2019 Rolling Thunder

[Peacerider]

Anyone going to do the last Rolling Thunder in 2019? Anyone have suggestions etc for doing the Rolling Thunder Ride? What to avoid, best way to enjoy the ride etc??

Thanks

[2006gold]

Seriously considering going. Never have attended, so I have no information to convey. Maybe some of the Harley riders can offer some advice(?).

[MDO]

Maybe you can find something in the Trike travel forum or rides and rallies.

I know I read someone hear goes.

[2old2short]

Anyone going to do the last Rolling Thunder in 2019? Anyone have suggestions etc for doing the Rolling Thunder Ride? What to avoid, best way to enjoy the ride etc??

Thanks

Will be riding to Rolling Thunder this year. Will be leaving from Zephyrhills Fl. Will ride to Yemasse SC the first day. 2nd day will ride to Littleton NC (Lake Gaston). Third day will ride to Andrews AFB and stay there Fri, Sat, Sun and leave for home that Mon morning. Will make the same stops on the way home.

[rhino 2]

Erenest..........Welcome To Trike-Talk...........

[2old2short]

Erenest..........Welcome To Trike-Talk...........

tks, looks like a great community

[Burnerboy]

Will be riding to Rolling Thunder this year. Will be leaving from Zephyrhills Fl. Will ride to Yemasse SC the first day. 2nd day will ride to Littleton NC (Lake Gaston). Third day will ride to Andrews AFB and stay there Fri, Sat, Sun and leave for home that Mon morning. Will make the same stops on the way home.

Earnest ,

Please say hello to my friend Gregg, that owns "Wings only" in your home state in Florida for me.....(he services Goldwings motorcycles only)

Please tell him "Captron" said hello................Thank you!

Ronnie

[cjmitch]

Tips for Rolling thunder,

1) Ill assume that you know how to get to dc, but for some I'll tell you if you are arriving on a week day try and time your arrival for the 1, 3pm range. If not then wait until after 7pm. traffic can be horrendous

2) The "Ride" is on a sunday and meets at the pentagon parking lot. The lot opens around 6am.

A LOT of the Harley dealers are staging areas. and they do a BIG ride in to the parking lot at the pentagon....

As much as you may want to.... DO NOT DO THIS!!!!. WELL THAT IS UNLESS YOU DONT WANT TO LEAVE THE PENTAGON UNTIL ABOUT 2PM

Get up at about 5am get a quick bite and go straight to the pentagon parking lot.

DO NOT approach the lot from the South.

Come in from the Arlington memorial bridge, and take the little know entrance called "boundry channel drive" you will actually be running the parade route BACKWARDS. Its a crazy route so before hand program your GPS to guide you to the drive

But you have to get there early.

If you come in this way you will be in the front of the pack behind the rolling thunder members, and will get out of the parking lot by about 1:30pm.

If you get there and are in the 2nd or 3rd overflow lots you will NOT be leaving until 3, 4, or 5pm.

Dont even THINK about getting out, unless you are in the front, or the back of a line, you will be trapped in the pack

3) bring the following, a folding chair, a hat, a blanket, and comfortable shoes (take off your riding boots).

4) get there early and find a spot under a tree with your blanket, and go to sleep. or you can walk around and sight see, the parking lot is a a giant bike show.

5) Of interest are the displays at the front of the parade line.

6) There will be plenty of food vendors, GET IN LINE EARLY, about 10am. yes they will be ready, or prepare for a long wait, they close as the first bike leaves out.

7) HYDRATE, I cannot stress that enough, You can buy water, but the CMA will give you water for free, WATER NO SODA, water.

8) Bring cash, at one time they had a trailer full of ATMs but i had not seen them in a while.

9) Do not overdress it can be HOT

10) once the parade starts you have 2 choices, stay to the right or left.

If you stay to the right you will get a lot of hand slaps and high fives, but you better pay close attention to other riders, it can be hairy there.

Stay to the left, and it easier to ride as most will be on the right. I have seen QUITE a few MC fender benders with bikes on the right.

11)IMPORTANT: and I cannot stress this enough....

If you are not going back to the v-memorial area, then GET OUT OF THE PARADE BEFORE it gets to the Washington monument. If you do not then you will be back on the west side of dc, and you will catch hell trying to get back as ALL of the freeways will be locked up, from traffic.

If you are going north, Stay to the left, and get out before the parade makes it first turn in front of the capitol, if you are going south, make your left after the second turn, BUT BEFORE YOU GO BEHIND THE AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM, and immediately head south. again you dont want to get caught in that traffic. IF YO GO PAST 14TH STREET then you will be going back to virginia, or the parking area for the ceremonies, and the traffic.

