2008 Oregon Blue Knights Memorial Ride review
This riding season I have to admit that one of the runs I was looking forward to was the 2008 Oregon Blue Knights Memorial Ride. Last year I attended their event and enjoyed it greatly even though it is a rememberance ride for those in Oregon law enforcement that have fallen in the line of duty.
As with last year’s event, it all began at Latus Harley-Davidson in Portland, Oregon. As you will see from the photos, there were quite a few bikes that showed up for the ride. The cost of the ride was again $20(one of the few things in life that still cost the same as last year.) Sign-up and getting raffle tickets went quite fast because the Blue knights have learned the tricks needed to get large amounts of bikers through the whole process of buying tickets and run shirts.
This year I was determined to not be the leader and so I stayed behind as the groups of riders took off for their journey to the Oregon Police Academy ran by the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST.) I was able to photograph alot of the bikers as they rumbled out of Latus Harley-Davidson and you should definetly get your pic from our picture sections if you were on the ride.
This year’s run did take another route running from Portland, Oregon to Newberg, Near Woodburn, St. Paul and ending up just south of Salem Oregon. A biker friend of mine decided to tag along with me as I took off to catch up with the group of riders. We were able to get ahead of the group by not riding the first part of the ride and Iwe pulled over near Woodburn on a nice stretch of road with some beautiful farming land in the background.
We waited for about 30 minutes as bikers on the ride rode by and eventually we followed a group once a majority of bikers had passed by, Arriving at the Academy, I stopped at the end of the parking lot and started taking more pictures as bikers rode down the very scenic drive of the academy. I could smell the BBQ and it was very hard to stay in the parking lot this year because I knew that the BBQ would taste great. But the other bikers did not have my strength to stay in the parking lot, there was a constant stream of bikers that walked over to the BBQ area.
When I finally made it inside, the bikers were lined up all around the BBQ area and I was able to talk to some friends that I never met and those that I had not seen in quite awhile. With the long line, it gave all of us a good amount of time to meet new people and just have a good conversation.
After all the bikers had been fed, the Blue Knights announced it was time for the ceremony. You could feel the change in the air as people started to think about why we were all there in the first place.
This event marked a first for www.biker-events.com as I was able to videotape the whole ceremony. Later next week we will make the video available for everyone to watch. The TIgard Police Department led the ceremony with the Honor Guard and presented the colors. Then a short speech was given and the names were read. While the speech was moving and the reading of the names touched my heart, the end of the ceremony was what really made the connection to the officers that had fallen.
At the end of the ceremony, a BagPipe player started playing near the Academy flags. He stood alone just next to the lowered flags. To me it symbolized the fallen officers and all the bikers/law enforcement standing a short distance away symbolized the bond between them. Never too far away and always remembering each other no matter where they have gone.
After the ceremony I was talking with John Nerski and he made a comment that almost a week later haunts me. He said that during the memorial service when they got to near the end of the list, that he could remember those that had died since he had entered law enforcement. I told him that it was sad that his career could be measured by those that had fallen and thought to myself that I was lucky that men like him and those that had fallen put their lives on the line to protect us.
Everyone returned to the BBQ area to find out who had won the big prizes. The Blue Knights this year came up with awesome prizes:
1. a pony keg of beer by the Widmer Brothers Brewery.
2. An overnight stay, dinner and gambling money for two from the Seven Feathers Casino.
3. An overnight stay and dinner for two at Spirit Mountain.
The Blue Knights run is certainly a run you should not miss, for the second year in a row, they have proven to me that they know how to put on a event and know how to get some great prizes for their run. But of course the real reason is really to pay your respect those that have fallen trying to protect our freedoms and our lives each and every day on the streets of Oregon.
Check out our Biker Pics section for photos from the 2008 Blue Knights Run
