08-18-2006, 04:12 PM
~reposted from HT~
I was out using my half day to my advantage accomplishing more errands in an afternoon that I had over the last month. As I'm walking out of a store in the Old Town section of Leesburg I realize that people are standing on the street waving little American flags and cops are blocking off the intersections all around me. I figured some sort of (insert oppressed people here) pride parade was going to take place and I didn't want to stick around to find out who it was for.
I walked to my car on the opposite curb and just as I get there I hear a ridiculous amount of sirens. I turn around and see row by row by row of police bikes all headed my way, each of them with lights and sirens going. I then figured it was perhaps a police funeral and the locals had turned out to show their support for an officer killed in the line of duty. After 52 police bikes rolled by me I looked back to find the rest of the procession.
Two blocks down the street I see an ambulance, fire truck and fire chief support vehicle with their lights and sirens on. At that point I realized it likely wasn't a funeral but rather an "official" parade of some sort. I couldn't figure out who had a parade on August 18th, a Friday for that matter. I asked one of the pensioner flag wavers about the nature of the parade and was informed it was a 9/11 memorial ride. A 9/11 memorial ride in August? Yes, a 9/11 Memorial ride in August.
From behind the rescue vehicles emerged a column of chrome and rubber. They were running 2 by 2, in relatively close quarters honking their horns and revving their engines. I wondered how many there were and decided I'd try and count. Surely it couldn't be more than 40 or 50, right? I stopped counting after 400 bikes and the "parade" as it were went on for at least another 5 minutes after that. After the last rider when by the support vehicles appeared, pulling up the rear. At least 20 minutes had passed and while I did see some BMWs there wasn't a single sportbike in the lot. Surprising? No. Disappointing? Yes... for whatever reason.
Here are my cell phone pics... it killed me not to have my dSLR there.
![[Image: 911ride0.jpg]](http://www.derecola.com/storage/cars/911ride0.jpg)
![[Image: 911ride1.jpg]](http://www.derecola.com/storage/cars/911ride1.jpg)
I was out using my half day to my advantage accomplishing more errands in an afternoon that I had over the last month. As I'm walking out of a store in the Old Town section of Leesburg I realize that people are standing on the street waving little American flags and cops are blocking off the intersections all around me. I figured some sort of (insert oppressed people here) pride parade was going to take place and I didn't want to stick around to find out who it was for.
I walked to my car on the opposite curb and just as I get there I hear a ridiculous amount of sirens. I turn around and see row by row by row of police bikes all headed my way, each of them with lights and sirens going. I then figured it was perhaps a police funeral and the locals had turned out to show their support for an officer killed in the line of duty. After 52 police bikes rolled by me I looked back to find the rest of the procession.
Two blocks down the street I see an ambulance, fire truck and fire chief support vehicle with their lights and sirens on. At that point I realized it likely wasn't a funeral but rather an "official" parade of some sort. I couldn't figure out who had a parade on August 18th, a Friday for that matter. I asked one of the pensioner flag wavers about the nature of the parade and was informed it was a 9/11 memorial ride. A 9/11 memorial ride in August? Yes, a 9/11 Memorial ride in August.
From behind the rescue vehicles emerged a column of chrome and rubber. They were running 2 by 2, in relatively close quarters honking their horns and revving their engines. I wondered how many there were and decided I'd try and count. Surely it couldn't be more than 40 or 50, right? I stopped counting after 400 bikes and the "parade" as it were went on for at least another 5 minutes after that. After the last rider when by the support vehicles appeared, pulling up the rear. At least 20 minutes had passed and while I did see some BMWs there wasn't a single sportbike in the lot. Surprising? No. Disappointing? Yes... for whatever reason.
Here are my cell phone pics... it killed me not to have my dSLR there.
'76 911S | '14 328xi | '17 GTI | In memoriam: '08 848, '85 944
"Here, at last, is the cure for texting while driving. The millions of deaths which occur every year due to the iPhone’s ability to stream the Kim K/Ray-J video in 4G could all be avoided, every last one of them, if the government issued everyone a Seventies 911 and made sure they always left the house five minutes later than they’d wanted to. It would help if it could be made to rain as well. Full attention on the road. Guaranteed." -Jack Baruth
"Here, at last, is the cure for texting while driving. The millions of deaths which occur every year due to the iPhone’s ability to stream the Kim K/Ray-J video in 4G could all be avoided, every last one of them, if the government issued everyone a Seventies 911 and made sure they always left the house five minutes later than they’d wanted to. It would help if it could be made to rain as well. Full attention on the road. Guaranteed." -Jack Baruth
