Candle Light Vigil & President's speech

Here are a few more Pictures from the Candle Light Vigil, the names on the walls of the Memorial, and from the President's speech from the West Lawn of the Capitol on May 15th, National Law Enforcement Officer's memorial day.

When we rode into the memorial, we added these few tributes by Deputy Shandon Wright's name.

And this was already placed below DOC Officer Jayme Biendl's name

The President walked by me as I saluted about 3 feet away from me as he walked to the podium to give his speech.

And Corrections Deputy John Lyon got to stand directly behind the President as he gave his speech.

So we did it... the three of us rode over 300 miles.  And it was tough, but so worth it.  When we started this back in November of 2011, and I asked the three other Honor Guardsmen if they wanted to do this, they all said yes.  We all agreed to do this one year.  But after finishing the ride with the three of us that could do it, we all agreed to do this again next year.  So starting in August we plan to start out fundraising again for the 2013 ride.  Next year Corrections Deputy Todd Klemme will be with us with maybe a few more Pierce County Sheriff's Dept. members. 

So I want to thank everyone that took the time to read up and follow us on this blog. 

I did this Blog for friends and family, but to also raise awareness of the Police Unity Tour, what we do and that

"We Ride for those Who Died".

Thanks and God Bless

Day Four of the PUT is up!

So finally, here is our last day of the Police Unity Tour!

Sorry it has taken me so long to get this up, but with everything we had to do in Washington D.C. with the Candle Light up to the President's Speech on May 15th, it was a busy week.  So enjoy these few pictures and the Video at the end of this Blog.

Myself, Mike and John just before we started the last day of the PUT, 60 miles to DC!

As we traveled the country side of Maryland, I started to realize we were almost done, and then I started to think of why we were doing this.  This was no Vacation, though it was an adventure.  But we were here to remember our fellow fallen Law Enforcement brothers and sisters.  We were there to raise awareness of the sacrafices that a few of us have made to help keep our communities safe.

So we were there for Kent, Shandon, John, and the Lakewood four to name a few.

Just before we made the last streach into the Memorial in D.C., we all gathered with the rest of the riders from the Police Unity Tour (1,500 riders strong) in the parking lot of R.F.K. Stadium.

Together we all rode into D.C., by the U.S. Capitol...

And into the Law Enforcement Memorial with one more person, Michelle Garcia from Lakewood (WA) Police Department.

The CEO of the National Law Enforcement Memorial, Craig Floyd, gave a short speech.

And if you have ruffly 12 minutes, I recommend you watch the video below, and thanks for following the Pierce County Police Unity Tour Blog.

We are here in DC!

We finished the 320 miles!  I will work on putting more pictures & video up later today of our arrival into DC. It was an awesome site!

Day Three Video from the PUT

Here is Day Three Video. Day four will be up soon, Thanks.

Day Three of the Police Unity Tour

So we started out Day three for our Second 100 mile day.  The first 100 miles yesterday was tough, but doing the second 100 was allot tougher.  We were all sore, tired and John and I were bruised up from a few falls from the bike, but we pressed on. 

We crossed a few bridges and rode thru alot of countryside as we traveled the outback farming communities in Delaware and Maryland.

 We were glad to get to the finish line today as we came to our Hotels in Annapolis.  To count, here are our sympathy vote totals:

John Lyon: One crash from his Bicycle

Mike Peek: Two flat (at different times) tires on his bike

Jon Blind: One flat tire, and two falls from his Bicycle

So Jon wins out as of day three.......

The video is in the works for Day 3, so if it isn't up yet, it will be soon.....

One day left in the Police Unity Tour.  Tomorrow we ride the 60 miles from Annapolis, MD to Washington D.C. as we meet up with all 1,200 riders at RFK Stadium and ride into the National Law Enforcement Memorial together.  We have all been told by other veteran riders that tomorrow will be an emotional day as we remember why it is we are doing this ride and honor our brother Law Enforcement Officers that have paid the ultimate price and died in the line of duty.

