LakewoodPUT

Friday - Vigil Day

2011-05-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

Friday brings the Candlelight Vigil ceremony for Police Week.

Last year we participated as escorts for the families as they arrived at the Memorial for the Vigil. This year we all decided that we were going to forego that and have a little down time. Michelle actually left this morning to return home. John decided to hang out at the hotel for a bit and actually ended up getting a massage (really ?). Mark and I decided to go out and do a little sightseeing in DC.

So for those of you that have not been there here are a few photos.

The Washington Monument.

The Lincoln Memorial. An interesting fact that we learned on the tour bus. Abraham Lincoln was an advocate for the deaf and the use of sign language. When this monument was constructed this fact was not left out. When you look at Lincoln sittin in his chair his left hand is signing the letter "A" and his right the letter "L". Pretty neat.

It was at the Lincoln Memorial that Martin Luther King, Jr gave his infamous I Have A Dream speech. On the top steps of the Memorial there is an inscription on the very spot that his dais was set at the time he gave this speech. The photo on the right is standing on this spot looking out on the Mall as Dr. King would have that day. The reflection pool is undergoing some renovation at this time, but what a magnificent view. Hard to imagine having been there among a sea of hundreds of thousands of people at the time of his speech.

The Korean War Memorial.

The Pacific entrance side to the World War II Memorial. And a photo of the fountain in the middle of the Memorial. This is an impressive Memorial and we heard it is absolutely stunning after dark, maybe next time.

Of course the evening brought the Candlelight Vigil. This year since we did not participate in the welcoming ceremony we went in civilian clothes and stood to the rear of the crowd for a little different perspective. The ceremony is attended by about twenty thousand people. It is an impressive site. Craig Floyd leads the ceremony and this we the key speakers were Janet Napolitano and Eric Holden. Prior to the reading of the names inscribed on the wall this year is the lighting of candles. Here are a couple shots as we looked out on the mass and their upheld candles. There is also a blue laser light that goes from the dais where the speakers are. The photo on the left is where I tried to capture the laser as it fanned out. You can also faintly see it in the photo on the right.

This year there were 316 names read. This included the 150+ officers that were killed in the line of duty last year. The remaining names are those that were located by researchers as having died in the past. This year what is believed to be the first police officer ever killed in the line of duty was added.

I'll add an additional post a little later to cover the things that we did on our last day (Saturday).

Stand by ...

Arrival day - 12 May

2011-05-16T09:44:00.000-07:00

The morning took us from Annapolis to RFK stadium in DC. Once again the weather was absolutely outstanding. Although the ride was relatively short in nature it was probably the most hilly day we have experienced. We still kept a pretty rapid pace which made the constant rollers a little challenging for some as we got closer to the city. There is alot of anticipation on this date as we all know it is the finish of our journey. Getting to RFK is always looked forward to, even though we know once we get there we will sit around for a while waiting for the other chapters to arrive.

Here we are preparing to leave the only rest stop that we had for the day. This was at one of the Target stores. Target is an amazing sponsor for the Unity Tour. They host some of the rest stops for us and provide us with bananas, Gatorade, water, fig newtons and various other things. It is always a good place for us to stop.

Here is our approach to RFK stadium. This is the stadium in the background. We came to the stadium from a different side this year. We were welcomed this year by an area where the Army had set up some various vehicles to include three helicopters. The helicopters were running when we arrived and took off a little after we were in the parking lot. Here is a photo of the choppers while they were hanging around.

This is John and me hanging out with the chapter President Pat O'Brien at RFK stadium. As I said we get here and have to wait for a bit. This year we were one of the first groups to arrive. Another chapter arrived a short time after we did and then about an hour or so later the riders from the Challenge Ride arrived. This was the group that Michelle was with so it was good for us to see her.

Once everyone arrives at the stadium we all get formed up to make the last 3 or so miles into the Memorial. This year we again took a little different route than last year to make our way to the site. Here are a couple of photos on our way there. This is about the only time that the pace is very slow and all of the riders abide by the "two by two" rule (riding two abreast). It is a great time to reflect on the past three days and the meaning of the ride for each of us. It is also a time of great anticipation as we all know that within a few minutes we will be greeted by thousands of people at the Memorial.

We made sure once again this year that we were on the left side of the column as we rode to the Memorial. Our four officers are on the west wall of the Memorial. So we line up on the left side as we ride in so that we are on the west side as the riders split and enter the Memorial site.

This year we were met there by one of our fellow officers (Jeff Carroll) and the chief and his wife. It is great to ride into the Memorial to honor our fallen and to see some faces from back home there waiting for you also.

Here we are with the chief (Bret Farrar) after our arrival at the Memorial and prior to the arrival ceremony.

After all of the riders arrive there is a ceremony conducted to welcome everyone and present the Unity Tour donations to Craig Floyd of the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund. This year the Police Unity Tour donated $1.5 million.

It is all such a worthy cause and a great honor to paricipate in the ride.

Additional

2011-05-15T13:44:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone,

Sorry that we kinda dropped off the face of the earth there. Once we roll in to DC there seems to be many things going on and time is short.

I wanted to let all of our followers know that the day three post was not the end of the story. I will be posting information for day four and the couple of follow on days very shortly.

We thank you for following along with us!!!

Ride day 3

2011-05-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

Today was the second of our long days. Once again the sun was out and the weather was great. We have been spoiled this year with the weather. After speaking with several people along the route today that have done the ride for multiple years, this year is by far the best weather. Today was the day of the ride last year that was just miserable for us. We had temperatures that were probably in the mid 40s to low 50s and it rained in the afternoon. Kinda like home actually :-). So to be able to ride in sunny weather was great. We actually paid a little more attention to our surroundings rather than focusing on making it to the next rest stop and ultimately Annapolis.

