Veterans Day Ride - 11/11/08

Trivia: who remembers the origin of the Veterans Day Holiday?

I had the day off work on Tuesday (11/11/08 - Veterans Day), so I decided to try to dodge the rain drops and go for a ride. I went on a similar route (but slightly shorter) to my ride from 2 days earlier. 10 miles along highway 96 from 146 to highway 3 and back again. This time the wind was stronger than Sunday but from the opposite direction. Here's a map of the ride. Nearly exactly 10 miles.

I may not get any riding in this weekend. I may be off to Florida to watch space shuttle Endeavor blast off. There is a chance that rain may delay the launch, so we may not go.

And now, a bit about the trivia question. Many of the old-timers may remember that November 11th used to be called Armistice Day. After World War II, the holiday became known as Veterans Day in the U.S. and Remembrance Day to those people living in the British Commonwealth and National Day to those living in Poland. So what is the origin of Veterans Day/Armistice Day? November 11th, commemorates the armistice signed between Germany and the Allies to end the fighting on the Western Front of WWI. In spite of the agreement, some hostilities continued in Russia and southwestern Asia for a little while afterwards. The armistice, which effectively ended the first World War, was signed at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in the year 1918....now you know!