Two Wheeled Tales: Rolling Thunder 2016!

The weather looked clear and welcoming for the entire ride down. Sure; as we got closer to DC the temps would be rising, but that’s always to be expected at this time of year. We met at the Post bright and early and were soon hammering southward toward the coming Thunder.

Our first gas stop was a bit premature, due to one of the guys being unsure how many miles he’d get on a tank. We felt it best to be safe and fueled up after only 130 miles. Finding that the guy still had almost a half a tank of gas meant we didn’t have much to worry about, going forward, which was great. What wasn’t so great is that we got pretty lackadaisical about time, and our first quick stop turned into over half an hour. This became indicative of what would happen on our way down; our stops dragged out too long and we soon lost the advantage over traffic we’d started out with.

We manage to sail through Jersey without issue, even at the dreaded 6-into-3 lane merge which usually ensares us. Last year had been the best we’d seen, with only about a mile of backup. This year blew that record away, though. We didn’t even have to slow down at all! Just cruised right through at top speed. Sweet!

Not even at our next fuel stop, where we found that Chris’ headlight had all but fallen out of his fairing and onto his front fender, could dampen our spirits. We soon had that thing jury-rigged in place and we were back out and sailing along.

Our exuberance was short-lived, though. Nearing the Delaware Memorial Bridge, we quickly found ourselves stopped, feet down, and engines off...then on again…then off again. We inched our way forward at a snail’s pace, eventually deciding to cut over to the right lanes as they seemed to be moving better. That wound up working hugely for us, as once we were through the tolls, we found the reason for the backup; the left-most lane (the one we all wanted, of course) was blocked for construction. Thankfully, having been in the right lanes allowed us to slide on by most of the backup and ease on over at the last minute.

We then arrived at our next bottleneck; the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. Two lanes of creepy-crawly pace. The heat and humidity was beginning to take its toll as it was nearing 11 hours on the road and the temps were flirting with triple digits. Exacerbating things even more was that our friend with the small gas tank was now floating on E again. Dang! We’re only about 20 miles from K’s house! But he was insistent; he did not have enough to make it.

We pulled off to get gas and found ourselves immediately thrust into the heart of the ‘hood. The pumps wouldn’t take credit cards so we had to pay inside (with our credit cards) first, then fill up. As we were doing this (and as Artie was returning the boot that fell off of Chris’ bike…you had to be there), we noticed the flowers…and teddy bear…and votive candle remains…and painted outline, off to the side. Yup; an official memorial for someone who had recently…been shot/been run over/od’d… pick one. Welcome to the ‘Hood! Now let’s get the hell out of here.

We made it back to the parkway, then 695, then 395, then VA7 and finally; Carlin Springs road. We’d arrived! Sweet jesus, we’d arrived! And she had cold Bud Light….cans? What happened to bottles? Just kidding, we didn’t care – we’d arrived!! 12 hours on the road in this heat, but we’d arrived!

We kicked back for a little while, cleaned up, and headed out to get some eats, then off to a Veteran’s fund raiser that K had lined up for us. This turned out to be a Nam Knights event so we occupied ourselves by hanging out in the back alley as the MC members milled about. Later in the evening they had a surprise guest arrive; SSgt Tim Chambers! The Marine who stands at attention on the corner of 23^rd and Constitution during Sunday’s Rolling Thunder event. And this year he had his brand new wife with him. She was going to stand with him this year, so we all shook hands (I think he said he remembered me from Boston but there was a lot of cross talk so I probably imagined it). We chatted with them for a bit then decided to head on toward home as it was getting late. When we arrived, some folks ambled off to bed while the rest of us stayed up too late, as to be expected.

The next morning found us still pretty drained. The prior days trip had done a pretty good job on us. Something else that worked against our “get up and get moving” was that one of K’s friends had come for the weekend and had brought food! She cooked up an entire breakfast feast for the whole lot of us! So rather than us being forced into motion to go get something to eat, then just continue on to the city to check out memorials, we were treated with a full cooked breakfast right where we sat. Fast forward an hour or so and we’d made it out to the back deck, had full bellies, and a lack of motivation to get moving. This carried us well into the early afternoon before we finally realized we needed to get moving to salvage something from the day.

Once we’d finally rallied our lazy asses up and out the door, our first stop was the Legion we’d hit a couple of years ago (here in Arlington). We grabbed a late lunch (dogs and burgers), knocked back a couple of frosties, and enjoyed the music and vendor offerings.

Matt had been texting his progress along his trip southward. Oh, did I forget to mention that Matt joined us this year? He’d left that morning and was making decent time, even working in a brief stop in the Gettysburg area to take in some history and some sights.

He was getting somewhat close so we decided to leave the Legion and take a roundabout way back to K’s house. Along the way we stopped at an Irish pub for a beerfreshment, then went to tackle the last leg home...

And that’s when Chris lost his rear brake. No idea what happened. All weekend long, all day long; it’d been fine. Even coming into the pub’s parking lot; no problem. Now, when he started his bike; no rear brake. So we shut things down and took a look. Absolutely no pressure at all. Pedal was working fine, plunger appears to be working fine, no leaks or evidence of having lost any fluid. Shat the F.

We decided to just get it home and then dive in, which we did. When we arrive, Matt was there! Huzzah! Hugs and handshakes, and a beer or two. We cracked the master cylinder on Chris’ rear brakes and fluid immediately began seeping out. Ok, that’s good. We then cracked the bleeder screw on the caliper. Fluid immediately there, as well. Huh. And still no resistance on the pedal. What gives? For lack of a better idea, we discussed buying new fluid and completely changing it out but we were running out of daylight and decided to push it off to the next day. Dinner was courtesy of Jeana again and we were soon filled to the gills again and ready for the night.

