Today we slept a little later than usual and had a late breakfast. Our plan was to go to Washington Harley and Arlington National Cemetery. We bought a couple of things from the vendors at the Harley dealer. Bob got a new pair of gloves and I bought a new leather vest. We didn’t listen to the band, but a lot of people were enjoying their performance.

In the past the dealership provided free food. This year they did not. There were several food vendors charging the usual event prices.

Bob’s Harley boots were raising a blister, so we found a pharmacy where he got some Dr. Scholl’s inserts. There was a Chinese restaurant across the street where we ate lunch.

Next we attempted to go to Arlington National Cemetery, but got stuck in gridlock on the exit ramp to the park. We managed to back down the ramp and escape the problem. We wandered around Alexandria and eventually crossed the river and found our way to Thunder Alley. TA is a block of tent vendors located north of the Wall.

It looks as if the newest biker group supports President Trump. Is the helper checking on the latest tweet?

TA features a lot of food vendors and a variety of clothing and small accessory vendors, but I was amazed at the number of patches and pins being offered. If you can’t find a particular patch there, it isn’t made.

We parked near the Lincoln Memorial and had easy access to the Memorial Bridge. We decided to see if we could get into the cemetery and had no problem entering and finding a parking place. We first went to President Kennedy’s grave.

From there we walked to the tomb of the unknown soldier and watched the guard walk his post for a few minutes.

We were very fortunate to witness the changing of the guard.

Tomorrow is the 30th Rolling Thunder. We’ll be up early and spend the morning watching the North Parking Lot at the Pentagon fill up. We’ll ride the route and head out of town toward the next part of our adventure.