DYNAmiteBuzz. Well done.

 

Thanks. taking my dog to the park then will be back with the next challenge.

 

You know that's just wrong to leave us hanging like that. LOL Enjoy the Dog walk. Mine just woke up so it's that time for me.

 

Good work on the challenge.....Eagerly awaiting the next one.

 

Ok Next challenge. Considering the day it is today, let's come up with a challenge that honors the victims of 9-11. Your Softail next to any commercial signage, mail box etc that has the numbers 911 in it. It cannot be a hand written sign, and the numbers have to be in order....911, 0911 are acceptable....9110, 0119, 191 are not. It could be a telephone number on a commercial sign (888) 911-1234, or (888) 234-0911. You get the idea. Good luck and ride safe! Sun glasses on seat of course.

EDIT: It cannot be a sign that has anything to to with the 9-11 attacks.

 

I'll say... well done.


So the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville is out?
That's only about an hour away...

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Anyway, considering the topic - Here's a post I did on another forum last year on the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, for anyone who's never been there....

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My brother rode in from Chicago for the weekend, and we pretty much spent the entire time riding somewhere... including about 30 miles in the rain on Saturday night - he called that my "right of passage"... ;D
Yesterday we took off for an all-dayer and wound up in Shanksville, PA - site of the Flight 93 Memorial Park - what an amazing place...

0> This is the entrance to the Memorial Park just off of Route 30 near Shanksville, PA. The Visitors Center is still another 3.5 miles away...


1> This is the layout of the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, PA (scanned from the brochure).
The entire "park" is far larger than I imagined it would be.
The Federal Gov't. had to purchase over 2,000 acres for the site from a coal company that had used it for strip mining operations - the land had long since been abandoned since it was no longer suitable for farming. (Why this land wasn't simply donated is anyone's guess... but the Park Rangers seemed eager to make it a point to tell everyone that...)
From Rt. 30, it's a 3.5 mile meandering drive through empty fields to the parking area and "Visitor's Center" - a small building with many small framed infographics outside showing the events of the day. From there, it's a 1/4 mile walk to the actual memorial.
Also, the Park Rangers told us the reason why they purchased so much land, was to prevent and development within sight of the memorial.
Nobody wants to look at a McDonald's from there, and I agree...


2> This is what the actual Memorial Wall looks like, notice the short "secondary wall" on the left end with the wooden barrier between the two walls - this is important, as I'll explain later (picture #8 below)...


3> This is a view from the Visitors Center to the Memorial...


4> A view of the Memorial as we approached on the 1/4 mile walk from the Visitors Center...


5> Along the walk to the Memorial, the right side of the 15' wide walkway is mostly raised flat slabs of what looks like black granite with benches along the way, while the left side is made up off these very large slabs of the same stone, all set at a 45 degree angle. Every 100 feet or so we'd see these flat cutouts in the stone. We're not sure of their intended purpose, but every one was filled with small items left by visitors - pins, wristbands, cards, flowers, flags and lots of coins...


6> These free-standing, polished marble slabs were staggered in a zig-zag pattern, each one with the name of a crash victim, and none of them touched each other. You can't really tell from the photo, but there's about a half-inch gap between each one...


7> This is one of the tall marble slabs that marked the names of each person who died on Flight 93.
We walked past maybe a dozen others before we got to this one, and for a second I thought I saw something. I stopped and went to look closer, and next to the name was etched (but not colored in) the words "..and unborn child."
That really got to me...
Crew members were identified from passengers in similar fashion, with small uncolored texts under their names that would read, for example "Flight Attendant".


8> That's my brother Paul and his wife Lynette looking through the barrier...
Beyond it is a mowed path through the fields to a large boulder about 100 yards away - if you look close, you can see it through opening #3. (The main wall is perfectly aligned with it)
That is a marker for the actual crash site. We could see from that distance what looked like many American flags planted in the ground around it, along with a many other unidentifiable objects on, or around the boulder. A Park Ranger explained that those were all personal effects left by family members of the crash victims, who are the only people permitted to visit the marker...


The site is not nearly complete, as they have years of upgrade planned including a "Tower of Voices" near the main entrance, additional roads, and a larger Visitors Center...
Definitely worth a stop if you ever get out that way.

One thing that really struck me while we were there was, even though there were literally hundreds of people around, you could have heard a pin drop anywhere the entire time - hardly anyone spoke...

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Here's one more photo from a local newspaper, taken today, that shows a better view of the boulder that marks the impact site (original caption below)

Patrick White (from left), president of Families of Flight 93, joins Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta at the boulder that marks the point of impact at the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville on Monday, September 10, 2012.
- Brian F. Henry - Tribune-Review

 

Thanks for posting that. I likened your comment about the quiet to the almost eerie silence I've experienced at the Vietnam Memorial in D.C. Amazing how certain places just command emotion and respect.

 

Hey Jam, thanks for posting that. It's freaking amazing! I think you should win the challenge on sheer awesomeness alone! But that's not up to me.

While on the subject of 9-11, I work at a port of entry on the southern border, and yesterday we stopped all operations at 0645 hours and assembled all officers on duty in formation in front of our beautiful flag to be ready to observe one minute of silence in memorial of the victims of 9-11 starting at EXACTLY 0646 hours. It was a beautiful thing for all of us. But these "animals" that got stuck waiting in line to cross actually started honking their horns because the lines were not moving for ONE DAMN MINUTE!!! I was so f'n furious but I did not let it ruin the moment. You posting something like that just reminds me exactly why we were out there standing in formation in the rain while these donkeys are more concerned with having to wait for one damn minute. Absolutely no respect. Thanks brother.

 

Jam-Great Pics that is an awesome memorial I agree you should win.

Arrogant- for what it worth I appreciate you stopping to honor and remember the tragedy that happened and to all the insensitive a$$holes who beeped their horn go f@#$ yourselves. That is what is wrong with our country today no respect!

 

Jam, Awesome pics. Thanks for posting them. I did excluded anything that has to do with the 9-11 attacks and now realize I should have included them. So we'll keep the original challenge and also include any type of 9-11 memorial. I'm assuming this is ok with everyone else? Sunglasses on seat.