Patriot Guard Riders

This is Jon. Today was the arrival of the Patriot Guard Riders who drove by Kittitas while escorting a flatbed 18 wheeler carrying support beams from the Twin Towers. I'm not sure how long this cross country travel has been going on, but I knew the escort would be driving by Kittitas and stopping in Ellensburg for food and gas at around 11:15 this morning. I got to the Kittitas overpass at around 11 and was greeted by police, fire and rescue, a bunch of bikers and plenty of onlookers who lined the overpass. It was pretty powerful. I'm not sure how well people know I-90 near Kittitas, but when you're looking east you can see travelers coming off the Vantage hill and winding around to the straightaway. After a few minutes of waiting, we could see the motorcyle escorts coming our way. I would guess around 300 bikers, three semi trucks (including the one carrying the beams) and another round of vehicle escorts driving past, honking horns, waving and saluting the flag one of the onlookers had unfurled.

The start of the escort. Unbelievable.

I was amazed by the amount of bikes on the road that I barely caught

the beams passing me under the overpass. You can see the flag drapped over the Twin Tower beams here.

Kittitas Police officer Buddy Shuart bracing the flag against the wind.

It was extremely windy on Sunday morning, so you can only hear the wind and the rumble of the bikes, but there were plenty of cheers and honks as well. I'm glad I got to see this. I'm told the beams are going to Kitsap County as part of a 9-11 memorial.