Dust cleared out......Is it May yet?

Two posts in less than an hour?  How does he do that.  Well I wrote this about 5 months ago, and it is a rant. I posted on the RFTW Forum a hope that the hype would lessen and the bucket listers would not show up this year.  I caught a lot of  flack for that post.  I even got told that I was responsible for a lot of folks deciding not to do the Run.  I hope not, but if they are going to show up, complain that they do not like the way things are done, try to change something that has been developed over years of trial and error, then I guess that is OK.  Sad but OK.

The folks who follow this know that every year in May I ride Clyde out to LA (Los Angelas and not Lower Alabama)  for Run for The Wall.  I do this because I have so many friends that are no longer with us and who cannot do what they want.

After the 25th annual RFTW I was a little disappointed with all of the Hype and a very small group of riders that I called "Bucket Listers".  These are the folks that show up, want everything to be their way (One of which actually posted on the Forum at RFTW.org "I was asked to leave!")  and scream when that does not happen.  These folks cause me a problem for lots of reasons, but most importantly they want something that is done well improved (actually not improved but changed to their satisfaction immediately) now.  Guys who say "riding side by side is dangerous".  Well it is, but in Kansas City, or Louisville KY, it is dangerous to ride like a small group when there are over 500 of us.  Guys like one FNG who told me that he doubted that I had ever ridden with a group of 50 riders in my life.  He is right I have never done that.  I have ridden with groups of 400 to 700 from LA to DC 9 times, but I have never ridden with a group of 50.  I do not think that I would do that even if I was given a chance.  I have participated in 5 Patriot Guard missions, but all 5 of those had well over 200 riders, and we met up rode a few miles and stood in a flag line.

When my Brother (Shore Party) introduced me to RFTW in 2005 I had never ridden in a group lager than 20 in my life.  In fact it had been 10 years since the last time I had even ridden a motorcycle, or owned one for that matter.  I listened to what was being said in Limon CO that first morning.  I learned and by the time we got to DC I almost understood what was going on.   I did not complain that what was going on was unsafe.  I heard some do that, and watched them leave, I heard some stay and ask how they could participate without riding with the pack, they were told to go ahead to the fuel stops, and they did.  No one told them they were "stupid, dangerous and should not be riding a motorcycle, let alone in a pack of 300" they just told them to listen to the pipes.  That first year I learned a great deal about the Run, my Brother, my Step Dad, and myself.  But again I did not try to change anything, I tried to do it.   I saw and understood the need for the "Two up" side by side formation immediately.  It was for the safety of the group.  In Kansas City the pack literally exploded when the route coordinator missed an exit.  The riders that knew the route went the correct way, those of us who did not know the route and who were following the bike in front of us
(Something I still do even though I know the route, and all the exits we have to take) were lost and lost in a big way in a very dangerous place for motorcycles, and motorcyclists.  Rush hour traffic in Kansas City KS/Kansas City, MO.  All I had was my brother, and neither of us had been on this part of the route before.  We went to third gear, quickly exceeded the posted speed limit by a factor of 2 and tried to catch a rider who was calmly talking to us on the radio stating that he was rolling at 10 miles an hour under the speed limit.  I thanked God that I had a radio at that point and hoped and prayed that others would either follow us, or catch up to the pack.  At that point there was no pack, just several hundred FNG riders racing through traffic to catch a guy who was holding up traffic waiting for us to catch him.  I am telling this story because it is important, we were not doing it right. In truth at that point there was no right or wrong way to do anything, there was just survival and get to our friends, get our formation back, and I for one was on the edge of panic. But there was that leaders voice on my radio saying  "come on guys I am waiting for you, slow down, we are all going to get there, no one is being left behind, Road Guards will be at the exit for our stop until everyone is accounted for.  Keep coming but do it safe." I signaled to my brother to turn his radio on and he started hearing what I was hearing.  We slowed down, stayed side by side and as riders caught us (some passed us but then realized we seemed to know what we were doing and got behind us.  If they had known that we had less clue than they did it might have turned out differently, but after about 10 miles there was a pack, and we were leading it.  JR Franklin, the Central Route Coordinator kept talking to us and we reported that the pack was forming behind us and that we were coming to him.  It worked, everyone made it to the fuel stop and we re staged the platoons and went on.  The point is no one SCREAMED "This is stupid and dangerous I won't ride like that change it or I am gone!"  something I heard done to the RC last year on the first morning before the riders meeting.  No one got hurt (One guy did get spattered with a little road kill that was lying in the middle of the left track, but that became a great side story, not a problem) and we all got where we were going.  Leaders lead, and we as human beings follow them because we accept the fact that to do anything large well there has to be a leader and people to follow him.  I love the mission of Run for the Wall.  Have I never tried to change things, no.  Have I gotten things changed for the better?  Yes.  The first few years that I was on the Run we went through the Topeka Toll Plaza in the left lane and then had about a mile and a half to move three lanes to the right to exit for our fuel stop.  I saw this as a dangerous problem and suggested in one of the many after action reports that we go through the K-tag lane (which is the right lane) and the computer could count us (count us as scofflaws who were trying to avoid the toll) and we would be in the right lane and exiting to our fuel stop without disrupting traffic much at all.  This was done for the 1st time in 2008 and it is now the way we do it.  I was not the only one who suggested it, but am happy that it has been fixed.   If it had not changed I would not have quit I would have just kept on pestering people till it was fixed.
So I will end this with an apology.  If my post about bucket listers on the Run Forum offended anyone I am sorry, but the attitude displayed by FNG riders last year was pretty much horrible, the amount of trash that I picked up at hotels (I camped most of the way and still picked up coffee cups and cigar and cigarette butts at hotels) and at the morning meetings, and day stops was just ridiculous.  That is not what we do, we as a group leave the places we meet at cleaner than when we got there.  We care about the future of the Run, we make it so that people will welcome this "Bunch of Bikers" back every year.  The mission is much more important than the feelings of any individual.  If we do not do this then our country will forget those that have been left behind.

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