Memorial Day Ride

General Doyle Military Cemetery New Jersey

After three days of wind, rain, and cold today was finally the kind of day that we expect at the end of May. I left the house a little late but was not going to miss the first decent day in a week. Nothing really significant to report except that I did head over to the military cemetery pictured above. The photo doesn't really do it justice. It is a huge cemetery and every single grave has a small American flag to mark the gravesite. I'm assuming that perhaps a Boy Scout group or something similar makes it their mission to get all the flags posted and it is most impressive. There were many people of every possible variety on the cemetery roads and searching out particular graves: motorcyclists with their Rolling Thunder vests, young people, mid-aged, elderly, black, white - all presumably remembering brothers, sons and daughters, fathers, grandfathers, husbands. Riding through the grounds I felt like I was participating in a kind of religious experience. I gave my own silent salute of tribute to these who made the ultimate sacrifice and rode out with a sense of solemnity and emotion that I don't often feel on a bike ride....