My friends wife is on the ride . They made it to PA yesterday but are returning due to the floods in New York & D.C.

 

The floods I can understand, but the threats are not a reason to not ride. Terrorists only when when they invoke terror, don't let them win... ride, ride safe, remember.

 

NYC is in lockdown.......Bomb risk is high

 

Just saw on NATL news NY traffic is a nightmare. Might not be able to ge though city to GZ. Most of the flooding is in the Susquanaha river basin. Interstate and major arteries are open, lots of rural roads closed. Have not been able to confirm any event cancellations. The 911 ride in Baltimore is still on thoguh so if you are inbound and cannot get to NY look up Baltimore HD store and come on down.

 

Nothing is locked down here. I got an email about our chapter's ride to the Pentagon this morning. It is still on. I have decided not to do the ride, though. I don't know that I could handle being at the memorial. But I will be remembering that day in my own way.

On the morning of 9/11, I was standing in the Federal Court in Old Town Alexandria, about 5 miles directly south of the Pentagon, in the middle of a hearing. The judge was on the bench. The bailiff, a US Marshall, came in and whispered something in the judge's ear. The judge turned to us and said, "The Pentagon has been attacked. Court is closed. Good day, Gentlemen." And then he immediately left the bench.

The closest analogy I can draw to being here on that day was that it was like being on Oahu at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack. We knew someone had attacked or was still attacking us, we didn't know who or the scope of the attacks. There were wild rumors from friends and on the radio--that the White House and/or the Capitol had already been bombed, or that another plane was heading there now, etc., etc. For hours afterwards, the roads were in gridlock, cellphones and landlines were jammed and you couldn't reach your loved ones physically or on the phone. The primal urge was to get to your spouse and kids.

Teachers like my wife were required to stay at the elementary school until all students had been picked up. Parents stumbled in, some just in a daze, some actually in shock and needing to be calmed by sitting them down, giving them juice or water etc.

My wife had two friends--one a teacher with her at the elementary school and the other my boys' pre-school teacher from years before--who lost their husbands in the Pentagon attack. My wife attended the funeral of one at Arlington Cemetery. As she stood at the grave site, she could look down the hill and see the gaping hole in the side of the Pentagon where he died.

Everyone here, and in NYC, knows someone who died in the attacks or knows someone who lost a loved one. There are literally millions of stories like ours. Most are far more poignant than the one we can tell. We will never forget.

 

I can understand what you're saying, however, they want to hurt us... If they attacked on "their" lunar anniversary all Americans would think it is a complete coincidence that another attack was planned. Do it on the 10th Anniversary that WE acknowledge and you have a completely different impact across the country..

Your thought that people are "overdoing" it, I believe, is right on line as to why 9/11 happened in the first place. Only about the 2-3 years after 9/11 (and of course on the anniversaries) our threat level is heightened. We get complacent and forget exactly how things went down on 9/11.. We were lazy and overlooked intel on the possibility of an attack. I don't want that to happen again. To me, put a cop on every block - deputize some citizens - and take down ANY possible threat.

Now as for the ride, a close friend of mine organized a ride out of here to meet up in Shanksville, PA with the Chicago firefighter group that does it every year. I haven't gotten word if it was cancelled, but they were suppose to ride in today... What a shame if it was cancelled. They were expecting more bikes this year than any other year - was suppose to be the largest escorted ride into the city.

 

As of yesterday..Friday....NYC is already implementing road closures and frozen zones. If your not already in the city odds are your not getting in. And if you do you wont get anywhere near ground zero due to road closures.

As far as flooding goes, all our major roads and highways are open and passable. I got truck deliveries from NJ and Ct both on Friday. So I don't think flooding will be an issue. What I do think will happen is all large groups of riders are going to be detoured around the city and not allowed to enter it. IF You come off the GWB you will be forced north onto the Major Deegan/NYS Thruway.

And as far as our Mayor "protecting" firefighters and cops by keeping us away because of the terror threat...well he announced weeks ago on local radio stations long before the terror threat was ever known that their was "NO ROOM FOR US". FD and PD are always made aware of emergencies and dangerous conditions well in advance for the purposes of pre-planning Reserves are always held back for back up. If he knew about any impending attack when he made his radio speech we would have been put on alert..not excluded.

 

Too late to stop those on their bikes on their way.

As far as the threat...they threaten to do something all the time. No reason to stop going about your day. Otherwise the punk terrorists win.

 

According to my friends, the ride happened. They escorted them into the city.

 

My opinion is based on my belief that, at this point, the goal of an attack would be primarily to impress and rally other muslims, not because of any direct value they could get from attacking Americans.