Man, this really sucks. I got all choked up in church yesterday thinking about John. I wanted to drive down for the graveside service, but couldn't make the trip. Thankfully, my brother, Chad, made the trip. He said it was a fitting tribute to a great man. The place was packed and preacher even spoke about the time he got to shoot Ma Deuce with John.
It's hard to say how many hours I spent at John's place scrounging for parts, working on trucks, shooting the bull, admiring all of the cool cars and tractors, talking about weight lifting, etc... John always tried to get me to lift weights with him and Pete, but I never got to do it. I was always working on a project and on a deadline. Those of you who met John and Pete, know that they take their weight lifting seriously. John was always in good shape and could really punish the iron. That's what really bothers me about this. He took good care of his body, didn't smoke and lived a pretty clean life. I do the same thing and for him to die so young of a heart attack has really shaken me.
I remember when I first moved to southeast Virginia, my buddy Bruce Kubu told me, "Dude, you're only about an hour away from one of the coolest surplus places on earth." I took advantage of that when I got my 923A2 project in '06 or '07. John was one of the only guys around with any 939-series parts trucks. I made lots of trips down there and it didn't take long to strike up a friendship.
Anyways, I'll stop rambling for now. I'm just heartsick and missing my friend.