Rusk County Honor the Fallen Ride

This past weekend we attended the Rusk County (WI) Honor the Fallen motorcycle ride.  Manda's mom is heavily involved with organizing, so despite not having bikes (not those kind anyway...) we still try to go help out when we can.

The rides started as a fundraiser to build up a scholarship fund in memory of SSG Nathan Vacho.  The rides also are in honor of two other Rusk County natives, SSG Patrick Lybert and LcPL Andrew Matus, who gave the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The ride is a 100 mile loop, with two stops, starting and ending at the restaurant owned by Nathan Vacho's parents (small world side-note, his father also happens to be my first CSM.)  There's also a breakfast during registration and a dinner after the ride, along with one hell of a raffle.  This year we walked away with a microfiber towel, a Streamlight Sidewinder, a large microfiber towel, and a set of ESS CDIs for Manda (which was good, she forgot to bring sunglasses...)  Cro managed to walk away with an engraved Ontario Knives Rat 3, ensuring my jealousy for a while.

They also unveiled a Battle Cross monument that will be the first of several monuments in the memorial park.

I blame lack of sleep, but I forgot to write down the name of the group who funded the statue, but this is the first one they've done, and the next one is going to Virginia in memory of the members of the Spec-Ops community down there.

Overall it was a great weekend, with over 320 bikes and a great deal of money raised for a handful of causes.

Despite Manda and I's lack of a motorbike, G&C was still represented.

Cro rolling out for the ride.

More bikes after the jump-

Obviously lots of Harley's 

It's like Knight Rider had a two-wheeled cousin...

Not all Harley's and Goldwings either

And some trikes for flavor.

I've got a couple hundred more photos... but these are the ones that jumped out at me.  There was at least one crotch-rocket, er sportbike in the bunch too, if you're helping a good cause, nobody cares what you ride.

If you're going to be in Northern Wisconsin later this year, there is another ride scheduled for September (I'll be in Texas training for my trip to Afghanistan by then, but it'll still be fun without me.)