Beat the Heat

It's 79 degrees and a few thousand of us have been sitting in the Pentagon parking lot for upwards of 3 hours waiting for the Rolling  Thunder parade to start. 

Technically the parade started 90 minutes ago but we're in the last lot to load. They'll get to us. Eventually. 

In the meantime, the name of the game is stay cool. It's amazing how many riders around me are so ill prepared for this. Dressed in cotton; black tshirts and jeans. Leathers and heavy black boots. Black helmets. No obvious sun protection and most seem like they've arrived here without food or water. 

Heck I used to live here in Virginia and understand what black feels like in the summer. Most of these people live here now. I've got a fresh layer of sweat just thinking about it. 

Still it's not like relief isn't around. There are crews walking the parking lot offering free ice water. But some of these folks are just sitting there in the sun and bypassing that. 

You know en enterprising sort of person could turn a profit off this. 

But that's not the purpose of the Ride. Rolling Thunder honors the soldiers who are still missing in combat. Riders here are often veterans. 

For me, I'm here for the men in my family who served our country through military service. My grandfather, William Howland, was an Army colonel who served in WWI and the Mexican border when Pershing was chasing after Pancho Villa. 

I'm also here for my dad. He was a West Point graduate, served in Korea, and was in intelligence. 

It can be difficult to remember the debt we owe men and women like these, but we need to. 

Even in this heat.