We slept in ‘till 7:00 and had breakfast at I-Hop with a lot of our NVAR riding friends. After breakfast we said good bye to Einar as he was riding back to Chicago today and catching a plane back to Norway on Sunday night.
A few of us left at 10:00 or so to go to Fort Washington Harley Davidson. That was altogether another degree of difficulty. Gary & Nancy were leading us ‘cause they had a GPS unit that wouldn’t turn itself off like mine does. Apparently the GPS units can only do so much. We made a few U-turns, (my specialty) before we figured to follow other bikes and assume that they knew where they were going! We finally found it. The traffic directors told me I could not go in to the store parking lot. I told the first one that the service department is waiting for me. He let me ride farther in. The next guy told me the same thing and my answer worked with him also. So I rode to the line for the service dept., turned around and parked on a corner so pictures could be taken from all angles. I figured someone from the service dept. would want to come out and take some pictures also. (That is my way of justifying what I told the traffic guards!) I passed out a whole lot of cards with my Web site on it and quite a few people came up to me and said they remember seeing me the last couple of years.
Drew took my HOG card and got me signed up to get my Rolling Thunder HOG Pin. They mail them to you in 4-6 weeks like before. Cliff bought me a t-shirt while I was busy with a crowd. After an hour and a half of ‘show and tell’, we left for the DC Ramblers club house.
The DC Ramblers were established in 1937. The folks there are a class act. All the guys & gals were very glad our NVAR riders made it for conversation and lunch. They had a lot of baked ham, which was delicious, and green beans with ham, rolls and chips. They topped off our tremendous feast with enough cake for twice as many as there were of us. All of the guys & gals there were like brothers & sisters, aunts & uncles (the good kind that you like!). They made all of us feel like family. I don’t know how many other groups or people are welcomed there like we were, but it was top notch!
After a while, we left to find our way to Thunder Alley. That is where a lot of vendors are. We parked by the WWII Memorial and walked quite a way to finally get to Thunder Alley. It is at 2100 Constitution way. Very crowded, with shoulder to shoulder people. I bought a couple of sleeveless t-shirts, and a gel pad for Joni. She never asked for one, but I think it should help with less fatigue for her in the long run. We left Joni & Nancy sitting in the shade on the lawn, while we walked way back to the bikes. We finally got away from the crowd and worked our way to our gals. They got on and we made our way back to the motel. Larry & Svein were waiting for our return, so we could go to Outback for dinner. It was a very good dinner, but we had to leave quickly as Cynthia & Randy, Gary & Nancy, were to meet Drew & Cliff to do a 3 and a half hour bus tour of DC sights. Joni was still riding with me all day, as she left her bike back at the motel.
When we returned, a few of the guys from F Troop, who were at the Comfort Inn, right next door, came over for a tour of my bike. A lot of the guys could relate to some of the stuff that has happened to my shovelhead along this run. They are a real cool bunch of guys. One of them gave me a Nam colored kerchief last year and he tied it on the back of my bike. Unfortunately, he didn’t tie it on good enough, and it was donated to the High Speed Wind Gods and ended up who knows where. He came over to look for it where he tied it on last year and asked me where it was. When I told him what probably happened, I asked him if he had another one. He said he would try to find one for me. Last year, he asked me if I was a Nam Vet, as he was holding one to give me. I told him, “No, but I’m very proud to be riding with a bunch of good friends who were Nam Vets.” That was good enough for him, and he tied it on.
Joni & I, Larry & Svein were just getting ready to ride to town to see the monuments at night, when some friends came back and said that there was a big wreck on 395 north bound, and had the whole freeway shut down. They said the backup was miles long. That put the kibosh on our night time adventure. So we stayed around the motel and visited. Keith and Les from Dallas, Oregon (hi Vicky) came into our room and told us of some of their tales of the ride to the Wall. It was quite interesting. I’m sure glad to be a member of the NVAR ride! We also talked with Mary, from New York, who is Karl’s sister. Karl has a B&B close to Niagara Falls. She showed it to me on the net. After more conversation, Joni & I finally called it a night. I set the alarm for 5:20 am to get breakfast and get ready to ride to the Pentagon parking lot to stage for the big Rolling Thunder XXI protest parade. Earlier I had gotten fuel with Randy and I took 4.89 gallons. Cutting it pretty close for a set of 5 gallon tanks!!! Night….
