National Veterans Awareness Ride

I wanted to tak an opportunity to share some of my experiences from a motorcycle vacation I went on over Memorial Day weekend 2008.

I was invited by my Dad to ride with a group of NVAR riders who were coming through Ohio from Sacremento California on their way to Washington D.C. I thought it sounded like a nice ride so I asked my friend Doug if he would like to ride with us, and of course an out of state ride is always a good idea to Doug.

I went to the AMVETS in Brookville Ohio on Wednesday May 21st to see the cross country riders arrive. It was a sunny day and very nice weather. There was a podium set up in front of the Post and a small public address system. The bikes rolled in and you could tell some of the riders were road weary. The post Commander welcomed the riders and they grabbed drinks, while meeting those of us gathered around. Milo arrived in style with a broken kickstand and needed parts and time to fix it. Milo has his own website and the pictures and journal are worth reading at http://www.ratbikemilo.com/.

After the riders had time for a short break they gathered around the podium. There were welcomes from local officials and the National Anthem was sang by a young lady who did a great job. A woman took the podium while Otis Redding "(Sittin' On)The Dock of the Bay" played softly over the small portable radio. The woman held up a vinyl copy of the Otis Redding album. She explained that in December of 1967 her older Brother had played the album repeatedly while on leave for Christmas. Her vivid description of her Brother was awesome. She shared with us the story of the loss of her Brother in 1968 while serving in Vietnam. The album was the original forty years later. I cried and it would not be the last time during my trip.