Friday morning of our departure to DC, it was overcast, chilly and rainy. And it stayed that way for most of the ride down to Washington, DC. Oh well, we paid our dues and were rewarded with fantastic weather for the rest of the week. Can't complain about that!
Greg and Billy met me at my house. Ed was supposed to meet us there as well, but when KSU time arrived and no Ed, I called his house. Sue informed me that he was meeting us at the gas station. Huh. That's not what he told me a few days ago, but ok. So the three of us headed over to Jan and Steve's and set our kickstands briefly while those folks got their bikes rolled out and ready. My phone starts ringing. It's Ed. "Which gas station am I supposed to be going to?" Arghhh... We get that straightned out, he hangs up, we all roll out, and everybody meets up at the correct gas station. Whew!
We gas up and hit the road. Oh yeah; my radio shit the bed a few days before this trip, so I had no time to get it fixed. Which means I'm music-less for the whole trip. And the potential problem for this is that any song I hear (or think of), anywhere, even if it's only a few bars, has the potential to become lodged in my brain, to be repeated over and over, for hundreds of miles. Case in point; as we were pulling out of the gas station, there was a chipmunk poking its head out of the ground under one of the bushes beside the exit. Seeing the chipmunk reminded me of a nature video clip where it shows chipmunks stealing nuts from each other. Tom Sellick narrates it. Tom Sellick played Magnum P.I. And that's how I got the theme song from Magnum P.I. stuck in my head for most of the ride down...
Some action photos for you...Here's one of our stops. I don't remember if it was first or ninth, but you can see the wet conditions.
I'm not sure Ed's method of waterproofing his gear is the best way to go...
The folks behind the BK counter at the highway rest stop couldn't get our orders right. Everyone's sandwiches were mixed up. And not just with each other, I mean biscuits were mixed with muffins, cheese was on the wrong ones, bacon was missing from where it was supposed to be, and found where it wasn't supposed to be. It was so bad it was comical.
Walt Whitman rest area...still wet...oh, and the temps?
...they were dropping...
Anyway, we eventually made it down to DC. Steve and Jan had peeled off for their hotel and us guys continued on to K's house where we pulled up, set the kickstands, received great hugs from K, and headed inside. Inside, where K had nice cold Bud Lights waiting for us!!
After we'd cleaned up a bit, it was time to jump back on the bikes and head off to Old Town. We managed to find a spot to line the bikes up to the curb, and as we were dismounting, this random woman (Karyn) came out of the restaurant we were in front of, shook our hands, thanked us for showing support for the troops...then asked us where we were going. Turns out she was hanging out with her "boring" husband and wanted to go somewhere fun. Their daughters (and their boyfriends) were also inside, and they, too, were apparently boring. We wished her well, said we were headed off to dinner, and hoped she had a good weekend.
We ambled down the street a ways to O'Donnell's, our destination, and soon had secured a nice booth in the upstairs level.
We had barely ordered a drink, than who should come walking up? Karyn! Seems she'd collected her brood from the other restaurant and had followed us here. We were exchanging creepy looks with each other, but then Karyn made everything good again - she started buying us rounds! Ok, well come on in and party then! (The rest of her family pulled up a table on the outskirts and conversed amongst themselves.) After a couple of hours, Karyn had had enough (as evidenced by her lack of vertical stability) and was lightly escorted out by her very understanding family. Bye Karyn!
K's friend Coleen met up with us here, too. She was an amazing and humbling person to meet. She and her husband had what sounded like the fairy tale love, had been married for 20 (21?) years, had children...the perfect life. He had served in Iraq and Afghanistand but wound up contracting cancer. Once diagnosed, he passed within two years. They had been living in Washington state, but he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Her love for him was/is too great to be apart from him, so she moved to Virginia to be near him. A very sad story, and her strength was amazing.
After we'd all eaten and had a few drinks, we headed off to another bar. I don't recall the name of it, but the bartender was very cool. She wasn't just a bartender, she was a mixologist. Apparently there's a significant difference, and we all got into a cool conversation about flavoring drinks and such. I'm not talking about with fruit flavors, but with things like essences, and BITTERS! These things were lined up on the bar - check out the spelling of "bitters" on the Boston one! (Look closely, under the word "Boston".)
After giving us some free drinks, she then went on to wow us with her craft. Taking things like tequila and gin, and concocting drinks using these bitters as well as other essences. The drinks were amazing! We could see her mixing the (usually) strong tasting alcohols into the drinks, but they came out so smooth and gentle. We were very impressed.
The night was getting late (very late - we'd stayed beyond last call) so we all headed back to K's for some much needed, and well deserved, shuteye.
The next morning, we were up early and off to the Capitol. Billy has a buddy he used to work with who is now a Capitol cop and who arranged for us to receive a behind-the-scenes tour of the Capitol Building. Very cool! Here's some shots of that.
Ok, this was us, parked out on the street. We didn't know what building this was, but when someone asked, I told them it was the Parthenon. I think they believed me.
