You guys missed it, but here's some of what was said: (PS, next year's R4K is the 3rd Sunday in September...put it on your calendar now and you won't forget!!) " I had the most moving experience I've ever had in my life yesterday, and not surprisingly, it happened while I was on my motorcycle. The owner of the dealership from whom I bought my new bike is a key volunteer for the "Ride for Kids", run by the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation of the U.S., and in addition to participating in the brunch ride at the recent Finger Lakes BMW Rally from Watkins Glen to Geneva, I signed up as a rider yesterday, and accepted their offer of a small American flag. The ride started from the Columbia Mall in Howard County, Maryland. Hundreds of riders from all walks of life, riding all kinds of motorcycles were there... I saw license plates from Maryland, D.C., Virginia, Pennsylvania... rode alongside an Army officer recently transferred here from Iowa, who had his teenage daughter as his passenger. I rode behind a lady from Pennsylvania who brought along her dachshund, tucked into her belly pack, complete with goggles. All of us had at least one American flag on our motorcycle. What really moved me was that, as we traveled through the back roads of Howard County, it seemed like every vehicle moving in the opposite direction pulled over to their side of the road to just watch us, and cheer us on, giving us the "V" sign, thumbs up, and waving flags and honking. Almost every home had their entire family out at the end of their driveway... parents holding children, with the little ones waving flags and smiling. Customers stood outside businesses in clusters, waving, smiling, crying. Entire church congregations left their buildings to come out to the road to cheer us on. I don't know whether they knew exactly why we were riding, but all of them saw the American flag. All of them were full of energy, though the people I saw must have been tired, because I was several miles behind the first riders in our motorcade. As Bob Henig of Bob's BMW said after the ride, this ride served to show the world that bad stuff is simply not going to win out over good stuff. We raised over $179,000 for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation of the U.S. yesterday, but what I received in encouragement and confidence in human nature yesterday made even that figure seem small. "
