Escorting The American Veteran’s Traveling Tribute to American Patriot Fest + The Welder Up custom motorcycle reveal
The American Patriot Fest, 360 Car Show and Vegas Rat Rods had joined forces to help non profit veteran charities and Las Vegas Car Meets turned up to support at the Henderson Harley Davidson on May 9th. The dealership generously fed everyone participating and our pals at The CookieBar truck gave out ice cream cones to keep the heat off us. The dealership was abuzz with The Discovery Channel TV production members running around trying to cover the event from every angle I imagine for their Vegas Rat Rods show. You had to sign a waiver just to go inside. They grouped everyone around a modest stage, hyped everyone up and around the corner Steve Darnell came rolling in on a custom 1943 Harley-Davidson motorcycle built at the Welder Up Garage. He unveiled the bike for the crowd while cameras rolled and it was neat to be a part of being the first to see their amazing creation. So many little details make it truly one of a kind. Riddled with engravings and meticulously painted patina to give it age and character. Details like a the names of fallen veterans etched on the chrome oil tank to the rear seat brought the whole image to it’s point reading “RIP to all our fallen soldiers. Gone but never forgotten. 1775-∞”. Our car group was honored to had been there to ride along with the American Veterans Traveling Tribute, a traveling 80% scale version of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington DC., to the Craig Ranch Park where it would be on display through the weekend for the American Patriot Fest and 360 Carshow. It turned out to be a quite the dilemma as the police escort had not accommodated for so many of us to show so what they decided to do was block traffic for the bikers and let the rest of us fend for ourselves. Imagine how chaotic it was as 100 cars tried to keep pace with the procession as we zoomed in and out of traffic, busted through the occasional light and got separated more than once but somehow miraculously grouping back up the road. At least until we hit the highway then all hell broke loose to say the least as it was every man for himself racing in and out of lanes to the park. When we rolled in we witnessed an amazing sight of a completely filled parking lot with over 400 guests as the rest of the Las Vegas Car Meets group who hadn’t ridden along was waiting. The poor park security was overwhelmed and having a fit over the unexpected crowd, not that I didn’t try to forewarn them before. Thankfully I got to talk to the security director and once she understood our purpose I’m very thankful that she was willing to accommodate us up until 10pm. So for the rest of the evening we did our thing. I love to see the comradery among our car scene as people make laps around the lot admiring all the cars that come out. Many made their way to pay their respects to the Memorial wall which brought the the conclusion of the night to a total success thanks to 360 Carshow reaching out to us to participate, to Henderson Harley Davidson for facilitating the community as well as Craig Ranch Park and especially to all the Veterans for their service to us.