The fountains in front of the building across the street from the Capitol Building. Someone asked what building this was, and not knowing the answer, I came up with the Acropolis. (Apparently these people weren't familiar with Athens.)
Ta da! The Capitol!
A grand building...
Reflected in the pools out front...
The polished halls were so cool!
One of the main rooms, full of statues...
The dome (I think the room was called the Rotunda). 18 stories high!! The other amazing thing about this room was the acoustics. This room is also called the Whispering Room. Our guide had us stand in one spot, then she walked yards and yards away from us, bowed her head, and spoke so quietly that we would have been hard pressed to hear her, had she been standing right next to us. And yet, we heard her loud and clear! Apparently the curved walls and ceiling work to amplify sound waves in certain parts of the room. It was a very cool thing to witness!
The frieze circling the Rotunda. Very cool art depiction here...
The sconces were all converted from gas lamps.
This shot is looking directly overhead. The walls were all painted with that tan color you see in the top of the pic. Noone even knew the marbleized detail even existed beneath it until just recently when some paint restorers stumbled upon it. It'll take years and years, but I believe the intent is to eventually try and restore it. (No one knows why it would have even been painted over in the first place.)
More amazing hallways...
A couple hundred years ago when this was being build, fresh concrete was poured for the floor. Someone apparently wasn't watching the house cat, because it wound up leaving a memento of itself behind.
The old supreme court room...
The sign says "This Corridor Closed". There were a lot of these signs we were able to ignore and keep on exploring beyond. It's good to know people!
A nice shot of some building off in the distance.
This is the balcony that the sitting president goes out onto when he's making a declaration or delivering a speech to the populace. Billy went out on it and we tried to snap pics, but the sunlight was too bright and he just kept coming out as a silhouette.
Our guide (Kathy Talbot) told us at this point that every person that works in the Capitol has their "stupidest question", and that hers had been asked of her right at this very spot. If you look in the distance of that above pic, you can see the Washington Monument. It's encased in staging at the moment, as they do repairs on it from the minor earthqake that hit here last year. At any rate, a lady from a group of tourists once asked Kathy if that was the Eiffle Tower. We could only assume the lady was from a different country, but alas, no. She was an American. Sad!
After that, we saddled up and went...well...we couldn't really decide. We had dinner plans off at K's roommate's restaurant, but that wasn't for a few hours, still. So, without any set destination in mine, I said let's just ride. That was agreed upon so I proceeded to lead the crew on some lefts, rights, straightaways, more turns...and out of the city. Whoops. I guess we should have had someone familiar with the territory, leading us. At any rate, I spotted an exit sign for Arlington National Cemetery and we eased our way back into the city limits. At this point, I figured it would be a good idea to find a quiet spot to pull over so we could collectively get a plan into place. The roadway led us around behind the cemetery and there was a long stretch of open parking spots which seemed like a great place to pull over. There were two bikes parked up a ways from us, but I didn't think twice about it as we lined our bikes up under the shade of the overhanging trees. No sooner had we set our stands than one of the guys parked up ahead of us came ambling down and asked me if we were with the American Legion Riders (we were wearing our vests). I said that we were ALR, but probably weren't who he was looking for, since we were simply pulling over to get a plan into place for our next destination. He informed us that he and his buddy were the road captains for a planned ride into Arlington National Cemetery for a wreath laying ceremony, that tons of bikes were about to show up, and if we would like to join them, we were more than welcome...
Let me get this straight...we'll get to RIDE into ANC?? Hell yeah, we want to be a part of that! So he had us pull up behind him (putting us right into the front!), and not a minute later, about 95 bikes pulled up behind us. Talk about timing! If we'd arrived only a few minutes later than we had, the whole row would have been filled with bikes, and I would have just kept on going, still looking for a quiet spot to pull over. Talk about chance!
Here's pics of us lined up and waiting for our group to go in...
Once we rolled in, we encircled a rotary within the grounds and set the stands...
...and from there, walked over to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We got to see the changing of the guard, followed by the wreath laying ceremony.
When that was finished, we all walked back to the bikes. Arlington National Cemetery is an amazing place - seeing all the markers, each with a flag placed one boot length in front. There was a bit of a breeze blowing, and to see the rows and rows of white granite, along with the flags blowing gently...it was beautiful and sad at the same time.
After rolling out of ANC, we headed off to James' restaurant for some grub. It was a great feed (BBQ, mmm!) After that it was time to head back to K's to take care of some things around the house for her (each year, we tell her to have some tasks lined up for us so that we can feel like we're earning our lodging. She took it easy on us this year, and we had things taken care of in no time).
We were planning on kicking back and relaxing for a bit before heading off to the bar to catch the B's. Game time was 7 o'clock, which gave us about an hour of down time. Billy happened to be texting with his wife, and she commented that the game was almost on. What? A quick check on-line for the start time...crap! It's on early! We gotta go! So we quick-changed, hopped onto the bikes and headed off to Murphys! THE Boston bar in DC!