Essentially today's ride took us through the city of Wilmington in Delaware and then out into the Maryland countryside. We spent most of the day riding through small towns and lots of pasture land. They are certainly in full swing of preparing for crops as the smell of manure was quite thick at times.

Here are a few pictures from lunch time.

And here is the ride marshal at work :-)

So after we left the lunch area we were tooling through the countryside when a helicopter appeared on the horizon. Shortly thereafter we realized it was a Maryland State Police chopper. Last year we briefly saw the chopper as we were coming into Annapolis. Today it hung around for little while before disappearing. At one point it hovered near the head of the pack for a bit while several bikes passed under. It was very neat to see them again this year and to hang around for so long.

The day ride ended with our arrival at a park just outside of Annapolis. Here we loaded our bikes on trucks and were bused into the city and to our hotels. After spending some time getting cleaned up Mark, John and me went downtown for dinner. We found Annapolis is a pretty neat city and wished that we would have a little more time to explore. It was nice to sit outside and have dinner and interesting to see the Naval Middies walking around in uniform. The campus to the academy is huge and parts of it border downtown. Here are a couple shots from the ride and a one from the academy, where it is very possible that one or more of the members from Seal Team Six attended that took care of business recently. And of course where many more leaders are being molded to do great things in the future.

Tomorrow brings our final leg of the journey and our arrival in DC. Again the weather is forecast to be great. We are very much looking forward to the ride into the city and to the Memorial again. We will also hopefully get to see Michelle tomorrow. She has been particpating in the challenge ride which takes a different route into DC from New Jersey. They began riding on Tuesday and will meet with us at RFK Stadium to ride to the Memorial. It will be good to see her and hear what she has to say about her ride.

We'll update you all tomorrow on our arrival. :-)

Day 2 - 10 May

2011-05-10T17:33:00.000-07:00

One hundred mile day #1 is over. We have another one to go tomorrow and then the home stretch on Thursday.

We put in 55 miles before lunch. There has been alot of talk on the ride amoung those that have ridden before that the pace seems to be faster. This was validated a little later this evening when I spoke with one of the motor support officers who said we were flying today. We all recognized that we were traveling faster than the suggested 15 MPH for the ride.

We are starting to see a few more accidents happen as we go. However, there have not been nearly as many as last year. Today there was a pretty nasty spill that sent one of the riders to the hospital. She was riding just behind Mark who looked back just in time to see her going over the handlebars. John and I rode up as she was sitting in the roadway and being attended to. We saw her at the rest stop just prior to the last leg. It was good to see her there, but she is going to be pretty sore as she was scraped up pretty good.

It continues to be heart warming to see the number of people that come out to the roadway as we are riding past and thank us. A number of daycares and a few schools have the kids come out to greet us as we ride past. Numerous citizens step out of their homes and businesses to wave, clap and shout words of encouragement. There are of course a number of people that get a bit upset waiting at intersections for us to pass by, but all in all the citizens are positive.

There were not many photos taken today. So I will attach a few photos from the Ground Zero ride yesterday that John took and a photo of the trio from our last rest stop today.

Tomorrow takes us on our next 100 mile day and brings us from Wilmington, DE to Annapolis, MD. This portion of our ride last year was the toughest weather wise. It was pretty cold and very wet. At least for now the weather forecast looks nothing close to this, for which we are thankful.

Until tomorrow ...

9 May - First day of the Tour

2011-05-09T16:15:00.001-07:00

Today started early as they all do when we are out riding. The ride started just a little bit after 7, so that means there was breakfast and getting our bags to the trucks a good little bit before that. It was just as impressive to see the number of riders assembling in the parking lot as it was last year. the nice thing this year was that there was no wind and it was at least ten degress warmer.

Here are a couple of parking lot shots.

John getting a little stretch in pre-ride. John and I getting ready to roll.

This year Mark took on the role of ride marshal. We could not find him prior to the beginning of the ride to get a group photo. As as a reminder Michelle is doing the challenge ride this year and was actually arriving today. Because she is going this alternate route we will not see her until we get to the stadium in DC.

So far we could not ask for better weather. And especially when we compare it to what we experienced on the first day last year. As you can see pretty much everyone was wearing shorts this morning. Unheard of last year. By the time we reached our first stop pretty much everyone shed the riding jackets and finished the day in their riding jersey. We even ended the day with noticable tan lines ... crazy.

Hey there he is. We were able to catch up with Mark at the rest stop. This shot was taken before we ventured into Manhattan and Ground Zero.

Each year there are a number of motorcycle officers that participate as support officers for the Tour. Most of the motors come from around the general area. It is impressive and good to see when motors are participating from the west coast. Last year Oakland PD brought over 20 motors out. This year the LAPD and LASD brought numerous. The riders on the left are LAPD and the right is LASD.

So one of the highlights of the day was riding into Manhattan. We got to accomplish this via the Holland Tunnel. John and I were able to get very near to the front of the line to make the trip into Manhattan and Ground Zero. The photo on the left is us about to enter the tunnel. The center is travelling in the tunnel and the right is John's smiling face as we made our way. For those that are not aware, the Holland Tunnel is just about 1.5 miles in length. It was completed in 1927 and runs under the Hudson River connecting Manhattan and Jersey City, NJ. The tunnel was completely closed to vehicular traffic to allow us to make our trip into the city and back. Pretty awesome.

Without doubt the highlight of the day was our trip to Ground Zero. The only drawback to it was that we did not get to stop and take a more in depth look. It was surprising that the area the Twin Towers once occupied is truly not that large. The buildings in the area are very close to each other and these were the same. Of course there is a lot more depth to the area then these pictures depict, but it was an awesome experience to be there and see the location of this most harrowed of attacks.

