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Paul B.

I'm planning to attend. Spending Saturday night in Kingston, ON with my Mother, then heading down Sunday. I may stay over somewhere local Sunday night as it's about an 8 hour drive for me. Any suggestions on local motels etc?

I'm not familiar with the Ballston Spa area, but if you don't mind riding back 3.5 hours to north central VT with me our guest room is free, though you may have to share it with three golden retrievers.

Pete
 
I, too, am sad that I can't make Paul's memorial. But the good news is I just picked up the booklet of posts and photos from this thread, and it looks very nice. I had it spiral bound, and it is about 40 pages long, including a wonderful tribute from Kevin Greenwald. I've printed Kevin's tribute on heavy parchment paper, too, to be presented to the famiily. I've left a message from enfoman, hoping he'd read the tribute. I seem to be having trouble getting ahold of people - one doesn't have an answering machine!

Best,
Muriel
 
Thank you for your very kind offer, Pete, but I'd like to stay somewhere not too far from Ballston Spa. My Mother lives in Kingston, ON which is about 4 hours away. I could stay with her again Sunday evening, but I don't like to drive in the dark. The joys of getting older...sigh.
 
clowery-

'Any suggestions on local motels etc? '

depending on your budget and tastes..........

At the high end and full of history and charm, ...............

Gideon Putnam Resort‎-
24 Gideon Putnam Road, Saratoga Springs, NY‎ - (518) 584-3000‎ -

~$150 range
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Middle of the road but touts a very good stay according to a local radio station is.....

Fairfield Inn & Suites Saratoga Malta‎-
101 Saratoga Village Boulevard, Malta, NY‎ - (518) 899-6900‎

(I think they have a pool)

~$90 range
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on the cheap and not far off the old turnpike of Rt. 9 any of the classic single level motels in the area. They fill up fast in August during the track season.

Also try this one.................... Nice and quaint, appears neat and orderly all year round.

Adirondack Motel‎-
230 West Ave, Saratoga Springs, NY‎ - (518) 584-3510‎

~$70 range


Hope this helps!

Bob
 
We look forward to seeing the pictures and hearing the commentaries of those attending Paul's memorial. We sure would love to be there. Our thoughts will clearly be there at the time though. - Bob and Mary
 
Bump....

.... because Paul would have done the same for us.... ok, with maybe a few more of those Smilie thingys! - Bob
 
... looked at my 'friends' and there was Paul; looked at my PMs over the last three years and there's Paul.. Think I'm going to leave them all just where they are. yup. - Bob
 
... looked at my 'friends' and there was Paul; looked at my PMs over the last three years and there's Paul.. Think I'm going to leave them all just where they are. yup. - Bob

I have 'em too, plus emails from when I volunteered under him at the Gray, TN rally. I just reread one and got teary, We all know we'll miss him, as he touched so many of us, and well.
 
I was looking through my dvd box yesterday, and there were 15-20 dvds of photos Paul had taken of the BMW MOV activities, Big GIG, etc. He's not going away anytime soon - he's everywhere.

Muriel
 
For those Traveling in from the North and east-


For what it is worth in your travel plans, to the north there will be a weekend balloon festival in Glens Falls,NY. Traffic in the BS area should not be impacted. Promises to be a nice day, If the winds blow right, one will notice one or two in the air. Ninety Balloons expected. Choke point will be the roads around the Floyd Bennett Memorial airport field and the area of Queensbury NY RTS 149,4,254

Bob
 
I'm planning to attend. Spending Saturday night in Kingston, ON with my Mother, then heading down Sunday. I may stay over somewhere local Sunday night as it's about an 8 hour drive for me. Any suggestions on local motels etc?
Look me up I may have extra bed. Depends on if the hotel gives me the room that I requested.
 
I came home from vacation yesterday only to find out the my 80 Year old mother had just broken her hand... So down to central Jersey I go.... i won't make it to Ballston Spa today but my thoughts will be with Paul and all of you....Paul knows how I felt about him!
 
Count me as another who deeply regrets being unable to make the trip over. Felt under the weather for a few days, but today woke up with a wicked earache that has me grounded.

My thoughts and warmest regards are with Judy, Pam and Patty.

Pete
 
Paul's celebration

I wrote Muriel the following letter to give her a good description of how the Memorial and celebration service went. I guess I did a good job as she replied that she felt as if she was there.

--------------------------------------------------------------


It all went very well!
I wrote to you last night but the computer or yahoo had issues and the message got dumped and I could not save it.

