16 hours
• Number Of States Ridden: 31
• Bike Name: Honda Goldwing (no name)
• Favorite Accessory: Co rider
• Favorite Place Or Trip: Appalachian Mountains
• Favorite Camping Place Or Experience: we don't camp
• Highest Mountain Bike Has Been On: Slumgullion Pass Colorado
• Would Love To Ride Or See: West Coast of the US
• Bike Always Stops At: TS
• Dream Bike: The one I have now.
• Place: Place
• Place No Name:
• DO NOT Place:
• Date: Friday, February 02, 2007
• Time: 08:34 PM

Memorable Experiences_Places_People

History Story                               

Author:  Carolyn Martini

1.    How we met:  My best friend moved from our small town to the small town where Dennis lived.  She was constantly badgering me about coming to stay with her for a weekend.  This particular weekend, the senior class was having a dance to raise funds for their senior trip.  The first time I saw Dennis, he was on the roof of the drugstore in Norwalk, Iowa, installing sound equipment for the dance.  A group of us spent time together that afternoon, and, that night at the dance Dennis and I really "clicked."  (Unfortunately my friend had set up a blind date for me after the dance!)  The next day Dennis called her house and asked if she and I could go swimming with him and a friend at a nearby lake.  The rest, you might say, is h-i-s-t-o-r-y.  Oh, and did I mention Dennis was my "best friend"s OLD BOYFRIEND!!!!

2.    Military experience:  Dennis joined the Army National Guard in 1966 (just before we married!) and was sent to basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, about 2 weeks after our wedding!  (Great timing!!!!!  -  NOT)  For my vacation that year, we drove his dad's pickup camper down to FLW and parked it at a nearby RV park.  Dennis's job was to drive the Commander of the Guard around post every 3rd evening.  I would pick Dennis up on base in the morning and we had 2 days before he had to be back to work - days that we spent at the Lake of the Ozarks.  That's where he taught me (a farm girl) how to water ski.  Dennis was in the NG from 1966 through 1972 in the "Motor Section."  He spent a couple years at the "Kentucky Derby" keeping the peace in the infield!  Otherwise, he would have us believe it was pretty tame.

    Dennis's dad was in the U.S. Navy and during WWII and was assigned to the Destroyer Metcalf.  He always said the most enjoyable part of that job was that he got to go ashore to pick up and deliver the mail every time they went into a port.

3.  Positions held in the Chapter:  Road Captain, Ride Coordinator, Rider Educator, ACD, and CD.  Don't ask me the years!

• Rider Name: Lonnie Ellis
• Rider Born In: Oklahoma City
• CoRider Name: Harolyn Ellis
• CoRider Born In: McComb Mississippi
• First Bike At Age: 12
• Number Of Bikes Owned: 18
• Longest Ride: Calgary Ontario
• LongestDay: 16 hrs 42 min
• Number Of States Ridden: 33 (Tx, Ok, Ark, La, Ms, AL, FL, Ga, Va, NC, SC, Oh, IL, In, Mi, Wi, Iowa, Ks, Minn, Mo, ND, SD, Wy, Mont, Idaho, Wa, Or, Cal, Utah, Nev, Ari, Co, NM)
• Bike Name: The Silver Streak
• Favorite Accessory: My Wife or maybe my Sat. Radio. I haven`t decided just Yet.
• Favorite PlaceOr Trip: Honda Hoot (Knoxville Tennessee) June 2003
• Favorite Camping Place Or Experience: Knoxville Tennesee June 2003
• Highest Mountain Bike Has Been On: Mt Evans Colorado
• Would Love To Ride Or See: New England
• Bike Always Stops At: Dairy Queen
• Dream Bike: I Own It!
• Place: Place
• PlaceNoName: PlaceNoName
• DO NOT Place:
• Date: Saturday, February 17, 2007
• Time: 08:08 PM

