State College, Pa. -- 10 September 2010 -- AccuWeather.com reports members of Ride With the 40 had to look beyond their local forecast for their motorcycle trip and are working with AccuWeather to get the weather information they need.
Ride With the 40 hit the road from Newark, N.J. on Sept. 2 with the idea of arriving in San Francisco on Sept. 11.
Their goal is simple: to complete the journey of Flight 93 that ended in Shanksville, Pa. when 40 passengers and crew members fought back to thwart the efforts of terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001.
Ride With the 40 is a true grassroots movement and spokesman Stuart Shapiro said the ride was begun by family members of those who died on Flight 93.
"They were disappointed that there was so much politicking and so many delays in getting a memorial for Flight 93 off the ground in Pennsylvania," he said.
So Ride With the 40 made its first cross-country journey in 2009, raising almost $125,000 for the memorial in Pennsylvania.
Along the way, Shapiro said the riders were "talking to people, meeting people in each city, just garnering awareness for the memorial."
Shapiro said the inaugural ride was such a success that "what we're doing this year is keeping that idea alive by making the ride again."
According to Shapiro, one goal of this year's ride is to use social networking to make the ride a larger experience.
"Our goal is to make the ride bigger and to allow everybody to join in, no matter where they are," he said.
AccuWeather.com has been providing daily forecasts for the ride and Shapiro said, "The weather's almost been perfect."
"It's usually been pretty sunny, we get pretty lucky. We've had a lot of really windy days, which is a little tough on bikes, they get pushed over... they get pushed around a lot. Nebraska was really windy," Shapiro said. "Other than that it's usually been sunny, it's been warm during the day, crisp and wonderful at night."
Friday, the riders will complete the ninth leg of their journey - from Reno, Nev. to Union City, Calif.
AccuWeather.com Expert Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity said in terms of weather, rain was not an issue, but the wind the riders faced in places like Nebraska was as if they were being blown around by passing trucks.
Margusity said the weather should be beautiful for the Flight 93 memorial service on Saturday.
Union City is the site of the first Flight 93 memorial in the country and will host a memorial service at noon on Saturday.
After the service, Shapiro said they will "head on over to San Francisco airport to complete the journey."
By Kirstie Hettinga, writer for AccuWeather.com
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