Eldon Steele is shown at left beside his beloved Polaris RZR, which he added many items to over the years.

When Eldon Steele of Blue Earth was told he did not have much more time to be on this Earth, he decided to make some plans for after his death. Some of those plans included not having a funeral, not having a “fancy” coffin but a wooden one instead, and not having the coffin hauled in a hearse, but carried in a very different type of vehicle.

A UTV, a utility-terrain vehicle. Also called a side-by-side UTV.

Steele died last Monday, July 7, and those wishes were carried out by his family and friends on Wednesday.

There was a visitation at Patton Funeral Home, but no actual funeral service. The coffin was a wooden one that Steele had purchased a few years ago when he was in northern Minnesota. It had been crafted by an Amish man.

And instead of a hearse, it was Skip Meyers’ side-by-side. Meyers jokingly called himself the hearse driver. He and Eldon had made the arrangement two years ago.

The coffin was loaded onto the side-by-side UTV by the pall bearers and strapped down. Then Meyers drove it down to Pilot Grove Township Cemetery where Eldon Steele was buried. It was a police escorted funeral procession.

So why the side-by-side UTV?

In an interview with the Register back in early June, Steele explained that it was because he loved riding in them and on them. He and his late wife, Reta, who were married for 63 years, spent 22 years going to Arizona in the winter where they lived in a camper and rode ATV’s.

“I figure I have put 40,000 miles on my ATV’s, and side-by-sides,” Steele said. “About 35,000 of those miles in Arizona and the rest in Utah and Canada.”

He owned five of them over the years, two quads (ATVs) and three side-by-sides. They rode with a group a lot of the time, for 19 years. One of those friends was from Montana and talked Eldon into going to Montana to ride.

Steele had his side-by-side all decorated up. He carried Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh in the back end, had skulls that lit up across the back window and lots of other personal touches.

To say he loved his side-by-side UTV would be an understatement.

He had seen an article about someone having a horse and buggy carry their coffin, so he thought, why not a UTV?

“I just want one more ride on one, before they throw me in the hole,” he said.

Last Wednesday, he got his wish.