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.

Eaglets

After a string of bad weather and just plain being busy, I finally managed to visit OBNWR again. I'm not particularly satisfied with my latest round of results, but the subjects make it worthwhile to post some of them.

Over two visits, I was able to observe two eaglet feeding events. The first was in the evening, in fading light, with the nest back-lit. I had to boost my camera's ISO to 1000 just to get a shutter speed that I could use hand-held. The sky is completely blown out to get the right exposure. I cropped and processed the photos, leading to some pretty washed-out results. And on top of that, the eagles didn't cooperate, never simultaneously showing their eyes.

Three Eagles

Feeding Time

I went back a few days later, hoping for another opportunity, this time in the morning with the light behind me. A cold, brisk gusting wind made for uncomfortable conditions and an unsteady camera, and again the eagles didn't cooperate.

Both Eagles Looking at Me

Eaglet Shows Early Wing Feathers

 After I'd been there for a few minutes, the parent got very vocal. I looked up and noticed this immature bald eagle passing through, having a hard time flying straight and level in the gusting wind.

Bald Eagle

And I had two lifers for me, so I'll post these too.

Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher

Prothonotary Warbler

More Cherry Blossoms

I made my annual trip to the Tidal Basin over the weekend to try to photograph them, but the weather was awful. I had the opportunity to go again yesterday afternoon. Here's the second round of photos.

Cherry Blossoms

The Grebes were Playing among the Petals

Cherry Blossoms

Jefferson Memorial

Cherry Blossoms

Cherry Blossoms

It's that time of year; the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. I was unable to visit during the week, so I went this morning and arrived at the crack of dawn. It was cold and windy and cloudy with a brief period of mixed drizzle and sleet. I was hoping the bad weather would keep the crowd down. It did suppress the size of the crowd, but still there were lots of people.

I grabbed some shots of the monuments before the lights shut off. Aside from the tent, I like this one.

Jefferson Memorial

As I wandered around, I mostly used my 85mm f1.8, like most visits. However, I saw some horned grebes playing in the water, so I switched to my 70-200 f2.8 about halfway through. There was a pair that stayed pretty close to shore, diving frequently. Here's one who managed to surface under a flower petal.

Horned Grebe with Cherry Blossom Petal

 The overcast skies created a soft light that didn't really do much for the subtle colors. I've read plenty of times that overcast can create flattering light, but I've decided that I don't like it.

Cherry Blossoms

Robert E. Lee's house overlooks Washington DC. Here it's visible way off in the distance across the Potomac River.

Robert E. Lee's House in Arlington National Cemetery

Given that I passed the spot directly opposite the Jefferson Memorial while I had my zoom lens mounted, I went for the head-on shot with Jefferson's statue silhouetted.

Cherry Blossoms

The National Park Service decided to try to clean the top of the monument. It's had this ugly bacteria growing on it for a while. A contractor did a test cleaning with a new process, and it's easy to see the strip of the roof that got cleaned.

Jefferson Memorial with a Cleaned Strip

And I went inside for a quick shot of Jefferson. That dark statue in dim light was hard to expose for a usable photo. Wide open, with high ISO, and image stabilization, I got some detail in his face. It's possible to see the bird droppings.

Thomas Jefferson

So I'm glad I went, but I don't think I'll try again in the future if the weather is this lousy. There was a wedding taking place in the grass next to the Jefferson Memorial. The men all looked cold. The women in their bridesmaids dresses, and the bride too, looked like they were uncomfortably cold as the wind blew their dresses around a lot.