We came back to Jersey City after our visit to Manhattan to have lunch. Here is a shot of the ride marshals having their pre-departure meeting. Mark is in there somewhere. Last year we had the honor of meeting Craig Floyd at this stop. Mr. Floyd is the president of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Foundation. This is where the money raised by the Police Unity Tour goes to support such things as cleaning/maintenance of the wall and the new Law Enforcement Museum. This year we had the honor to meet Chief William Bratton. Chief Bratton is the former commissioner of Boston PD, Commissioner of the NYPD and retired as the Chief of the Los Angeles PD. We took a photo with him but it is on John's camera. I will try to get it uploaded soon.

As last year on our way out of Jersey City we ride by the main police station. Greeting us were several department employees including their honor guard. Great traditions here on the east coast.

Tomorrow brings the first of our back to back 100 mile days. Many of the riders have had little training time because of weather conditions where they live. We certainly fit the bill on this one. As a result the increased temperature today made for a lot of very tired people. If tomorrow bringst the same for weather it will be a long day.

Stay tuned ... and thanks for following.

8 May - The day before

2011-05-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

Today was mostly a hang out and make sure everything is in order kinda day. Not much going on this morning around the hotel. Many people were sleeping until late in the morning or early afternoon. This was a combination of getting to town yesterday and getting acclimated and attending the cruise. The New Jersey chapter had previously arranged a harbor cruise in New York. Mark and I did not attend because we knew they would be getting in late and since we had gotten up early it would be too long of a day. As it turned out they did not get back to the hotel until about 3-4 am. We did hear it was a good time though.

This afternoon John got to the hotel from Boston. The mechanics showed up to assist in putting bikes together and getting them ride ready. Just as last year these guys do a fantastic job of making sure the bikes are road ready. There is a room that is set up for chapters/agencies to sell items. Last year we were pretty successful here in selling our coins. This year there seemed to be a few more tables set up with t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, coins, glasses and other miscellaneous items.

Here is a shot of the room where the bikes are being stored and put together.

Here are a couple photos of the mechanics at work. There were three of them today. This picture was taken after the one of the rushes when they had a line of folks and the mechanics were working furiously. Great guys.

Today also brought a little foreign item to us that we are certain you will all enjoy.

Can you tell us what this is?

We understand for our friends and family in Washington that this may be a real head scratcher. But yes that is the sun, in all its glory :-). Today was mostly sunny and 72. We had one heck of a time adjusting to that for a while.

Tomorrow is an early start for us. We are scheduled to leave at 7, which means up very early to have breakfast and check out of the hotel. The ride takes us to Ground Zero and back into New Jersey. We promise to have several photos to share.

7 May

2011-05-06T20:33:00.001-07:00

Mark and I made it to New Jersey this afternoon (still morning on the west coast). The flight was a direct and uneventful (a good thing). The folks here in New Jersey do an incredible job at get this thing organized and under way. We were met at the airport by Stu a Captain with the Essex County Sheriff's Department. He had his daughter Samantha and son Nick with him. Both of them under ten years old. After we located the oversized luggage place to pick up our bikes Sam and Nick volunteered to wheel our luggage for us. Very personable and fun kids. We met up with 11 officers from the Las Vegas Metro PD and then all boarded a shuttle for the hotel.

Once we got to the hotel, we got checked in and a short time later went down and put our bikes back together. It was good to see a few faces from last year and say hello. Ventured out to a Chili's for dinner and now trying to fight the urge to go to bed too early. Jet lag ... blah.

Talked with John this evening. He will be flying down from Boston at 1130 tomorrow. Not a lot planned for the day.

The weather is decent. When we arrived it was 72 and partly cloudy. Hopefully the rain stays away for the next several days of the ride.

See ya tomorrow.

2011-05-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

Well here we are mostly making final preparations and ramping up for the Tour. John left early to the east coast to spend some time with family, he will be meeting us in New Jersey on Sunday. Mark and I will be boarding the big ol jet airplane first thing in the morning. Michelle is coming out on Sunday night.

The ride will start on Monday morning. We have been told we have a special side trip this year to Ground Zero. This is a pretty exciting new addition. Being that this year marks the 10th anniversary of that fateful day and the Unity Tour marks its 15th anniversary this year, it is a very cool deal to make that trip. Now there is also a little extra nicety to this with the death of Osama Bin Laden :-). We are certainly looking forward to this part of the ride and will post some photos.

Stay tuned ...

Riders preparing for Tour

2011-04-24T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

This past Friday night was SHIELD night at the Tacoma Rainiers. They were kind enough to give us some space to advertise the Police Unity Tour. We set up a couple of bikes on trainers, a table and a tent. We set out some poker chips, Unity coins and window decals for sale (fundraiser) and handed out some flyers. Mark also spear headed getting us a nice banner to display to everyone who we are. We raised a little bit of money to go towards our cause, it was a good time.

We are about two weeks out from going to New Jersey. We are still in fundraising mode, so if you are so inclined to send a donation it will be happily accepted. They can be sent to Charles Porche at 9401 Lakewood Dr SW, Lakewood WA 98499.

This year is the 15th Anniversary of the Police Unity Tour. We will be receiving a special anniversary riding jersey that we will wear on the first and last days of the ride. We also received some exciting news recently. This year on the first day of the ride we will be going from New Jersey into New York City. As this year will commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the World Trade Center attack, we are making a ride to Ground Zero. We are all very much looking forward to this exciting opportunity.

Stay tuned ...

2011-01-07T11:17:00.000-08:00

Hopefully there are still followers out there to our blog.

It has been some time since I made a post and the passing of the one year anniversary of our officers deaths. We are beginning to get in full training mode for our return to DC for police week and the Unity Tour.