I met Tim at a Stewart's up the road from the center with his airhead toaster. He even made it back home last night! The attendance crowd was packed! Peggy, Ted, Kevin, The Coussino's, The couple that did RA registration were also there--( I can't recall their names right now).... (( note to all-- Muriel tells me that they were the Krofts, sorry guys... I was amiss then :bolt)) ....also, the Big RA guy that has a C from Alabama/Wisconsin was there, The big grey bearded guy that went to Prudoe bay on his GS with 308,000 miles was there, Clowery aka ZAPKAT from the C/H forum was also there, among others. A very nice turn out.

There were about 250 people as all of the seats were taken by my estimates. I saw people I knew that I had no Idea knew Paul! As one of the Chiefs said, "He was quite the salesman"

Poor Judy stood the entire time I think. The reception line just kept coming. Pam and Patty were just great and full of graciousness. He brought his kids up right.

There were plenty of finger foods and platters for a lunch. The Center is a great place to have something of this size. Linen on the table too. On each table there was a double side stand with prints of Paul doing either family or other events. One that Patty explained to me and showed was Paul in his uniform taking an oath on the USS Constitution from an officer with a period uniform on, complete with pointed hat. She did not know what it was for but I explained that it was most likely a reenlistment ceremony. On the back wall there were a few tables with a lot of awards, certificates, pictures and a computer slide show. Tim's pictures were placed among them when we got there.

The Chiefs from the Chiefs association with his reserve commanding officer presented a nice ceremony for Paul. After that, the crowd started to mingle and fade as Patty was involved with conversation and forgot that I had something too. Ten minutes or so went by and I was called up by Pam. I read Kevin's Tribute For a greater Love, What I remember read (condensed version) and presented the signed shirt explaining how it came to pass with the proceeds and Lyman's 50/50 going to the PBtF. I think it went over well although a podium of some sort would of been nice. After I came away from the presentation, I was thanked by Judy and the Family, some others also. Within that 10 minute time frame, I looked up only to find all of my M/C friends gone. I do understand as it was getting late, around 3.30pm and not wanting to ride in the dark.

For another 30 minutes or so, I stayed, chatted with a few people saying how nice of a job I did talking of Paul. There were guys suiting up for their rides and some more riders coming in ( two from the Americade Committee) the parking lot as I was leaving.

I Asked Paul's sister Patty where Paul was, And in my assumption, I was correct when she confirmed that he is at the Saratoga National Cemetery. I had some time on the way home and made a route to visit where he rests. As fate would have it he is not too far from a Submarine Veteran member that I attended interment services for about the same time, a scant ten or eleven plots away. I am sure they are each trying to see who can yarn the best sea story now up there.

Judy will Tap me for some assistance in the near future to go over some of Paul's stuff and most likely do what has to be done. If I do not hear from her with in the month, I will make a call just to remind her that the bikes have been sitting idle for awhile and will need some attention before winter.


Wish you were there........... Pics to come.

Bob
 
I am shocked and saddened by this thread. A few years back, when I bought my GS and first joined BMW MOA, I made a couple posts on the forum and received a related message from Paul. From that point, we exchanged many messages over the next year and made a few attempts at getting together for a ride or even lunch. Unfortunately, life got in the way...work and family commitments...home projects...childrens' sports...the GS was sold...typical excuses for not getting out and riding with friends. We still kept in touch for a while...Paul always gregarious and encouraging...sharing Navy stories...fellow veterans...swapping travel stories...a really nice and outgoing guy...but in the end, I kinda drifted away from the forum and lost touch. I missed it quite a bit so I bought another GS this year and I thought for sure that I would finally catch up with Paul after a couple years out of the loop. I was surprised when I didn't hear from him after I rejoined the forum. Today I was surfing the BMW Owners of Vermont forum and I saw something about a Paul B Memorial ride. I immediately came over here to search for posts about Paul and I found this one. You can imagine how disappointing this news is. So...it's way overdue, but here's to a guy who was a true ambassador for the the club, the marque, and the sport...and, from my limited experience, a really nice guy. I'm so sorry that I missed my chance to meet the man in person.
 
Yes, a lot of us miss Paul B. The Motorcycle Owners of Vermont were remembering him at our breakfast today, we'll miss him at the NYC motorcycle show (no more BIG Gigs as they were when Paul was alive), and we miss him at every meeting. There was no one like Paul. We'll continue to remember Paul.

Best,
Muriel
 
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