Heading west

Sept. 11th we went to the New Jersey 9/11 Memorial...truly inspiring. The first photo below shows the the memorial 'columns' - the position of the 'columns' is the view that New Jersey had of the World Trade Center prior to 9/11.

Then we got on the Statue Ferry to go to Ellis Island the the Statue of Liberty!

 We then drove to Allentown, PA.  Russell Breuninger led us over scenic backroads to a little pizza parlor.  After dropping off Nicole Leeman we headed to Allentown, PA for the night.

In the morning we joined by some local riders as we headed to the Flight 93 Memorial in Somerset County, PA

 Rides end!
We separated at the Flight 93 memorial - John to relatives, Mike to Washington, D.C., Joel and Nancy home to Alabama, Jim to Colorado, Gary and Marge to Missouri and we back to Nevada.

We were stuck in traffic 5 miles east of Cambridge, OH for more than an hour.  About a mile before the first exit  we used the shoulder to get off the interstate...and Jim rode off with us.  He had made a OOPS on the PA Turnpike and ended up behind and donated $20 to the PA turnpike system in tolls!  At the same time they saw Gary continue on down the road.

We stayed in Cambridge and headed for Missouri before the sun was up the next day.  We were hoping to be far west of St. Louis by the end of the day.  Not so!  Indiana caused us to lose 1 1/2 hours in construction traffic.  (I swear if I ever hear anyone bitch about a 10 minute wait in California I'll smack them!)

We ended up staying in Wentzville, MO - not far from St. Louis, but with the loss of time and the changing weather we needed the rest.

Again we headed out extra early and rode without construction delays to Colby, Kansas.  A blessedly uneventful day!

From Colby we rode through Colorado to Green River, Utah.  We had intended to stay in Fruita again, but any motel we were interested in was booked up.

Home today - a fast ride because Utah has some test sections at 80 mph.  Hope they quit testing and make more of I-70 80 mph.

We met some great people.  We were humbled by the flag lines in OUR honor when what we are doing is a tribute to others.

Heading East

We joined the TAA 2012 riders who had started the ride in Mission Beach CA in New Mexico.  We were escorted to the American Legion Post 13 in Albuquerque.

Gary's ride

John and Suzanne at the TAA in New Mexico

Jim Dierth from Austin, TX

Gary's trike with Marge waiting!

American Legion Post 13

American Legion Post 13

Gathering for our escort into Albuquerque

The next day we were treated to an old fashioned barbecue hosted by the Paul Elam family in Tucumcari, NM

We rode on to Amarillo, Texas...for dinner at the Big Texan.  Tim (from the OK City, OK area) joined us for our ride to OK.

The following day we rode to Tulsa, OK - on the way we stopped at a car museum and we were escorted by the Southern Cruisers Motorcycle Club to the Seaba Motorcycle Museum before continuing on to Tulsa.  There was a low pressure system traveling through the area that almost blew us off the rode.  Mike (riding behind me) actually saw the wind lift a wheel on my trailer.  I didn't think we were ever going to get to the motel!
Because we were really beat up by the wind we missed the festivities in Tulsa.

On to Illinois!  We were me by the Illinois riders at the Jefferson Barracks Bridge on the Illinois side then ride into Troy, IL, Hosted by VFW Post 976, Troy, IL.

From Troy we rode to Cambridge, Ohio.  We were privileged to participate in the Cambridge Welcome Home of their wounded Marine, Nathan Jakubisin.  (Too bad I didn't have a camera mounted on my helmet because the procession was truly great!)

On September 10th we had reservations for the NYC 9/11 Memorial.  What started out as reservations at 5 p.m. were changed (by the memorial staff) to 3 p.m.  For us, that meant we needed to ride 550 miles and get to New Jersey by 1:30 p.m.  Five of us agreed to leave Cambridge at 5 p.m. so that we would have time for lunch along the way.

We departed as planned - dark and dangerous because of the high number of deer in Pennsylvania.  We only got as far as mile marker 161 before we were detoured OFF the PA turnpike.  The detour added another 40 miles to the ride AND we lost quite a bit of time.  We rolled into our motel in Jersey City at 2:15 p.m. - I was proud of us!  We parked, changed into walking shoes, and got a taxi (thanks John, we owe you!) to the memorial.  Even though we were 30 minutes late, they let us in.  We had an hour to tour the memorial.

Plenty of time.  Some how it isn't particularly impressive.  I know I'll hear crap for that, but it is a fact.  Frankly, the rebuildig