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Tourer
Posts: 444
Bay of Gigs, WA | Boy, am I stiff & sore today. Built the front and back walls of my (soon to be) new greenhouse, got the back one stood up, but the front is too heavy for one guy. Gonna have to call in my posse. I'm getting a little long in the tooth for this stuff, I guess.
Also went on the bike run yesterday, a friend of mines' neighbor was instrumental in having a couple of huge bent, charred beams from the World Trade Center trucked out here to WA from NY. They rode along across country picking up bikes all along the way. Since I was doing my carpentry thing, I only had time to meet the convoy in Purdy at the park-n-ride across the street from the Flotation Device Pub, about 3 miles from my house. I fell in at the rear of the procession along with about 80 bikes from the same stop and rode along up highway 16 to the the Kitsap Mall in Silverdale, about 30 miles north. I personally never saw anything like it, there were about 800 bikes and the cops had every onramp blocked off all along the way, and people were standing on all the overpasses waving flags and cheering. The comeradery was palpable, misty eyes were the order of the day.
I saw only 6 or 7 Victory's, but I was the only one with Vision. And I noticed, parked around all those hogs, I better get busy and pick up some bling for this thing, chrome wheels, at least. Too bad I need a home equity loan to buy some. I'll be glad when they're cheap enough to pick up for a song on Craigslist. Still, it was quite the center of interest, and a ton of positive sentiments were freely expressed.
The beams will be made into some kind of memorial to 9-11 up there, and when the bikes pulled in, literally filling the parking lot at the mall there, there were 60 sailors in dress whites at attention, saluting the truck and all the bikers, and two big ladder fire trucks with their booms out to make an arch and a huge flag hanging down.
There were a lot of local dignitaries vying for time at the mike, of course, but I have to admit, when the Star Spangled Banner was sung, followed by God Bless America, there were a lot of moist eyes in the place. Extremely emotional and moving moments, for sure.
I left without hearing all the speeches though, as it was getting late and I needed to get the back wall stood up before dark. When it quits raining out here, you gotta move fast, before it gets normal again.
But for about two hours there, I felt I was really a part of something, kind of a tying together of the East and West Coasts over a powerful event in American history. Something I'll ponder for some time.
Quite a day, indeed.
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | thanks for sharing ryder and it sets the tone of how many people have not forgotten. There is an event I'm hoping to partake next year on the anniversary of the 9/11 that will ride the flight pattern of the planes, 1,500 miles in a 36 hour period.
It is awesome to see such a gather of bikes and I have participated in Rolling Thunder where approximatley over 200,000 bikes rolled the streets of D.C. to Wall. This past year over 300,000 and plenty of videos to display the magnitude of participation. One day I hope to ride from the west coast back to the east coast for one of the run for the wall, so many great stories come from that as well to include the one of the elementary school in W. Va that plays host to the bikers as they come through.
God Bless the USA! |
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Visionary
Posts: 1484
LaPorte,Tx. | We must never forget 9/11! Thanks for letting us know about this memorial. Also, don't be ashamed about parking the Vision with the HDs. I doesn't need anything to look special. |
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Tourer
Posts: 444
Bay of Gigs, WA | Fascinating. I've spoken with several people and NONE of them saw anything about this event on the local news, even though I saw all the network trucks at the event with their sattelite dishes up. I guess if it isn't derisive or divisive, it gets spiked. Wouldn't want anything positive about America or it's citizens to get on the news now, would we?
Makes me sick. |
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Tourer
Posts: 523
seattle, wa | rainryder - 2010-08-24 10:38 AM
Fascinating. I've spoken with several people and NONE of them saw anything about this event on the local news, even though I saw all the network trucks at the event with their sattelite dishes up. I guess if it isn't derisive or divisive, it gets spiked. Wouldn't want anything positive about America or it's citizens to get on the news now, would we?
Makes me sick.
I heard about it from my mother, I then looked online at Seattletimes.com and also king5.com and neither one of them mentioned it. I finally found a snippet about it in the local kittitas county paper, The Daily Record. I wanted to watch the procession go by as I live right along hwy 18 but I missed it. I would've liked to been another Vision among all the HDs.
Funny thing, I was over in Cle Elum the weekend it was coming through and I was noticing all the HD guys heading over to Ellensburg to meet with the truck and I couldn't help but laugh at all the guys that had the HD Scowl.
Must haves for the brand X bikes: 1. Do-rag
2. Chaps
3. beanie helmet
4. scowl
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Tourer
Posts: 444
Bay of Gigs, WA | It's 9/11 tomorrow, and my Mom was born on that date, turned 80 the day they lit two of the biggest candles on the planet for her. I'll never forget where I was on that day, and I'll bet no one else on here has, either.
How spooky it was not to hear any aircraft for the next three days following. There are a lot of airports around here, from SeaTac, to Boeing, to McChord/Fort Lewis, Whidby Island, not to mention all the little municipal airports that serve the civil pilots. There's almost literally not been a moment in my life without some kind of plane buzzing in the background or jetting overhead. To not hear it was like going back to the stone age.
I'm blasphemously putting the VV Street on the trailer behind the motorhome and heading south to CA for a family reunion tomorrow, 9/11, going to use the bike as a dinghy and to show off to the inlaws down where the sun is still shining. Our three weeks of summer are up, up here, so now it's catch as catch can for riding.
(I'm not scared of riding in the rain, but with my back, I AM terrified of dirty motorcycles!) |
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Visionary
Posts: 1340
Gainesville Fl Home of the Gators | I hope they make something like this out of the steel. A nice little remider of Teddy Rosevelt's white fleet. From the good old days when carrying a big stick was what America was about.
I give you the USS New York. LPD-21. A ship with it's bow stem forged from the WTC
(uss_new_york_630x480.jpg)
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 uss_new_york_630x480.jpg (52KB - 0 downloads)
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Tourer
Posts: 444
Bay of Gigs, WA | Well, Osama Bin Laden
Was a very nasty man...
He blew up our twin towers
And fled to Pakistan...
And though it took us ten years,
We tracked him to his place,
Then sent in Navy Seals
And they shot him in the face!
(Sung to and with apologies to Roy Acuff, who wrote "The Wabash Cannonball." |
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Tourer
Posts: 492
Indianapolis, IN | I rode in a similar event to downtown Indy a few weeks ago. It was estimated that 10000+ bikes were involved in the ride. I have to say this is one of the most moving things I have ever participated in. They are building a memorial to the fire fighters that volunteered from Indiana to go to ground zero the day after it happened. Here are some links to the event, when you play the youtube link you will see many more videos in the sidebar that pertain to the same event, enjoy! http://www.project911indianapolis.org/Project_911_Indianapolis/Home.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9UfYGUZiXg |
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Iron Butt
Posts: 965
New York State | There is the Freedom Run every year out of Hackensack NJ over the GW to Ground Zero it helps people who have gotten ill since helping out at the site. Bergen HD is the sponser
http://www.bergenharleydavidson.com/photo_detail.asp?photo=403200
Edited by Trekwolf164 2011-05-03 11:21 AM
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WTC Scrap Steel Ride