Please stay tuned for updates on training, fundraising and our next journey. The four of us are riding again. There are a few more people from Washington State that will be joining us. I will introduce them as we get going.

If there are any that would like to make an early contribution to our ride for this year it can be mailed to me at either; 9401 Lakewood Dr SW, Lakewood, WA 98499 or PO Box 5819 Lacey, WA 98509.

Thank you all for your continued support of those that serve.

Police week conclusion

2010-05-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

I have not been in touch for a couple of days. We were a little busier in DC than originally anticipated and at times made it difficult to update the blog. We had a fantastic time on our journey and was an experience that none of us will forget!! So here are some photos from Saturday in DC. On this date we attended the memorial ceremony on the Capitol lawn, met with Dave Reichert and just had a good time.

A view of the Capitol building. One of our officers, Jeff Carroll, was able to score us some seats for the ceremony. Generally it is standing room only unless you are "connected". We were able to sit in the FOP / VIP seats at the rear of the ceremony.

Here is the view from our seats. The President was the keynote speaker for the ceremony. Leann Womack was there to sing a song and a few officers from around the country sang songs during the ceremony.

John looking dapper during the ceremony. The sun was out and it was a gorgeous day. A little cover would have been nice as most of us did not prepare with sunscreen. We got a bit of sun but enjoyed being outside in the nice weather.

During the ceremony it is tradition that as officer names are read in the roll call that officers present from their state rise in honor and salute. There was a group of Lakewood and Seattle officers sitting together. When it neared time for us to honor our fallen we all stood at the back of the seats to pay tribute. Here we are in formation and then once they began the Washington State roll call we saluted our fallen brothers and sister.

John and I with a photo op in front of the Capitol after the ceremony.

The memorial wreath. As the name of each officer is read off of the roll call of honor a member of their family approaches the wreath and places a red flower in the center star. This wreath is then later taken to the National Law Enforcement Memorial where it is placed in the middle of the site and kept under the watchful eye of two honor guard members all night.

Honor guard members from the State of Washington awaiting the arrival of the wreath at the Memorial. Present were members from the Washington State Patrol, Seattle PD, Pierce County SO, Tacoma PD, Metro Pierce (Lakewood, etc) and Snohomish County.

Washington State officers were given the honor of forming the reception line for the wreath to arrive at the Memorial. The last picture here is a group of Lakewood officers that were present.

The Lakewood officers that were present to receive the wreath.

After the wreath ceremony a small group of us went to visit with Congressman Dave Reichert at his office. Dave Reichert is a former Sheriff of the King County Sheriff's Office. He gave us an opportunity to go to the Senate floor and observe the room where the President gives the State of the Union address. It was pretty cool to be down there. The photo above is our small group just outside of Congressman Reichert's office, what a view.

This was an amazing trip that will not be forgotten by those that made it. The four of us that rode are certain to return next year and continue to ride in memory of our fallen and all other officers across the United States. We have been told by several Lakewood members that they are looking to join us next year. We are certain to have more than four of us from the state participating in the Police Unity Tour.

Saturday night brought no ceremonial items and Sunday was day of departure back home.

Stay tuned to the blog. Although it will not be as often, it will have updated information on fundraising and group growth leading up to next year's ride. We thank those that sponsored us to assist in making this happen and to all of our families for allowing us to fly across the country and take part in this phenomenal week of events.

First day of Police Week

2010-05-14T16:42:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention that on the night of 12 May when we arrived in DC at the conclusion of the ride the chapter that we were riding with had a dinner. We went to Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian steakhouse. It was an excellent meal and gave those that were riding under Chapter XIII one last certain chance to be together.

We also went out that evening and were able to meet with some of the Lakewood officers that traveled to DC for the ceremonies. It was great to see many of them waiting for us at the Memorial when we rode in and equally as great to see more of them that evening.

On 13 May we knew that the big event would be the Candlelight Vigil. During the day we did not do too much. We basically hung around the hotel and got our uniforms ready for the evening. Our main task for the Vigil was to be escort officers for the survivors as they arrived at the Memorial. We had to be at the Memorial at 4:30 to get briefed and ready for buses of survivors to begin arriving around 5. There were numerous officers that were a part of this detail. We formed receiving lines from the curb into the Memorial for seating. We handed each female a rose and escorted them to their seats. It was a special honor and privelege I am certain we will not soon forget.

The reflection pond at the National Law Enforcement Memorial.

The stage and some of the survivors that had arrived for the ceremony. Not all of them came by bus and were in the area early.

This is our side of the receiving line. This was duplicated on the opposite side of the Memorial.

Here are four members of the Lakewood PD on honor guard duty. They are members of the Metro Pierce Honor Guard. Four member honor guard details were present while the survivors arrived at the Memorial. They rotated in and out about every 15 minutes or so. It was good to see our local guys representing at the Vigil.

This is a sampling of the crowd of survivors at the Vigil.

We were told that once the ceremony started there would be a very large crowd. None of us anticipated seeing this many people present for the ceremony. This is half of the people that were present behind us. In front of us were hundreds off other officers, civilians and survivors.

A photo of us during the ceremony.

Craig Floyd, CEO and chairman of the NLEOMF, was the emcee for the evening. Several people gave speeches to include the national president of Concerns Of Police Survivors (Jennifer Thacker) and the US Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. It was heartwarming to hear AG Holder speak of our officers and the tragedy that occurred in Lakewood. It truly was a national phenomenon that was recognized around the globe. There were numerous fellow officers that we have spoken with during the week that are in the know of our incident.

The Vigil included a blue laser that was illuminated across the Memorial in honor of the Thin Blue Line. It was very impressive to see. It also included the candle lighting ceremony. The first candle was lit on the dais and spread across the crowd. It was amazing to see every candle lit with just a few minutes. There were thousands of people in attendance and this was an amazing feat.

