Honor Flight Escort
September 07, 2011
I had the privilege of riding along with the Honor Flight escort last night. For those of you who have not had the opportunity, you should try and make it to one of these events. For those of you who do not know about the Central Missouri Honor Flight organization, they take veterans to Washington to see the memorials dedicated to their service and sacrifices.
I was at a local restaurant and there were many bikes coming and going, so I asked Ron, one of the riders, where they were going. He responded, “Aren’t you going on the honor flight ride?” I told him that I had never been and knew very little about the organization. Ron invited me to ride with his group to Kingdom City, MO to meet the buses and escort the veterans back from the airport. When we got to Kingdom City, there were many bikes lined up, and many more arriving. All in all there were about 230 bikes that made the trip. We lined up on the on-ramp to I-70 and waited for the buses. The MO Highway Patrol escorted the buses as well as the bikes. As the buses passed the ramp, the Patrol pulled out lights flashing and the entire bike parade raced to catch up, and pass the buses. It was quite a ride seeing that many bikes racing down I-70. The Patrol managed traffic so that we did not have to stop or fight other traffic as we escorted the Veterans back to Columbia.
It was such a cool feeling escorting, and then watching the veterans get off the buses from their long day visiting the memorial. There were many people in Columbia to welcome them home, and I received many thanks for “just riding along”. What a great way to spend a Tuesday night!
If you would like more information about the Central Missouri Honor Flight, check out their website at www.centralmissourihonorflight.com
Ride Safe
Robb Emerson
Bankers on Bikes