Ride of the Patriots 2018

It's Memorial Day weekend, which means Rolling Thunder, which means Ride of the Patriots. I went to the same spot as last year, on a bridge on Cedar Lane over Interstate 66. It was cloudy and HUMID. Here are my photos from the event as thousands of motorcyclists rode by to join the main event, Rolling Thunder, at the Pentagon.

Deserted Interstate 66

The police blocked the road prior to the first group of motorcycles coming through. An empty I66 is so unusual, I had to start with this.

Empty I66

The cops could be forgiven for having fun on the job. Here's the lead group as they escorted the main body. I don't know where this first group started; they're not part of the Ride of the Patriots.

Fairfax County and Virginia State Police Lead the Way

Out of thousands of motorcycles and hundreds of photos, I've selected a few because of unusual motorcycles, or interesting riders. Lots of passengers and riders used their phones or GoPro cameras during the ride.

Waving to us on the Bridge

 The rider in the rear has quite a beard.

Beards

 I saw only one of these.

Put your hands on the wheel!

The photos above are from a smaller group that came through before the Ride of the Patriots. Then the police let the cars through, and it was PACKED for a while as the backup rolled through.

Typical I66 Traffic

Then the Ride of the Patriots began. The motorcyclists gather in Fairfax and depart as a long convoy. Here are the lead riders with their police escort. Again the police had shut I66 to other traffic.

Ride of the Patriots

 Here's another impressive beard.

What a Beard!

 Riding and photographing...

Concentration on his Face, or Cycling and Photographing

 The guy on the right of this photo gets into the gallery because of the arm tattoo.

Quite the Sleeve on this Rider

 And this rider had the most unusual helment.

Seems like that Helment is Hot!

When photographing, it's always a good idea to at least glance at the scene behind the main event. Here they are riding away from me, toward DC.

All Lined Up

 I'd say she likes purple. And I like the pigtails on her helmet.

Purple and Pigtails

Most of the riders seemed to have a lot of gray hair. And even though most of the women participants were riding with men, some had their own rides.

Enjoying the Ride

 I was glad to see so many women among the riders.

Nice Trike

 There were more sidecars last year. This one seems retro.

With a Sidecar

 Here's another impressive beard.

Beard in the Wind

I was also pleased to see just how much the riders look like America. We may have deep political arguments but for Memorial Day you wouldn't know it. Men, women, children, and every shade of skin were represented.

A Smile and a Wave

 Here's another impressive beard.

Beard

I chose this one because she's riding a big bike and has an unusual helmet. Women tend to go for smaller motorcycles.

Odd Helmet

 For obvious reasons...

OK, Who's Driving?

 There were lots of flags.

Flag Waving in the Wind

Finally, here's the rolling road block that followed the last of the riders, presumably to keep the cars from overtaking the riders.

Rolling Roadblock

It got really crowded on the bridge as lots of people showed up to see the show. The motorcyclists would wave, rev their engines, honk their horns, and smile as the people on the bridge waved back and waved flags.

This was a lot of fun, and I expect to be back for it again next year.

Beautiful Morning at OBNWR, Came for Birds, Found Turtles

Spring is turning into Summer and I'll probably take a break from visiting the refuge for a while. It gets hot and full of bugs and the birds that I like are harder to see behind all of the foliage. But today was beautiful and I have the day off and I made one more trip before the heat really sets in.

The eagle nest near the shore was occupied with a single eaglet, and the parents were on their usual perch above.

Looking Bored and Alone, Ready to Fly

Looking to their Right

I think the one on the right of this photo is the female; it's much larger than its mate.

I was disappointed by the lack of much action while I proceeded along the shoreline. Well, there was action, but it was heard, not seen. Ospreys are busy, herons were flying around, geese too. But the smaller birds were too far away or obscured to get anything useful.

I made it to the second eagle nest and found that the eaglets are much larger than last I saw.

Two Eaglets

These two will be flying soon. On my way out, I found this snapping turtle on the road. It's smaller than some that I've seen here, and he/she stopped and allowed me to photograph it. In the shade I had to crank my ISO. I also had to keep back beyond the minimum focus distance. I definitely had the wrong lens for this and the next two turtles.

The darkness meant I was shooting at F4 and 1/500 and ISO 1000 and still I had to process the photos because they were dark. The closeness and wide open aperture made for a razor thin focal plane.

Farther along, in a darker area along the road, I encountered another snapping turtle that had dug a hole in the sand and had its rear hanging over the hole. It seems late in the season to be laying eggs. There were many empty egg shells strewn around, so I think that nest either hatched its eggs or some predator got them. It was way to dark to photograph and there was tall grass obscuring the turtle, so no photos.

Spotted Turtle

Finally, this small turtle was on the road near the parking lot.