When Dan purchased a GoPro camera he began taking videos from the road -- here is a sample -- so sit back, relax, and 'ride along with Dan' ...

I have posted this in response to many of you who miss hearing his voice.

When we retired from the road Dan volunteered his labor to repair and redesign his friend's sprinkler system.

This project turned out to be very challenging— to fix an already existing installation that was no longer operational. But Dan was persistent and methodically located all the buried piping and sprinkler heads — replacing what was practical and adding new where needed. 

He even designed and welded the tool he is holding in the video to make it easier for his friend to make adjustments— and then sent him short videos for instruction. This is a sample.

It was December 1978. Dan and I had been engaged for several months and living in a nice apartment just a few blocks from his parents house. We got news that his Mom’s health had taken a turn for the worse and Dan knew we had to act quickly if she was going to witness us getting married.

We looked ahead at the calendar and he said “pick a date”. I remember analyzing that since the 23rd was my birthday - and of course Christmas the 25th - that getting married on Christmas Eve the 24th would make a nice three day event to celebrate for future years to come. He sure would not have an excuse to forget (and he never did).

We next determined that because his Mom was somewhat bedridden that the venue would need to be in his parents home - which in turn meant a small number of attendees. I asked my sister Audrey to be my maid of honor and Dan asked his friend Carl to be his best man. We then invited immediate local family and friends.

His Mom ordered and contributed the wedding cake - I’ve saved the topper to this day. She also gave us a bottle of champagne with the caveat that we must open it on our 25th anniversary and say a toast to her (we did).

I then handled the paperwork for the license and Dan set out to schedule a preacher. Then just a few days before the wedding we were told that the preacher became ill and could not conduct the service after all. Dan scurried and was able to get the town mayor instead.

Then the day before the service we started to prepare some meals for our guests. Understand that on such short notice we decided to pass on the traditional bachelor and bachelorette parties — and instead conducted our own joint celebration with a bottle of Jack and some Galliano liqueur  he kept on tap — and let’s just say we started the festivities early.

By nightfall when it was time to start cooking we realized that neither of us had remembered to defrost the turkey. It was much too big for the microwave so Dan quickly put it in the roasting pan and placed it in our tub under running hot water. I prepared the stuffing and Dan volunteered to do the lasagne - after all it was his specialty.

Finally when all was complete we headed for bed - or so we thought! That is when all our festivities caught up with Dan and he began to get sick — spending the rest of the night in the bathroom. Poor Dan. At one point I went back to the kitchen - probably to get something more soothing for him to drink. I spotted a full pot of pasta sauce on the stove. Hmmm? I became suspicious and double-checked the lasagne - sure enough - he had forgotten to add any layers of sauce. I quickly made the fix and all was well.

The next day was rough on Dan — not only suffering a wicked hangover but also so hoarse from all the heaving that he could only speak in a raspy voice. He barely made it through the vows  - but he did - the trooper he was. 

Best of all I can still picture his Mom standing at the edge of the doorway watching. She had dressed up in a pretty pink outfit and was leaning against the wall -  just quietly smiling. Mission accomplished. 

She would pass away less than 3 months later. 

For those of us who knew him best we can all agree that he lived the lifestyle he wanted --- to eat, drink, and be with a girl!

As for owning G.M. -- I think he did even better with J.D.M. -- J. Daniel Marine.