Polizei Motorcycle Ride

10 June 05

9 June, I got off work, jumped on the bike, got some gas and drove to Spangdahlem. I stayed with Kevin and Helen for the evening prior to the ride.

10 June, Kevin and I rode over to the Polizei (Police) station in Bitburg for the start of the ride. We got there on time but on the early end of things. A "riders" breakfast was served, brotchen with cheese or salami, and coffee and juice. A couple speeches were given, although Kevin and I both understood NOTHING as they were in German (imagine that??!!). Then the ride started. We had Polizei lead and tail, dedicated ambulance (don't think it was used thank goodness!), and the motorcycle polizei from Germany, Belgium, and Luxembourg provided route clearance. On this ride, with 250 motorcycles of all makes and models, there was no such thing as a red light, stop sign, or autos coming into the street from side streets.... The cops did a great job of blocking EVERYTHING. I have no idea how many times we crossed borders from Germany to Belgium and Luxembourg.....! know I ended up with 8-10 text messages on my cell phone saying "welcome to our country"....So we went across the border many times. Lunch found us in a town that I never knew, in a country I still don't know which I was in. We had Lasagna for lunch in a really cool basement restaraunt, then went to a Formula 1 Auto museum. Very cool cars, some cool motorcycles, then back to the road. The end of the day brought us to about 200 miles on the day and a BBQ of pork and potatoes. The live music left MUCH to be desired, but overall it was a good day.

11 June, Kevin and I went puttering around the Spangdahlem area. Went to the old town of Dudeldorf. It had 2 city entrances under towers that were built in 1453. The second tower had some major scrapes taken out of the rock of the arches. I was told that the story is that General Patton and his tanks "Squeezed" into the city through the arch, the tanks only "Sort of" fit, resulting in the scrapes. I am not able to confirm it, but it sure makes for a good story at the very least...and who knows, could actually be true! After touring the area a bit, I rode back to the Ramstein/Kaiserslautern area and decided to work on a ride for Sunday!! Was successful, and those pics are for another album...but for the weekend, Thursday evening through Sunday night, I rode a total of just over 600 miles/ 960km. Was a VERY nice weekend as the weather held for the whole thing!