That first post has a pic of Joe w/his bike, and a colorful helmet in the background. That's a brain bucket I sent to him after he and I had been emailing back and forth about bikes and life. He commented on how hard it was to find a good helmet to fit him, and I offered to send him one that was a tad big on me, essentially a helmet worn probably less than a dozen times. When Joe got it, he was so happy to have found something he could wear comfortably.
Joe had a very pragmatic view of life, and he had some very interesting experiences along the way. He also was a literate writer, and whenever I saw a communication from him, I knew it would be something interesting.
I'm sad for not being able to read of his exploits, written by him and sad for his family losing such a good person.