Lou & I decided that we needed to visit again this year and
have been planning the event since last Veterans Day! The Remembering Vietnam Cruise was to be on
Independence Day weekend, July 3 to be specific. We advertised and personally invited Rolling
Thunder VA 3 and other clubs to run with us.
We had inquiries from all over Virginia and we knew it would be a well
attended event. Knowing that, Lou asked
the Culpeper Sheriff’s department to provide traffic control as we left the
start point near Culpeper airport and headed South on Rt. 29. That makes such a
difference when everyone begins the 36 mile cruise together.
As with any outdoor event weather plays an important part. The weatherguessers were forecasting monsoon
rains for the Fourth but for Sunday the 3rd would be ok. But then the closer we got to Sunday the weather
deteriorated to monster rains being forecasted.
Since our start time was 9:45 from Stafford we had time to figure out
what to drive since the event was a ‘Rain or Shine’ deal. We decided to make the call to use daily
drivers and scrambled to advertise the change via email & Facebook. So….we had three hot rods, a gaggle of
Corvettes and a few Rolling Thunder motorcycles accompanying 34 assorted daily
drivers to begin the cruise.
A local weekly newspaper, The Culpeper Times, has a focus on
Veterans once a month with their “Salute To Our Veterans” section with stories
about local Veterans. Lou had invited
the editor of the Culpeper Times, Anita Sherman, to join us at the Museum to
see what the Museum was all about. Anita
interviewed the curator, Craig LaMountain, and followed with a very nice
article in her paper.
The staff of the museum had set up an area for us to display our
Fisher House Foundation material and also have a place for our group to
congregate. It really helped make the
day a little better for us. I can’t
really say that the day was a bust….anytime we can interact with people like
the staff at the museum is a good day.
This is the kind of place that no matter how many times you visit you
will always find something you missed before.
And most of the people that attended with us had not been to the museum
before….so they had a special day for sure!
I think the weather kept many people from experiencing the day with
us….we are going to plan another event to the museum on Veteran’s Day this
year….watch for the details.
Check pictures here;
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