And here's where we had another instance of "right place, right time". When we approached the hostess at the door, we asked for a table. She said she had just one available, and led us in. The one table happened to be smack dab in the middle of the place. No worries! We settled right in and set to the beerfreshments and fun with earnest. We watched the B's cruise to a win, closing out the series, and we led some good-hearted cheers around the bar.
Billy's friend Jamie (the Capitol Cop) shows up and we insist on buying him drinks for hooking us up with the tour, earlier. He insists on buying us drinks for coming down to DC. So the rounds went back and forth and you know how that goes. Fun!
Now about this time, the place starts packing up. There's a singer that begins setting up on stage right behind us. I mean; right behind us! He's got an acoustic guitar hooked up to an amp and a microphone - not bad, we'll see what he's got. Well, he's got an Irish brogue and starts knocking out some great Irish tunes, and we're having a great time.
We're still wearing our vests (which say Sharon, MA) on them, and the guy calls us out to the whole bar. I mean this in a good way. He salutes us, we salute him, and then he goes on to get the entire place belting out Sweet Caroline, and Charlie on the MTA. Man, we loved that guy!
The next mini-chapter of the night began right about now. A wedding party made their way into the bar - a young group of folks, and they were still decked out in their wedding attire. They mosied off to the back end of the bar and settled in to continue their revelry. Now at some point, and I'm not sure what happened or how it started, but I turned around and saw that one of the groomsmen and Jamie (Billy's friend) were getting into it. Not physically (yet), but quite verbally. They separated and the groomsman went off and got a couple of his buddies and came back. Again, I'm having a great time and didn't see that things had escalated behind me. It became apparent, though, when Greg stood up to intervene. I'm not sure what magic he employed, but he did a fantastic job of calming the situation down and getting each side to back off. The groomsmen went back to their friends and Jamie settled back down with us. Everything's good, right?
A few minutes later, the groomsmen are up at the bar, doing shots. Suddenly, I see Jamie bound up out of his seat and make a beeline for the groomsman he had had words with. Oh boy, here we go...but wait...they're talking...now they're hugging. (Wha??) Now they're doing shots and toasting each other... (DC can be weird at times). Next thing I know, the groomsman is bringing over shots for our entire table. Again, I don't know what magic Greg used, but it sure seemed to work At any rate, all hostility had evaporated and we were all best of friends now and could go back to enjoying the raucously-good music from the guy on stage. He was feeding off of our energy, and we were feeding off of his. At the end of the night, he came up to us to thank us. He said he'd been playing 'to' us for most of the night, and that we'd made the evening a total blast for him. We assured him the feeling was mutual, and he asked if we were going to be there again next year. Absolutely we are, and he said he was going to the bar owner right then and there to request this same night, next year. So we now have that, too, to look forward to!
Alas, all good things must end, and we'd once again blown right through last call and now found ourselves on the roads of DC, after hours. A short ride back to K's for some (again) much needed shuteye. Tomorrow was Rolling Thunder!
The next morning (Sunday), we were up early and off to catch a good-base breakfast. After we ate,we headed back to collect K (she likes her bed in the mornings), and headed off to DC central. Because of the Capitol tour and then the ANC event, we hadn't had a chance to do any sightseeing on the day before. We were hoping to get a chance to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, as well as the Korean and WWII memorials, the Washington Monument, Reflecting Pool and Lincoln Memorial, too. We had to start out at Thunder Alley, though. K had just purchased her own helmet and had tasked each of us with buying her a sticker for it. So we perused the offerings, picked up a few good ones for her (and I got to pick up souvenirs for the kids back home). Unfortunately, time was moving faster than we were, and we weren't able to go check out any of the memorials. SSgt Tim Chambers had arrived and was making the rounds on the corner of 23rd and Constitution, which meant it was time to line up for the coming run.
We took up our positions and soon the bikes began rolling past. This is the main event. This is where the emotions hit. When you see SSgt Chambers standing at full attention, in full dress uniform, in the hot sun, for hours and hours as each bike rolls past, and to see those bikers saluting, shouting encouragement, showing support...it really hits home how much we all have to be thankful for. I say it every year, and I will say it again this year; if you haven't attended this event, you really need to. At least once in your life (although, once you attend, it will be difficult to not attend again).
Here's some pics...
Gold Star Mothers; mothers of service members killed in combat...
After I had left, Greg sent me this photo;
I've seen this young boy before; he's attended past Rolling Thunders, and it's amazing to see how big he's getting. I didn't know the back story to why he comes up and kneels each year. Greg filled me in, though; the boy's father was KIA. Apparently, and understandably, it was a very emotional moment, especially when Tim knelt down with him.
Again; if you haven't attended this event, you need to.
And there you have it, the DC portion of the trip I'd like to say I'll have the NC portion up quickly, but it'll probably be a few days - there's this thing called 'work' that keeps getting in the way. But bear with me as we finally make our way out of DC and head southward to the Smoky Mountains..and the Dragon that lies in wait...
