Run to the wall-- the finale

Today was the day for the final run to the viet nam memorial wall. This is not just a ride but a demonstration to encourage our government not to ever forget our POW'S and MIA's. We were up early this morning to eat a quick bite and get the sccots ready to rumble. Had to have the wheels turning at 6:30. Got to the first staging point on time and hooked up with marilyn stemp,editor of iron works magizine. She rode on the back of dirty gurl to shoot the scene from the front of the crowd. Interesting ride for her as there is no seat or pegs for a passenger. I put a towel on the luggage rack and she simply hung her feet straight down. This was a very precarious position to say the least but she was a trooper. I warned her when ever I saw a bump since dirty gurl is a hard tail with no rear shocks. We had no close calls but a few "ugh. That hurt." she got some pics that were off the charts and was the ONLY motorcycle mag person with that perspective. Good on ya marilyn. Look forward to the pics. We moved several times before finally coming to a rest at the head of the line at the pentagon parking lot. This was close to 8am so a full 4 hours before the ride was to begin. As we sat ,we watched the hundreds of thousands of bikes continue to fill the 40 acre parking lot at the pentagon. There we potties and food set up to take care of the masses. People came from over 100 miles away where they had lined up in remote staging areas. Groups of 50-100 bikes would arrive with a police escort from their own locality. It kept the day from getting boring. At one point a fellow came by with a little dog dressed in a flak vest and helmet. Excellent photo op. The dogs name-Patton. Very fitting. Close to noon we were told to line up and put a fire in the hole. We were not sure of how the line up would go but were hopeful we would be in the front. Low and behold it was better than we hoped. Kiwi LEAD THE DAMn PARADE. How cool is that? The first 5 bikes were the military bikes built to honor each branch. Dirty gurl was the 6 th bike and my friend Brian from brass balls bobbers,the builder of the navy bike,was 7th. So off we go parading before a million people in the next 5 miles. Needless to say it was a goose bump moment during the entire route. People waving flags,taking pics and videos and just generally excited to see the ambiance of the rolling thunder beginning. We rolled over the bridge and down constitution avenue. Turned past the Capitol and let the moment envelop me. It was exhilarating. Never to be duplicated. The perfect denouement to the trip. I will never come back and do this again. It could not be any better. Once the run was over I sat under a shade tree listening to the thunder of hundreds of thousands of bikes follow our trail. I was spent and exhausted. The adventure was over. As the days and weeks roll on I will reflect on this experience. Probably many times. I relish the chance to feel all of the emotions again. As I relay the various stories to my wife and friends I will do my best to recreate what I felt,saw,tasted and heard. Sadly we head west tomorrow in the truck. The horse will head for the barn. Best stay out of the way. Hope you enjoyed our trip. We did our best to help you feel the good and the bad. It is not enough to see it,you have to feel it. Livin' large and heading back to reality. Dirty gurl out.