The shield that we wear with pride.

The NLEOMF symbol and the thin blue line.

After the ceremony at the wall.

On 14 May we did not have anything on the agenda. We spent the morning moving from one hotel to another for our final few days. In the afternoon we walked around a bit and visited the Memorial Wall again. We made impressions of our fallen officers that we will be taking home with us. Tomorrow brings the Memorial Service on the Capitol Lawn.

DC arrival day

2010-05-13T08:54:00.000-07:00

Today brings the final leg of the ride journey. The morning started in Annapolis, traveled to RFK Stadium and then into the Memorial.

Mark in the courtyard of the hotel in Annapolis. We rode our bikes from here up the street to another hotel where other riders were staying. There we had breakfast and it was the starting point for the day.

The group eagerly awaiting our departure from the hotel parking lot to begin the last leg of the ride.

Mark having a snack at the Target stop. Today brought much different weather than yesterday afternoon. We had sunshine, rising temperatures and the humidity was increasing. Everyone was thankful to make it to the Target lot so that we could shed some layers!

A team photo before we leave Target and head to RFK.

Send off from the Target lot. The mass of blue and white shirts was impressive to see rolling down the streets.

Our arrival into one of the RFK stadium parking lots. As I said there was a group of riders already there and they greeted us as we rode in. When the final group came in there was another long reception line for them.

Team photo with one of the Police Unity Tour support vehicles.

When we arrived at RFK Mark had a phone message that a reporter from one of our local TV stations (KIRO) was looking for us to do an interview. She caught up with us in the lot and here are some shots of us being interviewed. Unfortunately we did not get a picture of John. He ran off to be the first one interviewed before we were ready with the cameras.

Each of us wore a metal bracelet during the ride to honor one of our fallen officers. Here is a photo of those bracelets when we were at RFK. These bracelets will be given to the surviving spouses at the Candlelight Vigil tomorrow evening.

Riding from the stadium down to the Memorial site. We started out about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way back in the queue. One of the ride marshalls came upon us and told us that we needed to get to the front of the line. He told us that it is tradition that when a department loses officers they are to ride in at or near the front of the line. We started to make our way to the front and we could hear officers asking who we were as we passed on the left. That was immediately followed by, "It's Lakewood". That was pretty cool. We made it to within about the first 20 riders as we went into the memorial.

There was an honor guard and bag pipe band awaiting us at the memorial. As the riders arrived we split and went to either side of the memorial. We were on the left side and were able to ride past our fallen officers and a group of our officers that were waiting for us to arrive.

The Washington Fallen Heroes as they appear on the Memorial Wall.

Photos for 11 May

2010-05-12T16:03:00.000-07:00

Here are the promised photos for yesterday. There aren't really any for the afternoon because of the rain. I am also pretty certain that none of us felt confident enough to take a picture because our fingers were all frozen.

I will be making a post later about our ride from Annapolis to DC and our arrival at the National Law Enforcement Memorial.

This is Mark and I and a photo of me on the bus. In the morning we had to get bussed from our hotel to another where they were storing our bikes and the ride would begin for the day.

OOPS! Sorry for another sideways shot. As we were leaving Wilmington, DE this was a class of police recruits that greeted us on our way out of town. Pretty awesome that they were out early in the morning to greet us.

John and I ready to go for the day.

Out on the road departing from Wilmington.

As I have stated before, numerous citizens, police and fire personnel have been out on the route to support us and cheer us on during the ride. This was a fire truck that was set up in the median of the highway with its boom extended in tribute.

Those great motor guys. What a fantastic job they did for us along the route!

Taking off from a rest stop. This was the lead vehicle. It took us along the route that we traveled for the day and basically dictated our speed. There were several motorcycles in front of this vehicle alerting the public that we were on the way.

The gentleman pictured here is the Northern California chapter President Pat O'Brien. He is from the Rocklin CA Police Department. What a fantastic job he has done in helping us to coordinate our journey here to the east coast and welcoming us into the chapter. And of course the other photo is Michelle enjoying her ride.

One of the bridges that we rode over during the ride.

Out on the road before the rain and just as the rain began to come down.

The last rest stop before the rains began and chilled us to the bone.

After we arrived in Annapolis several members of the chapter went out to dinner. The restaurant selected was the Chart House. It was an excellent restaurant serving mainly seafood that was very well done. This is one of the tables with members of the chapter.

John starting off one of the communal desserts and Mark wondering if anyone else is going to get the opportunity to see what it tastes like. We all got a little bit :-).

11 May

2010-05-11T20:23:00.000-07:00

Today we completed the second of the 100 mile days. This puts us over 250 miles for the trip and just one more day of riding. We are scheduled to arrive in Washington, DC at the Memorial sometime between 2 and 4 in the afternoon.

We rode from Delaware to Maryland today and have stopped for the night in the home of the US Naval Academy, Annapolis. Mother nature was not the kindest to us today. The morning was pleasant with sunshine. We had anticipated that it was going to rain late in the afternoon, but figured we would already be in Annapolis. Well just after our lunch break, it started to rain. The rain was annoying and at times came down pretty good, but it was the temperature that didn't help. I am not certain exactly what the temperature was but one of the ladies riding with us told me when we got to Annapolis it was 53. It would be a pretty good bet that as we rode through the farmlands of Maryland it was very near 50.

As we neared Annapolis we were graced with a fly over by a Maryland State Police helicopter. He made a few passes over the group as we rode along. It was also pretty neat to see Navy-Marine Memorial Stadium as we arrived in the city. Pretty cool to see a big ole "Go Navy" spelled out in gold letters amongst the other blue seats in the stadium. As a former Navy man it made Mark proud.

