Rolling Thunder

I've always wanted to go to this event, one of the largest motorcycle events in the US. It's on the Sunday of every Memorial Day weekend for the last 23 years. This year, when my friends asked me if I could go, I was able to say yes. Six of us went up from Fort Myers, a thousand mile trip, one-way.
   The event started to raise awareness of the POW-MIA situation and has broadened to include a salute to all veterans. Last year they said they had 260,000 motorcycles show up and this year were expecting a half-million! The parade started at noon but we were staged at 7am, which put us somewhat toward the front. It still took us 40 minutes to get out of the parking lot after the first bike left. By the way, the parking lot was the north lot of the Pentagon. I have never seen that many motorcycles in one place in my life.

   While we were killing time, a B-52 bomber flew over at low level. Very appropriate, since the name "Rolling Thunder" was first used as a bombing mission name during the Vietnam war where those bombers continuously saturated that country.

    We rode the parade route through downtown DC. There were thousands of people lining the streets, waving, cheering, holding signs and yelling their thanks to the veterans. It was a touching experience. You may not agree with war but the troops say "Hate the game, not the players". The veterans deserve recognition and they got it that day. I'm glad I was there to see and be part of it.

   Many of our group were heading back to Florida the same day so we decided not to attend the activities at the Vietnam memorial. We rode back to the hotel and passed the Pentagon again, where the lot was still half-full of bikes. I don't know if they made the half-million mark but there were a whole lot of motorcycles in Washington that day.