Me and the Gang

When I was a kid, the fraternal (Eagles, Masons, Elks, Moose) and the veterans (American Legion, VFW) organizations had a major presence in the small town where I grew up.  Maybe they still do, but are less visible in the big cities.  But being in Montana & back into little places...I'm noticing them again.  In downtown Bozeman there are the Eagles & the American Legion.

I wanted to have a before dinner drink at one, so we walked into the American Legion bar.

There were three really big biker dudes sitting at the bar with empty stools between us & them.  Susanne & I plopped down, me next to a BD.  I easily struck up a conversation with him.  Turns out they're from central Pennsylvania, having left on Thursday. (It's now Sunday.  That's some serious biking!!!)  They are all Masons (Not my idea of what a Mason looks like, especially since my father was 32nd degree & a Shriner) and that's what their motorcycle club is all about.  A photo of their back patch later.

As the conversation went on, the other two & Susanne joined in.  It was really great!  They're headed to the Redwoods in Calif. then back to the big biker event in Sturgis, SD then home.  They saw alot of Lewis & Clark places.  We told them about Three Forks & the history there.
 
These folks are the stereotype bikers...big guys (the one next to me is a prison guard), leather vests, inked from fingertip to shoulder and probably all over underneath.  They wanted to get back to their lodgings & we were ready to move on to dinner.  But before we broke up the impromptu confab, I asked if I could have a photo with the celebrities.  They gladly obliged & Susanne snapped the pic.

You can see the Masonic compass & square logo on the prison guard guy.

I wanted to get some shots of them leaving on their bikes.  Here's their club patch.

AU REVOIR, BIKER DUDES!!!!!!!

And with that, they were off...