Annual commemorative motorcycle ride held in north Alabama

WATERLOO, Ala. (AP) — Hundreds of motorcycles will be rumbling across north Alabama on Saturday for the 26th annual Trail of Tears commemorative ride.

Riders departed Bridgeport in northeastern Alabama in the morning on their way toward the northwest Alabama town of Waterloo.

There are no registration fees and anyone can participate. Tens of thousands of riders have joined in the event some years, and the weather is supposed to be good for this year's ride.

The more than 200-mile ride began in 1994 in remembrance of the removal of American Indians from the Southeast to Oklahoma in the 1830s during a forced migration that became known as the Trail of Tears.

The path through north Alabama followed roughly along what is U.S. 72 today.