CHAPTER SIX: DAY 4 WE SHOULD NEVER FORGET

 DON’S MILES:  TODAY 22.4   TOTAL TRIP 886.1

BRETT’S MILES:   TODAY 22.4   TOTAL TRIP 673.7 

It is finally here.  This is the day of the Rolling To Remember parade of motorcycles to raise awareness of the mental heath crisis stealing thousands of veterans’ lives a year and demand a full accounting for America’s MIA’s and POW’s.  Those participating in the ride will start to stage in the Pentagon parking lot at 7:00 AM to ready themselves for a noon start time.

All the riders at the hotel were in the hotel’s breakfast area pretty early.  In fact, there was no food yet but only coffee and juice.  To be honest, that was about any of us needed.  Both Brett and I were there along with the Run To The Wall rider from Odessa, TX and the two Ohio riders who were going to participate in the Rolling To Remember.  The conversation of who had the best story (true or otherwise) that we had started yesterday continued.  Before long the two Ohio riders left for the Pentagon and the rider from Odessa started packing his bike so he could start his ride back home.  This is just a guestimate on my part but I am thinking that in a 2 week period he put around 10,000 miles on his motorcycle.

Brett and I readied ourselves to ride into DC where we would watch and support the parade.  We put the water that we had bought yesterday in our bags so we would have plenty of fluids to drink.  There are pluses and minuses to that.  On the plus side, we could stay hydrated and apparently that is a healthy thing to be.  On the minus side, we were going to be sitting where there were no Port-a-Potties.

We headed out of the hotel and whipped around the block to get onto I-66.  The first thing you notice is the crowd of people standing on the overpass waving hands and flags.  Not only on the overpass right by the hotel but on every single overpass all the way into Downtown. When we got on the ramp the police were temporarily blocking it to let a special motorcycle delegation by that was heading to the Pentagon.  When they had passed our ramp we headed out…….with everyone else that was stuck on the ramp……..for DC.

In previous years when the event was sponsored by Rolling Thunder the bikes poured into the Memorial area and FILLED all the open grass fields.  They would be told not to park there and they would get towed, however, after TENS OF THOUSANDS of bikes pulled in…..well, there just aren’t that many tow trucks on the whole East Coast.  One of the reasons Rolling Thunder stopped the sponsorship was that the city was no longer going to tolerate uncontrolled parking.  Amvets took over the sponsorship and agreed to the city’s demands.  Of course, this was all news to me and Brett and we just tooled on down to the district happy as clams………..UNTIL…………we got there.

The city had COMPLETELY closed off many, many, MANY blocks and all access to the Memorial area.  They had EVERY street blocked with police cares, snow plows, and even city utility cherry picker trucks.  There was absolutely no way to ride or drive in.  We actually got a pretty good place to park near the Washington Monument.  Heck, I’ll bet we didn’t have to walk more than 7 or 8 HUNDRED MILES.  Brett’s GPS said we only walked ¾ of a mile…….personally, I think he should send it back because it is obviously broken.

We got ourselves a good spot to watch the parade pass.  We made very, very sure that there were absolutely NO Port-a-Potties anywhere near us within walking distance.  We were set up by 10:30.   The ride would start from the Pentagon parking lot at noon meaning that they would start passing us around 12:10 or 12:15.  We entertained ourselves talking with those around us.  I had an extra “camp chair” that I didn’t like.  The chair itself was ok BUT when sitting in it I would be only 4 inches off the ground…….HA!  Watching me trying to get out of that thing would be…….well, if videoed it would win the $20,000 on America’s Funniest Videos.  I saw an old guy across the street standing so I took it over to him and told him he could have it.  I didn’t see what happened to him or the chair.  For all I know, he sat in it and couldn’t get out of it and is still there.

Right at 12:10 the parade started around the corner by the Lincoln Memorial.  On the media there were two individuals in full uniform.  One was Army and one was Marine.  Both stood at attention and held a salute for the ENTIRE TIME the parade passed.  This year that took about an hour and a half.  I have no idea how many bikes there were but……for an hour and a half they passed us 3 and 4 abreast and going about 30 MPH…….so, I would say there were a lot of them.  Brett and I waved, saluted, took pictures, took videos, and enjoyed watching the thousands of patriots.

