Grieving family, friends and constituents gathered Wednesday at Arizona’s Capitol to pay their respects to the late Sen. John McCain, the first of two days of services before he leaves the state he has represented since the 1980s for the final time.

A motorcade with McCain’s body arrived at the Arizona State Capitol for a private ceremony and afternoon and evening public viewing on the day that would have been his 82nd birthday.

State troopers on motorcycles led the black hearse on the eight-mile route that took the procession on southbound lanes of a highway closed to other traffic.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey embraced McCain’s wife, Cindy, when the motorcade arrived.

Flag-bearing military honor guards were lined up outside the Capitol waiting to honor the 81-year-old Arizona Republican, who died Saturday of an aggressive form of brain cancer.

A memorial service will be held Thursday at North Phoenix Baptist Church before McCain’s body is flown to Washington, DC, for a ceremony Friday at the US Capitol and a memorial service Saturday at Washington National Cathedral.

That will be followed by a private memorial service and burial Sunday at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.