If i can think of mre i will add it here

[Uncle Fester]

Definately going.

[Peacerider]

Will be riding to Rolling Thunder this year. Will be leaving from Zephyrhills Fl. Will ride to Yemasse SC the first day. 2nd day will ride to Littleton NC (Lake Gaston). Third day will ride to Andrews AFB and stay there Fri, Sat, Sun and leave for home that Mon morning. Will make the same stops on the way home.

Thanks for the info, right now in the planning stages will be me, my oldest son and a buddy doing the ride. Planning on going up on the train, figure out our way from either my brothers house in Va to go to the ride or staying at a hotel near the Pentagon. Afterwards riding back to Florida not sure of the route back yet.

Ron

[Peacerider]

Tips for Rolling thunder,

1) Ill assume that you know how to get to dc, but for some I'll tell you if you are arriving on a week day try and time your arrival for the 1, 3pm range. If not then wait until after 7pm. traffic can be horrendous

2) The "Ride" is on a sunday and meets at the pentagon parking lot. The lot opens around 6am.

A LOT of the Harley dealers are staging areas. and they do a BIG ride in to the parking lot at the pentagon....

As much as you may want to.... DO NOT DO THIS!!!!. WELL THAT IS UNLESS YOU DONT WANT TO LEAVE THE PENTAGON UNTIL ABOUT 2PM

Get up at about 5am get a quick bite and go straight to the pentagon parking lot.

DO NOT approach the lot from the South.

Come in from the Arlington memorial bridge, and take the little know entrance called "boundry channel drive" you will actually be running the parade route BACKWARDS. Its a crazy route so before hand program your GPS to guide you to the drive

But you have to get there early.

If you come in this way you will be in the front of the pack behind the rolling thunder members, and will get out of the parking lot by about 1:30pm.

If you get there and are in the 2nd or 3rd overflow lots you will NOT be leaving until 3, 4, or 5pm.

Dont even THINK about getting out, unless you are in the front, or the back of a line, you will be trapped in the pack

3) bring the following, a folding chair, a hat, a blanket, and comfortable shoes (take off your riding boots).

4) get there early and find a spot under a tree with your blanket, and go to sleep. or you can walk around and sight see, the parking lot is a a giant bike show.

5) Of interest are the displays at the front of the parade line.

6) There will be plenty of food vendors, GET IN LINE EARLY, about 10am. yes they will be ready, or prepare for a long wait, they close as the first bike leaves out.

7) HYDRATE, I cannot stress that enough, You can buy water, but the CMA will give you water for free, WATER NO SODA, water.

8) Bring cash, at one time they had a trailer full of ATMs but i had not seen them in a while.

9) Do not overdress it can be HOT

10) once the parade starts you have 2 choices, stay to the right or left.

If you stay to the right you will get a lot of hand slaps and high fives, but you better pay close attention to other riders, it can be hairy there.

Stay to the left, and it easier to ride as most will be on the right. I have seen QUITE a few MC fender benders with bikes on the right.

11)IMPORTANT: and I cannot stress this enough....

If you are not going back to the v-memorial area, then GET OUT OF THE PARADE BEFORE it gets to the Washington monument. If you do not then you will be back on the west side of dc, and you will catch hell trying to get back as ALL of the freeways will be locked up, from traffic.

If you are going north, Stay to the left, and get out before the parade makes it first turn in front of the capitol, if you are going south, make your left after the second turn, BUT BEFORE YOU GO BEHIND THE AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM, and immediately head south. again you dont want to get caught in that traffic. IF YO GO PAST 14TH STREET then you will be going back to virginia, or the parking area for the ceremonies, and the traffic.

If i can think of mre i will add it here

Thank you for the tips, this is kinda the info I was looking for, planning on 3 riders, myself my oldest son a and buddy doing the ride, not sure how much we want to do and we may peel off after the ride and head out of DC towards home. Will spend day and half before hand looking around etc.

[cjmitch]

Planning on going up on the train

You taking the AUTO TRAIN....??

Ive done that going south, my kids talk about that more that they did disney world

[ItsyBitsySpyder]

We're going, heading up from Daytona Beach, 2 stops along the way, meeting family in Arlington on Saturday. It's been on my list for years and once I saw that this would likely be the last one, we started making plans. All the tips and suggestions are appreciated!

[nucseal]

From the Rolling Thunder Map. It looks like it starts out from the Mall Parking lot vice the North Parking. If not Mall Parking, which North A - B or C?