After the last bike passed us by, we folded up our chairs and started the 7 or 8 hundred mile trek back to our bikes.  I suggested that the next time we come that we needed to reserved an uber to take us to and from where we park our bikes.  ALSO, I think that it would be a good idea to rent our own Port-a-Potty and have it set where we will be sitting (downwind of course).  After reaching our bikes, we were busying ourselves stowing chairs, water, cameras, and etc. back into the bikes when three people walked up.  There were two men and a woman with a slight Asian look.  In very broken English the woman asked if they could take their picture with the bikes AND with us.  Of course we agreed although I did jokingly tell them that there would be a $500 fee.  It turns out that they were from Tajikistan…….HUH?  Yeah, I had never heard of it either.  The woman, who was the only one that could speak English much at all, said that she lives here now and these were her brothers.  We could swear that she said that one was the President.  They were very enjoyable people and were very happy to be allowed to take the pictures.  We did look up the president and it definitely wasn’t the guy BUT we saw another dignitary that did look like him.  If we ever figure out where the heck Tajikistan is, who knows, maybe we will be on the front page of their newspapers.

After our hob-nobbing with the rich and famous, we jumped on the bikes and headed out.  Brett had dropped his laptop and busted the power switch so he wanted to go to a Best Buy to see what he could do to solve his problem.  We tracked down a Best Buy that was only about 5 miles from the hotel and he went in…..come to find out, the only way to solve his problem was to buy a new laptop.  Most people are very happy when they have a new computer but Brett was moaning, groaning, grumbling, and mumbling.  Then again, it may have been just because he was hungry.  As for me, I was a happy camper because while he was shelling out a bunch of money I found the Best Buy restroom and made up for the hours of abstinence.

To solve the hunger issue Brett saw a Moe’s in the same center the Best Buy was in.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Moe’s.  However, I didn’t feel like getting a counter order burrito.  I wanted to sit at a table and have someone SERVE ME.   I mean, we just met some guy from Tajikistan for crying out loud.  That should be worth some service………right?  While Brett continued to grumble packing the computer into his bike I hurriedly checked my phone and, voila, problem solved.  There was a Red Robin a couple blocks away……and a couple blocks closer to the hotel.  Yay, off to Red Robin we went for some burgers, steak fries, beer, root beer float, and a cinnamon roll tower (don’t ask).  Life was all good again.

It was an easy-peasy ride to the hotel.  We each went to our rooms for an hour of winding down, catching up on emails, texts, and Facebook, and then were to meet with our chairs to sit in the parking lot by the bikes.  We did and, once again, we seemed to be a magnet for passers-by.   One in particular was a Korean gentleman who was staying at the hotel.  His name was Jon……I am sure that was an Americanization of his Korean name.  He spoke very broken English but he was having so much fun listening to the stories Brett and I were telling.  Finally, after 3 hours we had to tell Jon that we had to go to bed.  Besides, it was starting to sprinkle.  He said he was leaving for Boston in the morning so we said goodbye to him.

We headed to our rooms.  It was a really great day…..exciting, humbling, rewarding.  We all need more days like that.  And, as you will see, tomorrow should be more of the same.  Talk to you after Day 5.

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.

CHAPTER FOUR: DAY 2 THE TWO WANDERERS JOIN UP

 

DON’S MILES:  TODAY 345.1   TOTAL TRIP 830.1

BRETT’S MILES:  TODAY 264.2   TOTAL TRIP 617.7 

I’m going start right off by saying…..what a day.  I hope that I can fit it all into one blog post.

For starters I got up and ran a couple of things out to my bike…..YIKES!!!  It was COLD.  The good, old weather person maintained their reputation of missing the mark.  Long story short…..it was not supposed to be real hot nor was it to be real cold.  Just a nice temp morning, noon, and night.  There was a whole group there from Florida on their way to DC.  Their jackets had the name Buffalo Soldiers.  They were a lot of husband/wife couples.  Unlike me, they were dressed for the cold.  Of course, they were ALL dragging little trailers behind their bikes so they had room for all kinds of extra stuff.  Me?  Well, if I didn’t think I would need it I didn’t pack it.  So, I was cold.

Got a message from Brett early telling me that he was hitting the road at 6:30.   Good for him.  I was not quite as ambitious and didn’t leave until 7:30.   I meandered around the other bikes and riders talking with them a bit.  Then I headed back inside to THAW OUT and to have breakfast.  After my “free” breakfast I finished up packing, made sure that the Day 1 blog was posted, and out I went.  I’m not sure but I think that out of my window I saw a mama polar bear and two cubs drinking Cokes.  I could have been mistaken but…………

I did a quick stop at the Mobil station at the corner to top off the tank.  I jumped onto I-95 and headed north.  The sky was a bright blue with only slight whispers of clouds to add to the visual beauty.  However, the beauty stopped with the visual because it was FREAKIN’ COLD.  Nevertheless, like a real trooper I motored on.  Traffic was light, which was good.  The wind that I experience on Day 1 was continuing to howl.  The wind stayed strong for most of the ride and finally let up as I rode north of Richmond.

