Rolling Thunder

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Mon 28 May 2012 12:41

Sunday 27th May

 

Surprisingly quiet night:  the helicopters that use the river to fly from Andrews Airbase to the Pentagon or White House, and avoid the air traffic which leaves Reagan (National) Airport across the Potomac from us, seemed to stop overnight - or we were too shattered to notice!   In the morning we went into the Clubhouse to be given our formal welcome from the Dock master and to update our emails etc.

 

Today is Memorial Sunday (bank holiday tomorrow) when Americans remember all their servicemen and more to the point, here in Washington there is a huge, circular drive past by Vets on Harley Davidsons, known as Rolling Thunder.   This year is the 25th Anniversary of this event and we were told by one Vet that there were expected to be over 9,000 bikes in the parade – nearly double the usual turn-out.  The parade begins at the Pentagon where all the bikes assemble whilst the police close all the roads from there, through Washington to the Mall , via Constitution Avenue and the White House and various other important landmarks. So from 1200 hours onwards the bikes set off for the Vietnam memorial and  just keep on coming.   We found a spot to watch this astonishing parade, standing on the side of Constitution Avenue and without quite realising at first, we were seeing the parade against the backdrop of the White house further up the hill.  We watched as hundreds of bikes, sometimes 6 abreast powered slowly past us and after about 15 minutes it seemed to have finished. We were just about to move off when a vet standing next to us explained that all we had seen so far was the advance group!!  He warned us what to expect and what this was all about and we stood in  awe really as firstly a huge body of police motorbikes came slowly past us followed by the main parade itself. Every bike seemed different, many decorated by huge flags:  the Stars and Stripes and a particular flag supporting lost POW’s and MIA’s .   There was one van pulling a very thin, bearded old Vet in just shorts crouching in a bamboo cage to commemorate and demand the return of the still outstanding Vietnam POWs - incredibly poignant sight.   Another car carried the parents of a POW held in Afghanistan at the moment.   But those two vehicles were very much the exception from the stream of incredibly smart bikes. To give you some idea of the scale of this, the bikes were driving past where we were standing at a rate of some to 40 to 50 every minute – and they kept coming for three and a half hours!!!

 

We watched for a good while then walked up to the Vietnam Wall Memorial which as you can imagine was thronged with people and many personal tributes were being laid.   Other events were clearly being planned in that area for later.

 

We visited the Lincoln Memorial with its iconic statue.   Sadly the view over the Reflecting Pool towards Capitol Building isn't quite what you might imagine as it is all being re-engineered to be more eco-friendly:  the pool is empty and there is a huge pile of sand half-way down! But everywhere we went there were more and more bikes parked up and bikers were everywhere and these were the thousands upon thousands that did not take part in the parade itself but swelled the big crowd watching and supporting the event.

 

We were still in the area known as the Mall where there are 17 Smithsonian museums or galleries, the White House, Capitol Building, many commemorative buildings - it is compact and quite possible to walk the area.   The only problem was crossing the avenue where the bikes continued to roar past!   We were also feeling peckish.   Unlike London, this area is not swamped with souvenir shops and eating establishments;  in fact there were quite a few vans selling hot dogs, pretzels or ice cream but not much else.   Eventually we succumbed and went into the Smithsonian Castle (!) and had a bite to eat.   By 1530 the last bikes in the parade were making their way down the Avenue and we were definitely flagging and headed back to the yacht club (about 10 minutes walk away - this anchorage at $16 a day is unbelievable value for a club with its facilities and location).  A restorative shower and back to the boat to rest up for tomorrow's hiking!