Since were were still conditioning for our Best Buddies Challenge Ride we, at least my wife & I, decided to cruise over to DC and watch the motorcycles stream in. We took the W&OD trail to the Custis Trail to the Mount Vernon Trail and stopped at the Memorial Bridge.
We made it to the Memorial Bridge about 20 minutes before the "parade" began. We parked our trikes and took up a position along the sidewalk with hundreds of other watchers. We stood there for over 90 minutes watching motorcycle after motorcycle stream past, all there to bring awareness to our POW/MIA. Of course the classic "thunderous" Harley-Davidsons were represented well but there was almost every shape & size of bike and rider that you can imagine. Eventually we decided to take advantage of the closed streets around the monuments to get some very safe riding in. We took a tour around the mall area and even answered several questions about the trikes we were on. I began calling our little two person parade the "silent thunder".
We made our way back to the Memorial Bridge only to find the stream continuing. After 2 1/2 hours the bikes were still coming into DC. If you look at a satellite photo of the DC mall area (where the monuments are) you'll see the park space with softball fields and common areas. Every space that didn't have a monument on it or was needed for foot traffic was in use for parking bikes. The last estimate I heard was 500,000 and I wouldn't doubt it!
We returned home via the Mount Vernon Trail to the 4 Mile Run Trail and back to the W&OD. All in a all about 32 miles and a lot of fun.
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