A Tribute to a Friend

This morning I woke up to news articles about the Marines lost at sea.  The articles said that the search and rescue efforts have concluded and the official status for all five Marines has been changed to deceased.  Our friend, Daniel, is one of those Marines.

In visiting with his parents last Saturday night, Duane asked that if I had any stories about Daniel, could I write it down and share it with them.  Derick and I knew Daniel mostly from the church bike trip that we all rode together.  Daniel and I rode together three times and Derick was with us 2 of those 3 years.  

Three hundred miles on bicycles from Tremont, IL to the eastern side of Lake Michigan, and then a skeleton crew from Lake Michigan to just outside Ann Arbor, MI.  I felt like Derick and I were able to form a little bit of a bond with some of the young guys during that trip.  Especially with Daniel.  I told Derick last night, I remember riding with Daniel more than I remember the others.  Perhaps because of Derick's service with the Navy and Daniel's interest in enlisting in the Marine Corp when he graduated high school.

Daniel particularly enjoyed this picture of Derick, taken during a training exercise:

All of my memories of Daniel are centered around the bike trip.  I think Derick and I were viewed as older, wiser siblings rather than parental figures to Daniel and his buddies.  Young enough to be cool and be strong riders, but old enough to still take responsibility for them as we lead part of the trip.  We were strong enough to keep up with their young legs and mature enough to look out for them like a parental figure would.  

My best memory of Daniel is during the bike trip in 2014.  Derick was in Afghanistan that year so he missed that bike trip.  hat year while Derick was gone that I worked up the nerve to put the clips in the shoes and have special pedals installed on my bike.  

Everyone I talked to said when you get the clips, you're gonna fall so just embrace it.  And once you start going down, there's no saving it!  I did really well on the practice rides, didn't fall one single time.  I was so proud of myself.

Well, ya know that verse that says, "pride goes before destruction..."?  Fast forward to the bike trip... no less than 5 times.  Five times I ended up in the grass or on the pavement.  And every time I looked up, there was Daniel standing over me.  

I remember one time in particular, we were riding by ourselves.  We must have overshot the corner, because we slowed way down to turn back and apparently that's all it took.  My feet were stuck in the pedals and down I went.  I just laid there on the pavement staring up at him for a minute.

"Are you ok?" He said

"Yes, just injured my pride..."  

And he helped me up, made sure I really was ok and on we went.  

But I remember thinking, how come every time I fall, it's always in front of Daniel Baker?  And why did it matter, he was a high school kid?  But he was gracious and never laughed at me... only with me.

This photo was my birthday on that trip.  Daniel is next to me in white.  

That year we got to Lake Michigan and I went home but he and his buddies rode on to Ann Arbor.  All weekend they begged me to come.  Another 150 miles in a day and a half.  I could have done it.  I was strong enough.  I would have been the only woman in a group of high school guys.  Maybe they wanted that older sister come along...

Maybe I was just that cool...

Probably the former.  

This is the group that rode to Lake Michigan that year.  I believe there were only 3 riders, Daniel included, that rode on to Ann Arbor.  I always wished I had said yes.  I know, I know... I can't do that to myself... But how fun would that have been...

The next year, I had a broken arm.  I actually rode with my cast.  They named me Wonder Woman at the end of that trip.  There were 17 on the trip in 2015 and 6 of those rode on from Lake Michigan to Ann Arbor.  That was the last year that anyone rode that far.  

That's the whole group.  Here's one of me and Derick along with Daniel and Alan King, along with a few others.  

That year, if you notice in the picture, Daniel wore cut-off denim shorts and slides for all 450 miles.  The epitome of a strong country boy jumping on his bike and just riding, because he can.  I don't think anyone got a photo of the 6 that kept riding.  My son Christian and I drove the support vehicle behind them.  That night we all collectively decided to stay in a hotel because we lost our way for a bit and it started to get dark.  We all agreed to keep it a secret.  No one was going to find out.  Daniel was very out spoken about not telling his mom and dad.  I don't know how long it actually stayed a secret, but it was kinda fun thinking we all had a bike trip story that no one else had.  A hotel stay!

Here's one more picture of Daniel that I have, wearing his cut-offs and slides, obviously enjoying the bike trip!

The last memory that I have of Daniel was not long before he left for boot camp.  Derick and I went to his parent's house for dinner.  Daniel and a couple of his buddies magically showed up when it was time to sit down to eat.  For dessert, his mom made Toll House Pie which was essentially a giant cookie in the shape of a pie.  There was ice cream and I think maybe chocolate syrup and whipped cream too.  Anyway it was very sweet and very rich.  And it was too much for me to eat.  As soon as Daniel heard me say that I couldn't finish, he reached across the table, slid my bowl to himself and dove right in!  I may as well have been his sister at that point.  Everyone laughed!  But he didn't care, he was too busy enjoying more dessert!