Memorable Experiences, Places, People

It was the first trip that my wife and I took together to the Kerrville area. It RAINED and then It RAINED some more and then the weather took a turn for the worst and it rained some more! We had spent the night in Marble Falls and the rode down to Kerrville and on south to Madina. What we didn`t know was that the route that we were taking had received about six inches of rain between 4 a.m. and 9 a.m. that morning. From Madina we went west on 337 towards Leaky where we were planning on getting gas. My wifes bike was new and we didn`t know how far that it would go on a tank of gas. Every time that we would come around a curve or over a hill we would find an area where the water had washed rocks and mud accross the road. It took us several hours to make the 37 mile trip over to the Frio River, about a mile short of Leaky. We encounter many (way too many) rock and mud slides and when we got to the Frio River it was about six feet over the bridge and we had no choice but to make a U-turn and go back the way that we had come. Remember the part about the planned gas stop? Did you know that there are no gas stations between the Frio and The Hunt General Store? (About 61 miles) And remember the part about the RAIN? It started up again about the time that we made the U-turn. And THIS time it RAINED in earnest! We drove by literally watching the white lines on the road because that was about as far as we could see because it was raining so hard. We made it to the General Store in Hunt by God`s Grace because we had now traveled about 161 miles on a bike that only had about a 130 mile range. We filled up with gas sat under thier canopy hoping that the rain would let up so that we could make it back into Kerrville and the motel and a Hot Shower. No such luck, so after about twenty minutes we dicide that we could not get much wetter that we already were so we headed back into Kerville and we had no way of knowing what waited patiently for us when we finally got into town. We stopped for a red light and were in the left lane of a four lane road. My wife was on her bike and stopped in front of me when a vehicle comeing from the other direction and one in the right hand lane with us passed her at the same time. Well she had stopped in a big puddle of water. Remamber the part about not being able to get much wetter? AHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not only could we but when the two cars passed at the same time in different directions there were two very large walls of water coming together at the same time and my wife was right in the middle between them. I have never laughed so hard in my life!!!!!!!!!!!! I really thought that this would be our first and last motorcyle trip together, but to my surprise she just laughed as hard as I did. We have been on many motorcycle trips together but will never forget that first one. She was a real trooper through it all. MY WIFE!   When we finally got to the motel and got cleaned up, we sat on the bed and recounted the events of the day. We laughed and laughed so hard that we cried! We have been on many, many motorcycle trips together since then but we will never forget that very first one!

• Rider Name:   ____________________
• Rider Born In: 1948
• CoRider Name: _______________________
• CoRider Born In: 1946
• First Bike At Age: 17
• Number Of Bikes Owned: 7
• Longest Ride: 112,556
• Longest Day: 750
• Number Of States Ridden: 8
• Bike Name: Scotty
• Favorite Accessory: My Wife
• Favorite Place Or Trip: Marble Falls, Tx
• Favorite Camping Place Or Experience: Most days camped out with my bike 2 days. Worst weather 14 degrees on a toy run.
• Highest Mountain Bike Has Been On: 2000
• Would Love To Ride Or See: The Mission Trail in San Antonio...would like to experience an ironman ride.
• Bike Always Stops At: Interesting Places
• Dream Bike: Honda Gold Wing 2000cc

• Rider Name: Craig Watkins
• Rider Born In: Cape Girardeau, Missouri
• CoRider Name: Mary Watkins
• CR Born In: Cape Girardeau, Missouri
• First Bike At Age: 14, a Cushman Eagle
• Number Of Bikes Owned: 6 or so
• Longest Ride: longest day, 793 miles, longest trip over 5000. 24,000 mi.+ first year w/trike
• Longest Day: 793 miles, 15 hours pulling a trailer
• Number Of States Ridden: 30. 29 the first full year with the trike, Added Florida in Jan. 07
• Bike Name: No name, but Henry is our Trike guard Penguin. See "M" Staff pics
• Favorite Accessory: My wife
• Favorite Place Or Trip: Beartooth Pass
• Favorite Camping Place Or Experience: Comfort Inn
• Highest Mountain Bike Has Been On: Over 12,000
• Would Love To Ride Or See:  Pacific Coast Highway
• Bike Always Stops At:  any place that serves food
• Dream Bike:  We already have it.  2005 GL1800/Motor Trike 2+2 Black Cherry

