Bill Rodgers, Ron Roberts and Mike Kellar had no idea how much
one ride would change their lives, as they hopped on their Harleys
and headed to Washington, D.C.
Bill Rodgers, Ron Roberts and Mike Kellar had no idea how much one ride would change their lives, as they hopped on their Harleys and headed to Washington, D.C.
“Being able to go out there and pay my respects is something I’ve been trying to do since 1972,” Kellar said.
Roberts, a veteran of the Korean War, Kellar a Vietnam veteran and Rodgers, the son of a World War II veteran, joined eight other bikers to ride from Sacramento to Washington, D.C. during the Memorial Day weekend. The local guys got to visit the Marines’ Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and were able to visit the brand new World War II Memorial the day after it opened.
But before they got to enjoy the monuments, they had to get there. During their five-and-a-half-days traveling across country, the pack of bikers – named “Rebels with a Cause” – endured snow, fog, heat, rain and every other weather condition imaginable.
“We hit everything,” Roberts said. “One morning it was 32 degrees and there was snow all over the ground.”
While traveling through 10 states, the guys handed out little patriotic kits to locals, including a red, white and blue ribbon, a soldier angel pin and information about their trip to the nation’s capitol.
“All it took was a little ribbon and these people would just perk up,” Kellar said. “The next thing you knew they were telling you a story about their son who is in Iraq or their neighbor who was in World War II. It was just amazing. There is a ground swell of patriotism in this country.”
During the trip, there was one breakfast stop in Wyoming that Roberts will never forget.
“There was this old man there who was a veteran and insisted on shaking each one of our hands,” he said. “Here we are this group of scruffy bikers and people would give us looks until we explained what we were doing. Then they thought the world of us. We had people cheering for us on the streets.”
When the group arrived in Washington, D.C., they started what became a very emotional journey.
“It was extremely overwhelming emotionally,” Roberts said. “I don’t know if I can put how I was feeling into words.”
Kellar said, as the group toured the Vietnam Memorial, there was a surreal, peaceful silence.
“There was no squabbling kids, it was absolutely quiet,” he said. “You look around you and there are names above you, in front of you, behind you and its very overwhelming to see all the names of the people who died for our country.”
While walking around the World War II memorial, Rodgers said they had the privilege of meeting a congressional medal of honor veteran.
“We just talked to him, said thank you for serving our country, and then a few days later we saw him on TV talking about the memorial,” he said.
After seeing the memorials and sharing moments of intense emotion with others as they stood and stared at the thousands of names representing lives lost for the country, Roberts, Kellar and Rodgers got back on their Harleys and headed home, but not as the same men who went there.
“I’m definitely going back,” Rodgers said.
Kellar said he was “deeply touched” and that the trip had a huge “impact on him.”
“It’s something you always want to do, but there’s always something that comes up like your kid needs braces or the car needs repairs,” he said. “But I’m so glad I took this opportunity to ride and see the memorials I’ve been wanting to see for years. It changed my life.”