This evening a number of us from the chapter went out to dinner at a seafood restaurant. Several of the ride members wore their Police Unity Tour jackets and struck up conversation with a couple in the restaurant. As we sat and prepared for dinner the manager came over to us and told us that this couple was so impressed with what we are doing that they were going to pay for a portion of our dinner tab. Very nice people and an appreciated, awesome gesture.

There weren't many photos taken today as just over half the day was in the rain. I will be uploading a few of them tomorrow as it is late here and we still have one more day on the bike.

Tomorrow morning we ride to RFK stadium in DC where we will meet up with riders who are coming from Virgina. After everyone is together we ride into the city and to the memorial. We are all certain that the final leg of this journey will be emotional and very much worth the trip.

Today was not the best of riding days. We labored through bone chilling temperatures and became seemingly soaked to the bone. However, through all of that each of us knows it pales in comparison to the sacrifice that our friends and countless other officers have made. We take to heart the motto of the Police Unity Tour and take pride in the fact that, "we ride for those who died".

10 May

2010-05-10T18:20:00.000-07:00

Well today was the first of our 100 mile days. We left Edison, NJ this morning at about 7 and got to Wilmington, DE at a little after 4 this afternoon. With the rest breaks, not too bad. We had heard from several different people that have done the ride before about this "really big bridge" before we get to Delaware. I'll show pictures of that below, but all in all not a big deal.

It was nice to see people out in various spots along the route cheering and waving to us. We would go a little distance without seeing anyone and then come upon a neighborhood or business district and people would come out to the roadside and wave to us and wish us good luck on the ride. It was nice to see and break up the day a little bit.

Unfortunately there have been a few crashes along the way. I think between the four of us we have now witnessed about 8 or so wrecks. From what we have heard one or two people were actually taken to the hospital. I don't think those were from any of the ones we saw. I think I have seen the most so far and the others have told me they don't want to ride with me because I am a little too close to that action. Thankfully I have not been close to being involved, just a witness.

The weather cooperated with us today. It was sunny with a bit of breeze for the vast majority of the day. It looks like we all have a little "raccoon eyes" going from wearing sunglasses. We will see what tomorrow brings as the forecast says it is supposed to begin raining in the afternoon.

The riders started from three different hotels this morning. Here are a couple photos of the escort officers arriving followed by the group from the hotel up the street. Our group met with another group that was staying a block or so away to begin the ride.

This was a group of officers that was on the side of the highway waiting for the tour to come by. They had several cars parked up on the lot with their lights on and were displaying this flag as we rode by. It was very kind of them.

John at the Target sponsored rest stop today with the Target mascot. Target has been very generous this year and is a sponsor of the Tour. They are hosting the rest stops and the majority of the stops have been in Target parking lots. Thank you to the management of Target for supporting these officers that are riding in honor of fallen officers. And thank you to the Target staff that is working so hard to make these stops a success! They have been outstanding.

I mentioned previously that we are riding as part of the Northern California chapter. The chapter has two support vans that carry our bag during the ride and will pick up riders that are in need of support. On the side of the van they recognize the four Oakland PD officers that were killed in the line of duty in March of last year and our four officers that were killed in November. Several support vehicles are adorned in similar fashion to remember all of these officers.

One of the motor escort officers. These guys have done an outstanding job. They are responsible for getting us through traffic safely and block intersections as we travel through. Great work

The rest area.

The motor officers before and preparing for the ride over the bridge into Delaware.

Here are some pictures of the bridge. Although it was a couple of miles long the grade was not too bad. It was nice to know that once we were on the other side of the bridge we had less than 10 miles to go to finish the day.

All in all it was a good day. We got to the hotel and had a little bit of time to get cleaned up and rest before dinner.

So what kind of seasoning does this look like to you? Mark seemed to think it was bacon bits and put it on his pasta we had for dinner. Kinda funny! (It's red chili pepper).

Off to bed for us as we have another early start for the day. Half way there now!!!

9 May

2010-05-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

Today was day one of the Tour. As the day ended we did about 57 miles going from East Hanover, NJ to Edison, NJ. The temperature of the day was fairly ok but the wind was not good. It was a repeat of the windy day we had on Saturday. When we started it was windy and cold, but once we got under way the wind calmed down and the day turned out pretty good.

Here we are at breakfast preparing to take off for the day.

Here we are out in the freezing wind and cold preparing to ride for the day. We started the ride in the parking lot of the Target that was next door to the hotel.

This is the group as we are preparing to leave the parking lot on the way to Edison, NJ.

Mark, John, Me and Michelle out for a leisurely ride on the streets of New Jersey.

We stopped for a break in Jersey City, NJ. When we arrived in the lot there were two fire trucks that had this flag draped over the entrance. There was a small crowd of citizens there awaiting our arrival. Very nice. There was also an honor guard and bagpipes on hand. There were a few speeches given by dignitaries to include Craig Floyd (pictured) who is the president of the National Law Enforcement Memorial Fund.

John and I had the privilege of getting our photo taken with Mr. Floyd.

At the end of the evening we stopped at Prince Albert's Palace where we watched a ceremony honoring people in the South Asia / Indian community. At the end of the ceremony we took a photo with Albert and were treated to a very good meal.

And of course at the end of the day ... a little relaxation in the pool.

Tomorrow brings an early start as luggage has to be out for pickup by 5:30 am and we are to be on the road by 7. We are scheduled to do about 100 miles tomorrow and end the day in Wilmington, DE. We certainly hope that the weather cooperates a little bit as we hear the temperature is dropping again. If the wind is not blowing and the sun peeks out we should be ok.

We'll let you all know how it goes.

Photos from 8 May

2010-05-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

Here are photos from Saturday while we were out and about.

Saturday was very windy and certainly held true for Sunday. At times on Saturday it was difficult to walk into the wind.

