One week to go, and We Ride

  As our team wraps up the small details as we prepare to fly out next week to Hanover, New Jersey, I can't help but pause.  I pause because I have to think about the many reasons we are riding on bicycles 300 miles and think "are we crazy?"  300 miles is a far off distance.  That would be like riding our bicycles from our home of Tacoma, WA, all the way 13 miles past Eugene, Oregon.  Or if we traveled North, 25 miles north of Whistler, Canada.

  But the reason we do this is because there are others that worked in Law Enforcement that have paid the ultimate price... and the families that feel the pain of missing their loved one for the rest of their lives.  All of the members of this years Team Pierce County are members of the Pierce County Sheriff's Honor Guard, and because of this added (voluntary) duty assignment, we see and experience this emotion when we work the funerals and memorial services.  We gladly represent our department while wearing our Honor Guard uniform to help the family know that we are here to support them and that we will never forget.

  The Police Unity Tour is just another way that our team feels that we can pay back those officers that have passed.  Without the contribution those fallen officers gave to our communities we would not feel as secure as we do each night.  And no matter how many "bad" cops tarnish this profession, there are ten fold behind them that are doing the job right and making sure the bad guys go to jail, the bad guys stay in jail and that we can feel safe.

  In a little over a week, we will be attending the Candle Light Vigil where the families of the fallen officers from 2015 will be in attendance.  We will meet up with three families that we are riding for during the Tour.  The families of Officer Rick Silva from the Chehalis Police Department, Detective Brent Hanger from the Washington State Patrol , and Sergeant Greg Moore from the Coeur d'Alene Police Department.  It will be there that we present them the Bracelets we wore during the whole ride.  I have done this two other times, and there is nothing I can write down here that will explain what the experience is like.



 That is why we ride the 300 miles, and do it more then one time.  The Video I have inserted at the top of this post is something I put together for the Annual Pierce County Law Enforcement Memorial ceremony (which will be held at McGavick Student & Conference Center, Clover Park Technical College,4500 Steilacoom Blvd. SW, Building 23, Lakewood, WA).  Please take a look, it sums up a few reasons why we ride.



             Please stay tuned to this Blog in the next week and a half as I post up pictures and video from our ride each night after we get to our hotels.
  Thanks for stopping by,
              Team Pierce County