CHAPTER FIVE: DAY 3 REMEMBERING THE FALLEN IS HUMBLING

 

DON’S MILES:  TODAY 33.6   TOTAL TRIP 863.7

BRETT’S MILES:  TODAY 33.6   TOTAL TRIP 651.3

It is Saturday morning.  The “free” hotel breakfast is to start at 6:30.   Knowing that the coffee and juice machines would be up and running I went ahead and meandered down to the breakfast area.  When I got there, I met up with another fellow from West Texas near Odessa.  He had come in with the Run For The Wall ride.  It would take pages for me to totally explain it but, briefly, this is a group ride from the West Coast to Washington, DC.  There are 3 routes, a northern, a southern, and a middle.  All three have hundreds of bikes participating and they all arrive in D.C. at the same time.  We had a great talk about the ride, the upcoming Rolling To Remember event, and my ride.   About that time, Brett entered the room and the conversation continued.  This guy actually rode from Odessa, TX to California and did the entire ride rather than waiting for the same group to pass right through his town just a few days later.  If you want to read about some dedicated Americans Google “Run To The Wall”.

About that time Brett entered the room along with the two riders from Ohio that we talked to the previous day.  We had a light and hardy conversation with lots of laughter and a lot of trying to outdo each other with better stories.  Personally, I thought that mine were the best but I’ll give them credit that they gave it a good try.

It approached the time that Brett and I picked to head for DC so we gathered what we needed……or, at least, what we thought we would need…..and went out to the bikes.  It was a wee bit cool and we wore our jackets but it was nice.  The ride into town was good, ALTHOUGH, I believe that I-66 was the first expressway EVER built and it has not had ANY upkeep done to it since Lincoln’s inaugural parade.  Even Michigan roads are better than I-66 between Arlington and DC.

Of course, I pulled off an exit too early.  I did it on purpose because I was sure that it would take us right to where we wanted to go.  HA!  It took us to a U-turn and sent us into the bowels of Downtown DC.  We were pretty much right where I was yesterday, going around in the same circles, and me repeating the same profanity at each turn.  I did, however, have yesterday’s experience and, just like A.I., I learn (more or less) from experience.  I got us to the Washington Monument, got us on Constitution Ave. running along side the Reflection Pool (the Forrest Gump pond), wham-bam-thank you ma’am, we pulled up onto the grass and parked.   To be very honest with you, I am almost positive that we were NOT supposed to park there.  However, there were 40 or 50 other bikes there and I took it as a “Safety In Numbers” scenario.

We immediately went to the Vietnam Memorial Wall.  Brett had never seen it and wanted to go to it first.  He found, as I always do, that it was a very emotional and humbling experience.  Add to that, the “Run To The Wall” riders……hundreds of them…….had just finishing laying their wreath at the Wall.  They do that every year and it is what they call “Mission Complete”.  They set out, ride across the country, and they have a mission to lay a wreath at the Vietnam Memorial Wall.  Each year, when they lay the wreath in a Saturday before Memorial Day ceremony, they proclaim that that year’s mission has been completed.  Because they had just finished doing that, there were hundreds and hundreds of Run To The Wall participants (many who have done the ride annually for years and know each other) who had tears stained faces, with lots of hugging and support.  That only added to the emotional experience and being humbled.

From the Wall we wandered over to the Lincoln Memorial.  Aside from the fact that it is…..well, it is the Lincoln Memorial, it is also a really, really great spot to watch people.  Touristy type of people are so much fun to watch.  They are kind of oblivious about all their surroundings except for what they are looking at and they are looking at it with amazement and astonishment.  At the steps of the Lincoln Memorial you have the Lincoln Memorial right in front of you and at the other end of the “Forrest Gump Pond” is the Washington Memorial and separating the two is the Reflecting Pool.  I’m not sure how many phone pictures are taken every hour on those steps but if I had a penny for each one I am sure that I could be living a lot higher retirement lifestyle.

I asked Brett where exactly the World War II Memorial was at, he checked his phone and said “at the other end of the Reflecting Pool”.  Now, based on what Google tells me it is 2,028 feet long or, roughly, a quarter mile.  Hogwash!  We walked from one end to the other and I can swear that it was about 250 miles from one end to the other.  And the worst part was that WE HAD TO WALK BACK!  That was a total, I am sure, of 500 miles.

After visiting the WWII Memorial and heading back, we viewed the Vietnam Memorial Wall again.  Then we skipped over to Constitution Ave. where the event vendor area was located.  It is called Thunder Alley.  They really didn’t much in the way of vendors, however, Icicle Sunglasses had a booth.  Just so happened that Brett owns a pair of Icicles and the lens would pop out on occasion.  He went to the booth and the gentleman there fixed Brett’s glasses, got them as good as new, and there was no charge.

We started back to the bikes and was again crossing Constitution Ave. when, just as we hit the center of the road, the police stopped us.  It was the Sandbox Ride.  That is the aforementioned Run To the Wall riders as they are heading out of DC.  Many of the participants of the run TO Washington, DC leave on their own and head home.  However, the actual run continues on from DC to Marseilles, IL and the Middle East Conflicts Wall Memorial.  It was a joy to watch these patriots ride by on start of this 3 day/750 mile ride.

As the last bike of the Sandbox Ride passed we continued on and got to our bikes.  We did a quick check of Brett’s GPS and headed to Fairfax and the Hooters there.  I had a burger, Brett had tacos and our waitress, Kira, took good care of us.  After eating we headed back about ½ mile to the Patriot Harley-Davidson Dealer.  We both bought official Rolling To Remember t-shirts.  Brett also bought a Patriot Harley-Davidson t-shirt and a Patriot hoodie to take home as a gift.  As we were leaving the building to check out the vendors in their lot Brett stopped at a table to see what she had.  Well, all she had was 50/50 raffle tickets for a buck a piece.  Brett said that he would buy some.  I figured that since he bought some I would match it……he certainly wouldn’t buy more than $5 worth…..would he???  So he says, “give me 20”.  WHAT??  Well, I wasn’t going to let me better me so I bought 21.  She said the drawing was at 4:00 and you had to be present.  Cool, we bought some Cokes and sat at a picnic table.  We killed the hour striking up conversations with everyone that passed us by.  4:00 rolled around and she called the number and, GUESS WHAT, I won.  Yep, she handed me $96.  Since I spent $21 on tickets I basically won 75 bucks…….not bad.  I took it and I did NOT share it just because the only reason I bought tickets was because Brett bought them.

We immediate mount the bikes and headed back to the hotel.  Along the way we stopped at a 7/11 and grabbed a 6 pack of beer and 12 waters.  Back at the hotel, we set up our chairs in the parking lot and, before we knew it, the gentleman we met earlier from the Run To The Wall ride (I’m sorry, but neither Brett nor I got his name) came by and a few minutes later the two riders from Ohio joined us.  We talked out there for about 3 hours……..with each other and with just about everyone that walked by on the bike path walking their dog.

Finally, we could hardly keep our eyes open and said goodnight.  We both did quick calls home and then…….BED!  Talk to you after Day Four.