I got to the North Carolina/Virginia state line and pulled into a One 9 truck stop.  You will be happy to note that I did a normal “on the road” meal.  I got a bag of mini glazed donuts, a small bottle of orange juice, and a HOT coffee.  I sat next to the bike and gave Lisa a call.  We chatted a bit until it was time for me to drag my leg over the seat and get going again.  I sent a message to a great friend who lives in Virginia.  We hoped that we could hook up.  He told me that he wasn’t too far from Virginia Exit 104 which is about 20 miles or so north of Richmond.  There is a McDonald’s at the exit and a Love’s Truck Stop and I told him that I would pull in, fill my tank, and head for Mickey D’s parking lot and that I should be there by noon.

Like clockwork, I pulled into the Love’s gas pump area just minutes before noon, did a gas ‘n go fill-up, and headed over to McDonald’s.  Oh boy, Oh boy, Oh boy……I had a bunch of coffee and orange juice to get rid of so I rushed into the restaurant to…….ARGH……..find and handwritten note on the door of the Men’s Room saying “restroom not working”.  Apparently, they thought it a good idea to have a new urinal installed during lunch.  So, there was a line of guys (3 of us) waiting to use the women’s room.  Of course, for some reason, they thought it necessary to insure that it was not in use.  I told them that, temporarily, we were identifying as women…….it wasn’t funny then and, as I read it, it isn’t too funny now either.  Naturally, they were done with the installation 15 minutes later.

I sat and waited, writing in my journal, and munching on a cheeseburger (that’s about all I can afford at McDonald’s anymore).  I figured that I would give my bud until 1:45.   I hadn’t heard from him so I really wasn’t sure.  When the time came, I hopped on the bike to leave.  I was sorry because I hadn’t seen him since he moved to Virginia several months ago.

While this was going on, Brett was tooling on U.S. highways through the mountains.  He had a chilly start but a really great ride.  He had his two action cameras going.  One is his helmet which basically is looking wherever he is looking (I hope that he isn’t wearing it if we go to Hooters).  The other is a “360 camera” that videos a front view and a rear view at the same time.  That way he will know where he’s heading and, at the same time, he will know where he’s been.

I started my last leg into D.C. by leaving McDonald’s and getting on I-95 again with only 75 or 80 miles to go.  The last 40 miles leading into Arlington was SLOW & GO!!  For probably 30 of those 40 miles I was not able to leave 2^nd gear.  It dragged on and on.  All of a sudden…..YIKES……I needed to exit and I had to cross 4 lanes to do it.  AND those 4 lanes were PACKED with bumper to bumper cars that were filled with people who were as tired of the SLOW & GO as I was.  The last they cared about was that OLD guy on the motorcycle trying to change lanes.  So, before I knew it I was being “welcomed” into Maryland.  I found an exit that I could do a turn around in.  Tried to determine where I was and………dag nab it…….I wound up in Downtown D.C.  I spotted the Washington Monument and thought “ah ha, now I got my bearings and I can get to the hotel”.  Not so fast, Grasshopper.  I was facing the back of the monument but I thought that I was on the side of it.  I followed that street and……bam…..I had to do it all over again.  With actually very little swearing, I got myself to the right spot, whipped onto I-66, and in 10 minutes I was pulling into the Arlington Econo Lodge.  The 75 or 80 miles had turned into 100 miles….le sigh!

I got off the bike and I had 10 text messages.  Several from Brett who was laying comfortably in his room.

We had some good conversation about our respective travels as I was checking in.  I proceeded to throw (literally) my stuff into my room and we walk a half block to a small Mediterranean café.  I couldn’t pronounce most of the stuff on the menu let alone know what it was.  I threw caution to the wind and got penne pasta shrimp thing with some salad type stuff in it.  I said that it looked a little too healthy and my body might reject it.  Nevertheless, I cleaned the dish and it was actually pretty tasty.  I would love to tell you what it was but, frankly, I haven’t a clue what it was.

As we walked back up the hotel parking lot we ran into a couple old guys from Ohio.  They weren’t as old as me (few are) but they still fit into the “old guy” category.  We stood out in the parking lot and chatted with them for over an hour.  It was fun and there was lots of laughter.  There were stories being told by them and stories being told by us.  Statistically, I would say that 40% was untrue, another 50% was embellished, 8% didn’t make any sense, and 2% MIGHT have been a socially acceptable truth.

Finally, we had to say that it was time to get to our rooms.  Brett’s room is next door to mine and when we got to our doors we squeaked something that sounded like a “good night, see you in the morning” and we were gone.

We both did quick phone calls home.  Lisa and I talked for a few minutes and I said that I was really tired and I had a lot of typing to do.  So we hung up.  I typed about a paragraph……..oops, sorry, the first paragraph of this page was all that was typed.  I finished it on Day 3.  But, I slept REALLY good, Brett said that he slept REALLY good.  I would say that getting this post out a few hours late was worth it.

That takes care of Day Two.  Now, stay tuned for Day Three.