The backstory here is that Murphy’s, our usual Saturday night haunt, had let us down the past couple of years so we’d decided to find a new placed this year. Nothing had been found as a replacement destination so the decision was made to give Murphy’s one quick shot. If it did not show us something by the time our first round was done, we’d move on…

The first good omen was that halfway to Murphy’s, Chris’ rear brake started functioning again. (We still have no explanation. The line wasn’t hot, so the fluid couldn’t have boiled. We dunno.)

The second good omen was when we arrived there was an open space, directly in front of Murphy’s, wide enough for us to fit all the bikes in. How f’ing rare is that! We maneuvered quick U-turns and tucked back against the curb and then set to taking some group pics. Before long, random strangers were jumping in, photobombing, we were climbing over each other’s shoulders, just having a great time. I glanced over at the bouncer – who’d had a bit of a surly look to him when we first started backing the bikes in, but he was now openly smiling at our antics. When we finally sauntered over to head in, he didn’t even bother to card us, he just laughed and said to walk right in.

The third good omen; apparently when we’d first pulled in, a waitress had been in the doorway. She asked (I forget who it was) how many we had in our party and said she had room for us and would go reserve the tables right away. So when we finally made it inside, we had tables open and waiting for us. Nice!

The fourth good omen was the singer who was playing tonight was the same guy from 4 years ago, who sung Boston songs to us when he saw our back patches. And the place was rocking! The drinks were flowing, the audience participation was strong – a great night! (At one point, James headed upstairs to check out the music up there and came running back down; they’re playing Dropkick Murphy’s upstairs! What? Hell, let’s go check ‘em out! When we got there; it was a two-piece ensemble. Young kids and very energetic. They’d moved on from the Dropkicks to another song so we listed for a bit then headed back to our group downstairs.) And just in time! The singer was just laying into the opening stanzas of The Irish Rover! Outstanding!!

We wound up closing the place (big surprise, eh?) and I flirted with the waitress but the huge wedding ring on her finger assured me it was all harmless. We made it safely back to K’s house and most of the group turned in. Chris, Matt and myself stayed out on the back deck until a bit after 3am, just reminiscing about the day’s events; ours in DC and Matt’s trip to meet us.

Sunday morning arrived too soon, especially for the three late-night revelers, but we’d already agreed that we had to get in to downtown in time for the run. We hit the usual diner for grub, then swung back to pick K up, and we were off.

We made it to downtown just before 11, so the exits which are usually closed were open so we slid right down into the thick of things and parked in the huge open field with so many other bikes. We strolled around, checked out Thunder Alley, then positioned ourselves for the official Rolling Thunder run. The bikes were soon rolling past and it was the usual mix of smiles and applause, mixed with poignant reflection of what today symbolizes.

After a couple of hours we decided to go visit the memorials so we peeled off and made the rounds. Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial, Korean Memorial, Nurse’s Memorial, WWII Memorial, Washington Monument (kinda – we viewed it from a bit of a distance), Reflecting Pool, etc. Our group had gotten split into two halves, each headed in different directions, but we kept in touch with each other and eventually caught back up at the bikes. It’d been a long day and it was time to beat feet for the roads that would lead us out of the madness and congestion.

We hit a pub on the way home for a beer and a bite. The weather had been calling for thunderstorms to move in over our heads and by the time we came back out to the bikes, it had started to rain. Thankfully it was a short ride to the house and we weren’t too damp as we set out kickstands to the concrete. We covered the seats with plastic to keep them from getting thoroughly soaked, event though the forecasts for our ride home were calling for 100% chance of rain (yeah; 100%. How often do you see that?).

A couple of K’s friends popped by to say hello and we all milled about in between conversations as the rain came down pretty hard outside. As the night wore on, K’s guests bade us farewell as they headed out, and most of the group turned in. Then there were the usual suspects who stayed up too late once again, unwilling to pull the curtain on the weekend just yet.

The timing of our departure had been a topic of discussion the night before and it had been agreed that we’d aim for being up at 7, with the hopes of being out the door at 8. Imagine my surprise when we rolled out of K’s driveway at 8:02…

Oh yeah; the skies were blue with patches of clouds! No rain! And the seats were dry from being covered! Man, what a nice surprise!!

A quick pop over to a local DD’s for some breakfast base, and then it was back to the road. We zipped back past K’s house, each of us blasting our horns as we slid by; our way of once again saying “until next time”!

The ride home wasn’t too bad. We hit small pockets of traffic but nothing like what we’d encountered on the way down. Not to mention we’d chased the rain ahead of us the whole way. A couple of times we got close to catching it, but we’d then hit a gas stop or a meal stop and kind of linger a bit to give the rain a chance to put more distance between us.

At our last stop, where we’d be splitting up, we said our goodbyes. Matt suggested we hit Natty Greens for a celebratory end-of-ride beer so Chris and I agreed. Upon arrival, though, we found they were closed for the holiday, so we decided to just head to Matt’s for that beer. Just as we were about to pull out, Dennis and Lisa pulled up, so they joined us.

It was a great way to round out what had been a great weekend. Granted, it was a bit of an ‘off’ year for us since we’d basically vegged most of Saturday daytime away. If there’s anything I’d change, it would be that, as I like to get out and about and see as much as possible while down there. Still, though, it was a fantastic time and we can’t wait to get down there again next year.

Don’t forget to thank a Vet!

Ride Hard, Take Chances

Ok, ok, here are some pics...

Finagling Chris' headlight back into place...