Josh Madagan

The Ride

Most people in this area use Memorial Day as an extra day to add to their first weekend of summer. Everyone heads to the beaches to launch their summer, and the extra day gives them time to endure the long drive to the Atlantic or the Chesapeake and still squeeze in two, if not three, days of fun at the beach.

But my friends who have Harleys always celebrate the holiday by riding together into Washington and joining up with the thousands of other bikes that make up the annual Rolling Thunder. If you’ve never heard the roar of thousands of Harleys rolling down Constitution Avenue and seen the thousands of different faces of men who have served our country or lost a family member or friend to a war, then you have not yet appreciated the emotion and deep appreciation that we as a country feel for our service men and women.