Oakland PD brought 22 motor units in honor of their fallen officers and are riding as traffic support for the Unity Tour. We found them all nicely lined up in the parking lot on Saturday afternoon.

Covington, Kentucky brought this car out for National Police Week. This car was originally numbered 911 and after 09-11 they decided to make it a custom vehicle. The car is driven by an officer in their community policing section and they take it to special events. They will have it on display in a place called "the pit" in DC. The hood has a painting of the statue of liberty. The trunk has the NYC skyline and the top says 09-11. Very cool vehicle.

There are a few photos. We didn't do much on Saturday, so there was not alot going on.

8 May (2)

2010-05-08T22:03:00.000-07:00

Well we pretty much ended up hanging out at the hotel today. We walked around the area a little bit and visited a couple stores to get some last minute items. Although the sun came out this afternoon the wind was awful. Unfortunately the forecast says we could be getting wind gusts between 20-30 mph tomorrow. That will not be good for the ride!

My bike was repaired today. The very good mechanic returned this afternoon with a longer screw and got me back in order. Very thankful for Fabian and his skills.

As I said early, Mark is back to better side of things. Everyone is raring to get to the riding tomorrow.

We saw a really neat car from Covington, KY in the parking lot today. Mark took some photos of it that I will have to get off of his camera and upload tomorrow. The Oakland PD motorcycles were brought out on display this afternoon also. They had them very neatly lined up in the parking lot. Photos of them will also come tomorrow. Sorry for all of the tomorrow photos, but I forgot to take my camera when we went out and all the shots are on Mark and John's.

A room was reserved upstairs where different groups sold some items. Las Vegas PD had a couple of tables where they were selling t-shirts, there was a vendor table there, the folks that make the uniforms we wear were there, there was miscellaneous Police Unity Tour items for sale and the Oakland PD had a table where they were selling memorablia. We talked to Denise running the Oakland table this morning and she agreed to place our bike coins on her table for sale. She did a great job for us and sold just over 50 coins for us in a few hours.

We are told that we will be leaving the parking lot here at about 9:30 in the morning. We will be heading for Edison, NJ for our stop tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully the wind is not in our face the entire trip.

We'll be back in touch tomorrow afternoon with some new photos and an update on the wind. We thought this was New Jersey not the windy city of Chicago :-).

8 May

2010-05-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

This morning we (except Mark) woke up to rain, thunder and lightning. We have just been hanging out for the past few hours with no real agenda for the day. Several officers that were here yesterday seem to have ventured off for some portion of the day. We understand that there will be numerous more riders arriving this afternoon/evening.

All will be happy to know that about 12:30-1:00 local time Mark woke up and is back in business. Seems to have had a 24 hour bug that has passed and needless to say is back in the groove. We are in trouble now :-).

These are a few pictures of a couple of the support trailers that are here in the parking lot. These are both from the local New Jersey area.

This is one of the support motorcycles that is at the hotel.

So since the early morning rain, the sun has come out this afternoon and it is supposed to be in the low 70's. It is a little windy and humid, but pleasant for the most part. We pretty much will just be hanging around the hotel the rest of the day. I am waiting for the bike mechanics to return to hopefully properly repair my bike.

We think there is some plan for a dinner or meeting this evening for everyone to meet each other. There are numerous people we have met so far that are veterans to the ride so we are just trying to learn.

Talk to ya later.

New Jersey

2010-05-07T20:14:00.000-07:00

We made it to New Jersey about 20 minutes ahead of schedule. We were met by an Auxiliary Police Captain who assisted us in getting our luggage and on the van to the hotel. Very nice gentleman who is a lawyer in his full-time profession. On the van we met a female rider from Ohio and four guys from Utah. It took us about a half hour to get to the hotel.

Mark, John and I shared a row on the plane. Michelle unfortunately sat apart from us and at the "back of the bus". The flight attendants were all very nice. As we were nearing cruising altitude the flight attendant got on the intercom and let everyone on the flight know that, "we are joined today by some special guests. We have four officers from the Lakewood Police Department flying with us who are going to New York to do a bike ride in honor of their four officers that were killed in November. They are riding to Washington, DC. Let's give them a hand." Nice applause followed. We were also treated to dig-e players (movies, music, tv shows). Highly recommended on long flights.

Here are a couple photos of New York City on approach to Newark Airport. We did not get close enough to get a good picture of the Statue of Liberty, but we could see it in the distance.

After we got to the hotel it was a matter of finding rooms and getting bikes put back together. Three of the four went well. My bike has a little issue with the rear derailleur that we plan to get fixed in the morning. There are bike mechanics here as part of the Tour that assembled bikes and are helping with any necessary trouble shooting. The other three bikes went together well. Mark seemed to have a little difficulty as he was spiraling into not feeling well. He thought his bike box was locked (just move the latch) and thought the bike shop only packed one of his wheels (look under the lid). It was a good laugh.

Unfortunately the guys we met from Utah found out that their bikes were shipped to the hotel we will all be staying at in Washington, DC. So they basically had the option of taking the train to DC and back or driving. They elected to drive and were given the use of one of the chapter support vans. Sadly this is a six hour trip just for these guys to get there and back, not to include finding the hotel and getting the bikes. The elected to go tonight so that they can go to the baseball game tomorrow. Hope they have a safe journey and get some sleep later tonight.

Mark is sick and pretty much in bed this evening. We are hoping this is a short time illness that disappears quickly!!!

Not certain at this point what the plans are for tomorrow as it is a free day before the ride. A number of people from the Northern California chapter are going into NYC to see the Mets play the San Francisco Giants at 1:30. We don't have a great desire for that trip ... so we'll see and I'll let you all know.