• Rider Name: J.D. Walker
• Rider Born In: Jacksonville, N. Carolina
• CoRider Name: LouAnn Walker
• CoRider Born In: Brazoria, TX
• First Bike At Age: 12
• Number Of Bikes Owned: 6
• Longest Ride: 603 miles
• Longest Day: 12 hours
• Number Of States Ridden: 1
• Bike Name:
• Favortie Accessory: Back Rest
• Favorite Place Or Trip: Kerrville
• Favavorite Camping Place Or Experience:
• Highest Mountain Bike Has Been On:
• Would Love To Ride Or See: Gatlinburg Tennessee
• Bike Always Stops At: Touring Specialties
• Dream Bike: Another Wing

• Rider Name: Charles McConnell
• Rider Born In: Fort Worth, Texas
• CoRider Name: Tex the Bear
• CoRider Born In: Tex was not actually born. He was sort of stuffed about 2003. The precise stuff date is not know with any degree of certainty. But, it was probably in China about 2003.
• First Bike At Age: I was about 15 years old when I got a Cushman Eagle.
• Number Of Bikes Owned: I have owned 4 bikes so far: Cushman Eagle and 3 Hondas, 2 of which were/are Gold Wings
• Longest Ride: 3800 miles
• Longest Day: about 18 hours riding from Raton, New Mexico to Fort Worth, Texas
• Number Of States Ridden: 12 - Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arkansas and Missouri
• Bike Name: I don't have a name for my bike but I had an uncle that had an old buick that he called "Hulsey." I kind-of-like that.
• Favorite Accessory: It is a kind-of-tie between my mp3 player and cruise control.
• Favorite Place Or Trip: My favorite place, so far, is the Black Hills of South Dakota,
• Favorite Camping Place Or Experience: I have never been camping while on a motorcycle ride. I tend/lean towards the soft life in a hotel or motel.
• Highest Mountain Bike Has Been On: That would be Independence Pass (about 11,000 feet elevation) in Colorado.
• Would Love To Ride Or See: Tex and I would love to ride the Canadian Yukon, Northwest Territories and Alaska.
• Bike Always Stops At: Any Roadside Rest Stop
• Dream Bike: A 2007 Honda Gold Wing with Heated Seats, Handle Bar Grips and Satellite Navigation.
• Place: Place
• Place No Name:
• DO NOT Place:
• Date: Friday, February 16, 2007
• Time: 08:11 PM

MemorableExperiences_Places_People

When I was riding back from Raton, New Mexico I stopped at a roadside park near Capulin Mountain in NE New Mexico to lay down to sleep for a while. After sleeping for about an hour, I got up to walk back to where my bike was parked. As I looked back at where I had been laying in the shade of a little bush, I noticed a sign put up by the New Mexico Park Department that said, "Watch out for Rattlesnakes." If I had seen that earlier I can guarantee you I would not have been using my jacket for a pillow and lying on the ground but would have opted for one of the park picnic tables. I guess I'll look around a little better next time.

• Rider Name: Ken Olson
• Rider Born In: Lincoln, Nebraska
• Co-Rider Name: Karen Olson
• Co-Rider Born In: Fort Worth, Texas
• First Bike At Age: 14
• Number Of Bikes Owned: 10 bikes. 2 Yamaha dirt bikes 8 Honda's 50, 100, 450, 500, 750, GL1000, GL 1200, GL 1800
• Longest Ride: Ruidoso, New Mexico
• Longest Day: 12 hours
• Number Of States Ridden: 13 states. Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, Mississippi, North Carolina, Missouri.
• Bike Name: No Name
• Favorite Accessory: My Wife
• Favorite Place Or Trip: Ruidoso, New Mexico
• Favorite Camping Place Or Experience: Colorado
• Highest Mountain Bike Has Been On: Pikes Peak
• Would Love To Ride Or See: Grand Canyon/Big Bend
• Bike Always Stops At: Granddaughter's house
• Dream Bike: I am ridding it.