| On my way I ran into Sizzmo, who rode all the way from California! This is Marla, Sizzmo and I. Sizz gave me a great RFTW T-shirt. Thanks Sizz! |
| At the National Mall, I visited with Mr. Ron Stout at his booth. Mr. Stout once drove all the way to my school to donate T-shirts that we sold to make money to visit the Veteran's Center on Veteran's Day. Every time I go to D.C., Mr. Stout is one of the first people I visit. On this trip he gave me a hand-carved wooden motorcycle made in an orphanage in Vietnam. Thanks Mr. Stout, it's great and I'll always treasure it! If you're ever in D.C. visit Mr. Stout's booth and tell him Nikki sent you! |
| The weather still wasn't cooperating so we decided to head back to the hotel to get ready for the Rolling Thunder Banquet. |
| On my way out of the mall, I met Tim and Sandra who are also from New Mexico. (Sorry I missed you Mudflap!) They're my friend Shasta's mom and stepdad and although Shasta and I talk on the phone and email each other, I'd never gotten to meet her mom and stepdad. They gave me a special gift Shasta had sent for me and I sent one of my pins to Shasta. Thanks Shasta, I love the gift! |
| We decided to make one more trip through Thunder Alley and I'm really glad that I did because I got to meet Diane Carlson Evans, the founder ot the Vietnam Women's Memorial. |
| Saturday night we attended the Rolling Thunder Banquet and I got to see Miss America 2000, Heather French Henry again. This time I got to meet her husband as well! I talked to her for awhile and told her that she'll always be an inspiration to me for helping our Vets!! The banquet was so crowded that we went outside, where we met my friends from the Rolling Thunder PA Chapters 4 and 5. |
| Rick (the Prez of Chapter 5) was having a good time with us while Ron was supposed to be watching Powmia (my bear) but I don't know who was watching who! |
| Rick has a really bad eye and has had lots of surgeries. Nathan and Ben thought they'd cheer him up by showing him that his patch was really pretty cool!! They've very proudly earned the nicknames of the "One-Eyed Batman and his 2 Robins"! You're still the best Rick... Even if you can't hear with only one eye! |
| The first thing we did when we got to the Pentagon parking lot was get a group shot. That's my mom, me, Marla, Nick and Hawgrider. |
| I sat on Marla's bike and chatted with her while we waited for the run to start. (That's for you, Stump!) |