[cjmitch]

from the rolling thunder map. It looks like it starts out from the mall parking lot vice the north parking. If not mall parking, which north a - b or c?

all 3

[Tucci]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local...5fb_story.html

[FRR]

My buddy goes every year. Not anymore. Said it is way too dangerous. Too many idiots on bikes who don't know how to ride with a large group.

[GARYD]

Come say hello. I'll be wearing a black t-shirt and have a grey beard.

Look for a black Triglide with a MARINE sticker on the windshield and SEMPER FI on the trunk.

Have a great trip.

I bet there will be close to a million bikers there this year.

[Peacerider]

Come say hello. I'll be wearing a black t-shirt and have a grey beard.

Look for a black Triglide with a MARINE sticker on the windshield and SEMPER FI on the trunk.

Have a great trip.

I bet there will be close to a million bikers there this year.

Yes I beleive it will be crazy, I will be on a Honda Godlwing trike orange in color not sure what identifiers I will have on the trike, submairne veteran most likely will have some submarine decals etc. Hope to see you!!

Ron

[Tadgh45]

[QUOTE=cjmitch;641163]Tips for Rolling thunder,

1) Ill assume that you know how to get to dc, but for some I'll tell you if you are arriving on a week day try and time your arrival for the 1, 3pm range. If not then wait until after 7pm. traffic can be horrendous

2) The "Ride" is on a sunday and meets at the pentagon parking lot. The lot opens around 6am.

A LOT of the Harley dealers are staging areas. and they do a BIG ride in to the parking lot at the pentagon....

As much as you may want to.... DO NOT DO THIS!!!!. WELL THAT IS UNLESS YOU DONT WANT TO LEAVE THE PENTAGON UNTIL ABOUT 2PM

Get up at about 5am get a quick bite and go straight to the pentagon parking lot.

DO NOT approach the lot from the South.

Come in from the Arlington memorial bridge, and take the little know entrance called "boundry channel drive" you will actually be running the parade route BACKWARDS. Its a crazy route so before hand program your GPS to guide you to the drive

But you have to get there early.

If you come in this way you will be in the front of the pack behind the rolling thunder members, and will get out of the parking lot by about 1:30pm.

If you get there and are in the 2nd or 3rd overflow lots you will NOT be leaving until 3, 4, or 5pm.

Dont even THINK about getting out, unless you are in the front, or the back of a line, you will be trapped in the pack

3) bring the following, a folding chair, a hat, a blanket, and comfortable shoes (take off your riding boots).

4) get there early and find a spot under a tree with your blanket, and go to sleep. or you can walk around and sight see, the parking lot is a a giant bike show.

5) Of interest are the displays at the front of the parade line.

6) There will be plenty of food vendors, GET IN LINE EARLY, about 10am. yes they will be ready, or prepare for a long wait, they close as the first bike leaves out.

7) HYDRATE, I cannot stress that enough, You can buy water, but the CMA will give you water for free, WATER NO SODA, water.

8) Bring cash, at one time they had a trailer full of ATMs but i had not seen them in a while.

9) Do not overdress it can be HOT

10) once the parade starts you have 2 choices, stay to the right or left.

If you stay to the right you will get a lot of hand slaps and high fives, but you better pay close attention to other riders, it can be hairy there.

Stay to the left, and it easier to ride as most will be on the right. I have seen QUITE a few MC fender benders with bikes on the right.

11)IMPORTANT: and I cannot stress this enough....

If you are not going back to the v-memorial area, then GET OUT OF THE PARADE BEFORE it gets to the Washington monument. If you do not then you will be back on the west side of dc, and you will catch hell trying to get back as ALL of the freeways will be locked up, from traffic.

If you are going north, Stay to the left, and get out before the parade makes it first turn in front of the capitol, if you are going south, make your left after the second turn, BUT BEFORE YOU GO BEHIND THE AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM, and immediately head south. again you dont want to get caught in that traffic. IF YO GO PAST 14TH STREET then you will be going back to virginia, or the parking area for the ceremonies, and the traffic.

If i can think of more i will add it here

Great Post! I couldn't have said it better myself! You covered everything! As a multiple time past attendee I concur wholeheartedly with everything you posted! Its important to get to the North Parking lot no later that 6:00-6:15. Even then there will be a few thousand in front of you.I know they post gates open at 7:00 or 8:00 but that's BS.( I swear some people must sleep there overnight!) I made the mistake 4 years ago of riding in with the Patriot Harley contingent and didn't arrive until 10:20am, thus being relegated to the South Parking lot. We didn't get out of there until 3:30! Prepare in advance for a long downtime and you have a good experience. It's definitely something you want to cross of the bucket list.