Day Eleven

This is the day! The secondary reason why we took on this adventure.

We had breakfast by 7:30am and were at one of the four staging areas at the Pentagon before 9am. Last year, 9am was the perfect time to arrive, but not this year. There were more than 1,000 bikes already there! Here's an idea of how many bikes were there before us. We parked in line at 8:45am. The procession began promptly at noon. It was 2:10pm before we even started our bikes! That's more than 5 hours! During our wait, we walked around the Pentagon, talked with many other riders and I even took a nap.

Last September 11th, the Memorial for those that died when terrorists flew a plane into the Pentagon was opened. It was a well planned site. There were monuments for each person that died that day in D.C. The ramps facing away from the Pentagon displayed names for those that died in the Pentagon and the ramps facing the Pentagon displayed names of the people that died on the airplane. The presentation stone said that a total of 184 people died here that day. The youngest was 3 years old. He was on the plane with his 9-year old sister and his 35-year old father. Can you inagine losing your son, daughter and Husband in the same attack? It's horrible. The oldest was a 71-year old retired Air Force Officer. The memorial was well thought out and serene.

As I said, the ride started in rows promptly at noon. When we finally started moving, it was already after 2pm. The ride route took us by the American History Museum, The White House and countless other famous buldings. People were standin behind crowd barriers on both sides of the street waving American flags and holding signs thanking veterans for their service. In some areas, people were standing on the side of the street asking for "high-fives" or to rev up our motors. I was great to see so many people cheering us on.

The procession ended at one of the many War Memorial parks. Literally thousands of motorcycles were in attendance. We walked across the park to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, or "The Wall" as it's known, and then on see the WWII Memorial. "The Wall" is one of the more emotionally moving places I ahve ever been. To see Vietnam Veterans standing with their hand over the name of one of their lost buddies can bring a tear to even the toughest of people. Friends and relatives leave flowers, pictures, notes and even the departed veteran's favorite pack of cigarettes. At each end of this memorial are books that show all of the names and which block they can be found according to birthdates, hometowns, duty station or company. Then you can take a special cut of paper provided, along with a pencil, and transfer the name of the person onto this paper by rubbing the pencil lead back and forth over the name. That's a very nice touch to provide another form of remembrance for friends and family. There are also Wall volunteers that will provide this service, especially if the name is too high to reach.
This was an extremely moving experience for all.

We were back at the hotel by about 5pm to do some laundry and get packed. We plan to get on the road 10am.

The weather forecast here is for thunderstorms all day for Washington D.C. and scattered thunderstorms for most of the way southbound. It looks to be a rough start for our trek back home.

I'll write more when I can.