Greetings Brothers & Sisters:

The start of summer is here and I hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather. On May 23rd, Memorial Day weekend, I had the opportunity to participate in a motor cycle ride called "Rolling Thunder" in Washington D.C. Rolling Thunder started 21 years ago when Veterans protested at the White House for our government to do something about our POW's and MIA's. We still have thousands of POW's and MIA's not accounted for.

We started our journey at 6:00 am from the Capitol Coney Island in Flint with 47 other riders. We traveled to Fairmont West Virginia where we spent our first night. The next morning we headed to Washington DC via Virginia and Maryland. The mountain roads and the rolling hills were breathtaking. We traveled Highway 50 and what a ride. We arrived in DC in the early afternoon. After dinner we headed to the subway for a trip to the Vietnam wall. It is a sight I will never forget. We also took in the Vietnam, Korea and World War 2 Memorials "Freedom is not Free!" This was a very emotional time.

The next morning we rode to the Harley Davidson dealership in DC where we were escorted to the Pentagon parking lot to stage for the parade. The ride started at noon, with approximately 30,000 bikes. The entire parade lasted about 4 hours through the streets of DC. Again, the sights and sounds of thousands of people lining the streets, cheering, waving and holding signs thanking the Veterans for their service, was so much different than the reception we had in the 60's and 70's.

After the parade we headed to Breezewood PA to rest up for our final leg home, which was going to be about 500 miles to Flint. At 6:00 pm Monday we ended our ride, thinking that this was the most emotional Memorial Weekend that I had ever had.

If anyone has the chance to ride this ride, DO IT! It is a lot of miles (approx 1300) in a short time (4 days), but it is well worth it. So, if you cross paths with a Veteran, shake their hand or simply say thanks. It will be greatly appreciated.

In closing, I would like to congratulate all the newly elected or re-elected people at our Local and Units. I hope everyone has a great & safe summer.
Remember our troops

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