Take off for New Jersey

2010-05-07T08:18:00.000-07:00

Good morning all,

Well here we are at the airport waiting for our flight to take off. We came to the airport this morning and had outstanding support from the Port of Seattle Police Department. We especially want to thank Sgt. Jeff Hoyne and his people for helping us get unloaded and through the gat

Here is Mark's truck loaded up with gear for me, him and John. We also have Michelle's bike on board.

Here's John on the drive at the airport as we are unloading.

Here we are at the airport getting ready to go. Sgt. Hoyne took this one for us.

Somebody did not get enough sleep last night. Actually he did not get any.

Be in touch when we get to New Jersey.

Day before lift off

2010-05-06T22:52:00.000-07:00

Good evening everyone,

Yes I should probably be in bed by now since we are leaving for the airport at oh-dark-thirty in the morning. I am pretty sure my fellow riders are still up putting the finishing touches on things. Today has been a last minute push to make sure everything is in order and ready to go. Our latest run around was making sure we had the right type of cases to transport firearms. What a headache!!!

So I promised photos of the ride coin. Because of the finish these are not the absolute best, but here they are. Have to work on that professional photography thing.

Today the article I referred to a few days ago ran in the Tacoma News Tribune. The link to that article is: www.thenewstribune.com/2010/05/06/1176084/officers-pedal-with-a-purpose.html. Please go to the site and read the article. It is a good one and tells a little bit more of the story as to what and why we are doing this.

Well off to bed so that I can get up and go in a relatively few short hours. We'll be taking some photos tomorrow and I will be back to post after we get to New Jersey.

Thanks to everyone for your support thus far and to continue as we "Ride for Those Who Died".

5 May

2010-05-05T21:17:00.000-07:00

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!!!

Today puts us one day closer to leaving for New Jersey. Right now we are about 36 hours away from our flight taking off. Yesterday, today and tomorrow have been spent with a lot of last minute preparations by the riders. Tomorrow we will all get our bikes boxed up and ready for travel across the country. Nicely we have a direct flight on Friday.

Today was also nice as we received challenge coins that we had made as a fundraiser for the Unity Tour. The design is awesome. Look forward to a photo tomorrow.

We are looking forward to the trip, meeting new friends, having a great ride and honoring those that we miss.

For those that are in Lakewood, think about attending the live broadcast of the Candlelight Vigil on 13 May that is being sponsored by the Blue Light Coalition. I'm sure it will be very near as powerful as being there in person.

Great Visitors

2010-05-03T22:28:00.000-07:00

Today we kick started National Police Month with a visit from a couple of Canadians. One is a retired Vancouver Sergeant and the other is a businessman whose brother is a former Vancouver Officer. For the past four years these two gentlemen drive a Hummer from Vancouver to Washington, DC. The kicker here is that the Hummer is all decked out like a police vehicle and the hood has the names of every officer that died in the line of duty that previous year. Today they stopped at the Forza in Seattle in rememberance of Officer Tim Brenton and then came to the Forza where our tragedy occurred to remember our friends Mark, Tina, Greg and Ronnie.

Here is the Hummer

Here is the hood with all of the names

.Here is the spot on the hood with our officers. The signatures are from family and the Chief.

Here is a close up of the names.

Oops forgot to turn that one ... :-)

Here are Deputy Gallagher and Officer Brenton.

Here is the spare tire cover with an awesome note from a little girl.

And "Hey", there's me with the ride.

These guys were awesome and are working very hard to spread the word about officers that are killed in the line of duty. Please take a moment to visit their website at http://www.salutehonor.org/.

Friday

2010-05-01T11:35:00.000-07:00

Mark and I went out for the last big training ride today. We went about 75 miles. For those in the know we went from our homes down to the Centralia city limits and back. I think as a whole we will get in one or two more rides next week before leaving.

Friday marked the one week countdown to departure. We will be leaving the morning of the 7th to fly to New Jersey. We will then have a day (8th) to get things all squared away and then begin the ride on the 9th.

This week we will be getting all the little details taken care of so that we are ready on Friday. Figuring out how to put bikes in travel boxes will be priority #1. None of us have experience with this and are getting some help from friends and each other to make this happen.

We are all very much looking forward to the experience that this ride and visit to the National Law Enforcement Memorial will present us. The names of the officers killed in the line of duty here in Washington have been added to the memorial and we have been given the information on where Mark, Tina, Ronnie, Greg, Tim and Kent are placed on the Memorial.

Thursday

2010-04-29T22:12:00.000-07:00

Today was the last of the spin classes. It was set up with one of our contacts to do some spin classes at the Lakewood YMCA. The object was for us to get the word out about the ride, have the Y promote it a little and maybe raise some extra money. Unfortunately these were not very successful.

Three of us showed up to spin tonight. Only one (Michelle) participated in the class. These things are very popular and she was the only one to get a bike. Oh well, Mark and I didn't complain too much. We are going on a 75 miler in the morning.

Ride/meeting

2010-04-28T15:38:00.001-07:00

Today three of the group went on a training ride. Unfortunately I was not with them. The kids and I had a visit with the dentist. I got to the station when they were getting done with the ride. It was in the middle of a downpour and they were all pretty wet. Since I did that yesterday kinda glad I didn't do it again.

There was a photographer from the TNT that took a few shots of them. We then met with the reporter. Funny that one of the things she asked about was a potential blog. Mark let her know about the Facebook fan page and I told everyone I was trying this out. The article for the paper should be out early next week.

Stay tuned for more ...

Training Ride

2010-04-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

Went on a 25 mile training ride today. It was very rainy out and I got soaked to the bone. As bad as that may sound, it was actually a bit of a refreshing ride. Ten more days and we will be on the big ole aeroplane to the east coast. New Jersey on the 7th. Ride starts on the 9th. A few more training sessions to go. Tomorrow we meet with the Tacoma News Tribune to do an article.