TIOGA COUNTY, N.Y. -- Close to 100 motorcycles and over 100 participants in trucks and cars gathered in Owego, N.Y. on Saturday to begin their journey down the 'longest road' that will now serve as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway of Valor, Route 38.

Thanks to a four county effort that gathered communities to deliver a tribute that most claim is long overdue, the line of motorcycles began their journey from the most southern point of Route 38, in Owego, N.Y., and proceeded up the highway until it ended in Sterling, N.Y. - an approximately 90-mile journey.

According to Lauren Dates, Vietnam veteran paratrooper and Bronze Star Medal recipient, selecting Route 38 to serve as a tribute to Vietnam Veterans was a good analogy.

"The Vietnam Veterans have had a long road," said Dates, "and Route 38 is the longest road."

Dates came up with the idea of March of 2009, and in August, Governor David Paterson signed a bill into law, designating Route 38 as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway of Valor.

Riders, some of who arrived on Friday evening, were welcomed by partly sunny skies and 50 degree temperatures by the time they arrived as far north as Newark Valley, N.Y. The temperature was 38 degrees and it was raining when they departed Owego, N.Y.

Kathleen (Rummel) Warner, an Owego resident who participated in the ride, had a brother killed at the age of 21 in Vietnam. Donald Rummel was 21 years old during an ambush that killed his entire platoon, according to Warner. With some emotion, Warner talked of how the platoon had called for help, but no one ever came.

Warner was wearing, for the ride, a cross that was sent to her from her brother, and felt honored to participate in the emotion provoking tribute ride.

"This means more than words," said Warner. "It's long overdue."

Throughout the ride, which traveled through rural areas, along the lakeside and through several cities and towns, the Veterans received the support and welcome that they never received when they returned from Vietnam 40 years ago.

Communities that the ride proceeded through were delivering the tribute Saturday with flags in hands, signs that said welcome home, and veterans lined on the roadside at attention to deliver a salute of honor.

In one small rural town, Locke, N.Y., there were sparse farms and nothing more than fields surrounding the highway that passed through. On the left hand side of the road, with no apparent residential properties surrounding him, was an elderly man in a veterans uniform standing solemnly on the side of the road. Solemnly still, almost trembling, the Veteran stood perfectly at attention with a solid salute as the entire procession passed by - never dropping his arm from the salute.

Other towns utilized fire truck ladders and graced the entrance of the town with a draped flag to welcome the procession, which grew as it advanced north on Route 38.

Two stops were made along the ride to include a stop in Groton, N.Y. at the memorial of Second Lieutenant United States Marine Corps Terrence Collinson Graves who died while evacuating a wounded comrade on a helicopter hit by intense enemy fire in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam, Feb. 16, 1968.

At Graves' memorial, his parents, Leslie and Marjorie Graves, sat in a nearby car to watch as veterans paid tribute to this Vietnam hero.

Another stop was made at the VFW/AMVETS Post in Montezuma, N.Y., the home of Specialist Fourth Class U.S. Army Robert F. Stryker, a soldier who observed several wounded members of his squad in the killing zone of an enemy claymore mine. With complete disregard for his safety, he threw himself upon the mine as it was detonated. He was mortally wounded near Loc Ninh, Vietnam, Nov. 7, 1967.

Overwhelmed with emotion, Raymond Wurtenberg from Berkshire, N.Y., walked around the VFW in Montezuma, just muttering, over and over, I can't believe it. Wurtenberg, who is a WWII Veteran, lost his son, Sergeant First Class John Wertenberg, on June 10, 1970 in Vietnam at the age of 32.

Wurtenberg thought that the tribute to Vietnam Veterans was long overdue. "They didn't get a fair shake," said Wurtenberg. "People don't understand that things back then were like they are today," he added. "We shouldn't have been there."

Michael Rogers, who drove a truck bearing flags, shared his own thoughts and emotions about the situation today. "Whenever you send soldiers in to fight, they should fight," said Rogers who joined in the ride from Freeville, N.Y. "They shouldn't try to be peacekeepers."

Skip and Amy Boatman, from Sayre, Pa., went on the Tribute Ride to pay tribute to the Vietnam Veterans.  Skip, who is a veteran, felt that the veterans deserved every bit of the honor received on Saturday.

"These guys deserve it," said Skip. "They got a raw deal coming home, so this was a great tribute."