Day 3 - The Gathering in Indianapolis

Well, today was the day when all the Legion riders met in Indianapolis to get the briefing and get ready for the ride tomorrow.

It would have been a great day to sleep in a little bit, but I had some concern about the brakes on my Harley and I went over to a local HD dealer. It was first come - first served and the service department opened at 8 am. I was there at 7 and I was the third bike in a line that was about 20+ bikes by 8 am. It turned out to be nothing (or so they say now), and I basically paid for them to clean my bike... which it needed badly.


Doc's bike also had problems, with one of his fuses blowing, so we had to fool with that for a while - but everything eventually worked out ok, and we all met over at the local Post 64 here in southwest Indianapolis.

There were about 200 riders and bikes at Post 64 this evening. They served dinner and there was some speechifying. One young lady made a presentation to the American Legion with a check for $1,000 to the Legacy Fund. She was 13 and her siblings and friends had raised the money all year doing car washes.

There is certainly quite a cross-section of Americana and the biker world in this group. There are everything from hard-core biker types to the family cruiser types with the Honda Gold Wings....

There were a number of reminders that the purpose of this ride is to highlight the worthy charitable purpose it serves: to provide a fund that permits the children of soldiers slain in combat to attend the school of their choice. Last year we raised about $350,000, and we hope to break $400,000 this year. If we do so, the American Legion Riders will have raised over a million dollars in three years for this scholarship.




Doc and I have volunteered to help with the Advance Team for the ride, which means that I get to be a scout again! We are going to leave at 0700 in the morning, and the main body of about 250 bikes will leave at 0730.


Our job is to get to the rest areas and refueling stops and to provide traffic control and to help with the refuel teams. The refueling teams are mostly pre-planned with volunteers along the way from various American Legion Posts. I guess we'll see how it works out. Our small advanced party consists of about 12 bikes. The refuel teams meet there by car.

The whole thing is well-planned with medical and maintenance support along the way.

Our goal is to make it to St. Robert, MO by tomorrow evening. This Legion Post is right outside of Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and I think they have something planned for tomorrow night.

We are getting up at 0430 in the morning and meeting for breakfast at Post 64 at 0530.

That's it for now!
Mike