Tomorrow will be a day I will be thinking of Deputy Shandon Wright, Deputy Kent Mundell, DOC Officer Jayme Biendl, Ranger Margaret Anderson, and Trooper "Tony" as the three of us finish at the Memorial walls.

Come back tomorrow to see the finish of our ride.

Day Two of the Police Unity Tour (100 Mile Day)

So we started Day Two out from Trenton, NJ and finished in Wilmington, DE.  100 miles on all.  Today I switched out Bracelets and had on a bracelet for Trooper Tony Radulescu, and NPS Ranger Margaret Anderson.

Here is a quick pic I took Of Mike near the beginning of today's ride (hence the smile, that disappeared as the miles wore on us!)

And a quick look back at John around the same time I took the picture above.

We stopped at the Target store (not sure what town, the miles turn into a blur after awhile), but they are supporting us during the whole ride with free Gatorade, Bananas, and water.

The President of the Police Unity Tour, Chief Patrick P. Montuore, happened to walk by, so I asked him for a quick photo opp!

An American Flag draped from a fire truck to Honor our ride.

As we merged onto the Freeway, the local police has shut down the road for us (Sometimes for half an hour at times!)

And we ended our ride coming into Wilmington, DE crossing over a Bridge.  This was the highest elevation climb we will have to do for the ride (Or so we were told).  But our Hills in Washington State are Mountains to them on the east coast during the P.U.T.. So John, Mike and I had no problems crossing it.

And here is the Video for Day Two of the ride.  See you tomorrow for pictures from our second 100 mile day (ouch) on Day three!

Day One Video

As promised, here is the Video from Day Ones ride.  I will work on getting Day Two's Video tonight.

Day one of the P.U.T.

Well Day one has come and gone, and it was a good day of riding!  We started out leaving East Hanover at 9 am with our group of about 500 Police Unity Tour riders.

Below are a few of the P.U.T. Bracelets I am wearing for the Tour.  When we get into Washington DC and the Candle Light vigil, we will present these Bracelets to thier Fallen Officer's Family.

And this is John as we were riding the 60 miles today.  It was tough at times, but the feeling you get when you ride into a town and see all the kids from the local elementary School outside waving and giving you high fives.  It's amazing.

Almost every town's fire department had their ladder truck out with flags draped as we rode by.



And it rained!



So come back tomorrow to see the video I took for todays ride.  We have to get up at 4 am tomorrow, and I was not able to get the video up tonight......

Trip to Ground Zero, Day before The Tour starts

So we made our way to New York City today on our day off before we start the Unity Tour tomorrow morning.

We started off taking the bus from New Jersey to New York and then walked to Times Square.  From there we took the Subway to the World Trade Center memorial site.

This is the under construction new World Trade Center building right next to the memorial.

And as we walked to the entrance of the WTC memorial, we walked past this huge 6 foot tall wall plaque. 

Once in the Memorial Site, we walked up to this.  It is an experience that is hard to put into words.

And along the edge of the flowing waterfall is the names of all that died on September 11th, 2001 to include everyone that died in the airplanes that crashed into the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania.

Here is Mike and John as they look at the Memorial pool.

Tomorrow we start the Police Unity Tour with a 60 mile ride to Trenton, NJ.  I will try to post on here pictures and video tomorrow after the ride, so check back.

Arrival in East Hanover, NJ

So as soon as we arrived at the Newark Airport we ran into trouble finding the Shuttle to our Hotel we were looking for, but thankfully we ran into another Police Unity Tour rider that had a Van ready to go.  We met up with riders from Texas (I was able to trade them a Pierce County Coin for this nice P.U.T. Texas coin) and one from Ontario, Canada.  Great group of people that were friendly enough to get us to our East Hanover Hotel.

Once here we met up with our bike boxes that made it here a few days ago, broke them open and reassembled our bicycles.  Tomorrow we plan to head into New York to the World Trade Center, and then return for our Meeting with the rest of the Police Unity Tour folks.  We will be off early on Wednesday at 0700 (that's 4 a.m. West Coast time!).

County Memorial

This picture is a little dark, but here is the three of us in front of the Memorial wall in HQ of the Sheriff's Dept.