America's 9/11 Ride AAR

Just returned today from America's 9/11 Ride. Six of us left the Orlando area, 4 Harleys, 1 Harley trike and my F6B. All-in-all a great ride and I encourage everyone to attend next year's ride. www.americas9/11ride.org. The organizers of this event have their chit together and it was the best organized ride I've ever been on.

We left early and made it to Winston-Salem the first day. The next day we rode to the host hotel near the Flight 93 memorial. The next morning (Friday) we started off the day riding to the site of the Flight 93 crash. Not much to see there. A building is being erected.

From there we headed towards Arlington, Va and the Pentagon. We rode thru the back country of Penna. Many small hamlets with lots of people out on the street waving American flags. In Cumberland, Md, the entire town must have been out on the street. Old folks, little kids and scores of average, everyday people. Very impressive.

We continued on back roads headed to Leesburg, Va.This was even more impressive than Cumberland. Every fire truck, cop car, ambulance, tow truck, and bicycle was on the street. The ladder trucks were parked on the side of the road with the boom extended over the road and a huge American flag hanging from the top. This scene with the ladder trucks was repeated 20-30 times throughout the ride.

Our ride was led and protected by about 150 motor cops from jurisdictions all over the east coast. They did an excellent job of blocking every street and driveway leading on to our road. They stopped all freeway traffic from the beginning to New York City.

We pulled in to Crystal City next to the Pentagon, had a bite to eat, a couple of beers and down for the night. The next morning we formed up in the Pentagon parking lot and left for NYC. Most of Saturday's ride was on Interstates/Turnpikes. The motor gods again did their duty and blocked every road. There must have been some pissed off motorist...too bad.

We stopped in NJ (can't remember the town) to wait for the NJ Port Authority to prepare the Holland Tunnel for our arrival. This two hour stop gave us time to get some chow and relax. Then off on the final leg thru the Holland Tunnel and on to Times Square in NYC. NYPD had every intersection blocked and it was smooth sailing up to the hotel right on Times Square. An entire city block was blocked off for us for overnight parking...including security.

We had a great dinner at Carmine's Italian restaurant. Excellent and I recommend it for anyone in the area, but take a large group. It is served family style. Eight of us order three entrees and we didn't eat it all.

Sunday morning we formed up and rode to the WTC site. One of the survivors of that tragic day spoke to us about his experiences that day. If any of you are conspiracy theorist who believe it was an inside job you're an idiot or badly misinformed. This man's talk, frequently interrupted while he regained his composure, would assure you it was 2 planes crashing into the buildings.

We walked around the memorial site. Very moving. A lot of it is still under construction, but you could clearly see what a tragedy it was. This concluded the ride and everyone left on their own. That night we rode to Richmond, Va. Sunday afternoon and it was rush hour, stop-an-go traffic from NYC, thru DC, to Richmond. Damn, doesn't anyone stay home?

The next day we made it to Savannah, Ga, then home today. I'm whipped. I'll post another thread about my experiences with the F6B, needless to say I love the bike.

Sounds fantastic! Do you know the dates of next yr's ride and the starting point? thanks

Thanks for sharing! Where's the pics? We need pics!

The organizers of this event have it together. The first couple of years they had it in September, but the weather was problematic. I guess next year's ride will also be in August. They have an excellent website (americas911ride.org) check it out.

Sorry, no photos from me. One of my friends on the ride took lots of photos, but I'm not smart enough to know how to download them. There was a great video of us entering NYC on Facebook. Maybe you can find it there.