Motorcycle ride to help kick off centennial

To commemorate the kickoff of The American Legion’s centennial celebration, a group of American Legion Riders will ride from North Dakota to Kansas along American Legion Memorial Highway in advance of the 2018 Legacy Run.

Bob Sussan, the Legacy Run’s chief road captain and chairman of the National American Legion Riders Advisory Committee, will lead a contingent of Riders on the Centennial Ride along U.S. Route 281 in the week leading up to this year’s Legacy Run. Route 281 is the longest continuous three-digit U.S. Route.

Sussan and a handful of other Legion Riders will depart the International Peace Garden in Dunseith, N.D., and travel over the next three-plus days through South Dakota and Nebraska before ending up in Great Bend, Kan. The ride is scheduled to take place approximately a week before the Legacy Run leaves Hutchinson, Kan., on Aug. 19. Check back for official dates.

Sussan said he’s hoping to get 100 Legion Riders from each state the ride passes through to join up and accompany the ride through their own states. He also is working to get either proclamations or state flags from the governors of each state the ride traverses that honor the Legion’s 100th birthday.

Sussan said the Legion Riders are the ideal tool to help spread the word about the Legion’s centennial celebration. “We’re the ones out there,” he said. “It should be an interesting ride.”