Run for the Wall Central Route 2014 BOUNCE Video

This is the video I took at exit 24 outside the OOIDA offices.  Watch the time between bikes and platoons, it is impressive.  About half the riders in the group had never done this before.  The pack was riding very tight.

Mission Complete, almost home

I am 135 miles from home.  I delivered my remembrance and the flag the the staff at OOIDA signed.  I also left my POW bracelet for Bo there too.   There were a lot of those there.

Our mission is simple, we demand that the Government follow through and bring the Missing In Action, and KIA home.   We know where most of the remains from Vietnam are, we just can't afford to go there and get them.  Paying Congress is more important.  If this were a political blog, I would start ranting now, but it is not.

One Truck Driver told me over the radio that we should not be on his road.  My answer to him was simple.
I said "Driver if you do not want these motorcycles out here, disrupting your day, sit down and write your Congressman, and State Senators a letter demanding that the 132,000 left behind since WWI be returned.  When  they all come home we won't have to do this."   He responded that we were doing nothing.

Not exactly true, 26 years ago there were no POW/MIA flags, now they fly on fifty Capital Buildings, and at our Embassies around the world, and at our bases too.  The Honor and Remember Flag also flies at some State Capitals, and that is directly attributable to Run For the Wall, and Rolling Thunder.

Yes Congress leaves town before we arrive, but they watch the news reports.  They listen.  We all write them letters, and they respond.  Their responses are extremely lame, but they are hearing us.

This year I dedicated my ride to Bo, and the Marine that is being held in Mexico, and to the memory of Chuck Huskey.  I also rode for Lt Badly


Me at the Wall placing Lt Badly's memory and the Flag I received at OOIDA.  Lt Badly's name is on panel
46E, line 43/


These are shipmates of a friend.  He and I are of different generations, but we get it. Cheetos is a Vietnam Vet, and like all that generation he is great and a hero to me.  He said something that struck me as profound.  The Korean Vets, and the WWII Vets ignored what happened to the Vietnam Vets.  There is a bumper sticker and a patch that reads "Never again will one generation of Veterans turn their backs on another generation of Veterans.  That is the reason that our military today can proudly wear their Uniforms wherever they go/

This is me and Cheetos, also known as Kenneth Neufeld, He is a great guy and a good friend.  I did ask if he was wanted anywhere before posting the picture.  He said only at home by his wife.  We stopped a priest and the young man he was talking to and asked them to take the photo.  Then we hugged, and went in opposite directions.

Day 10 complete mission almost complete

Well it has been an amazing run.  It is hard to believe that 10 days ago I left Los Angeles with 300 other bikers in front of me.   We went through a lot of great small towns.  We were greeted by some really patriotic people, saluted, waved at, and hugged, by thousands.

The mission is to demand an accounting of and return of all missing in action, and to promote healing for veterans of all wars.  We have succeeded in doing that.  I made a short video in front of the OOIDA offices before I was interviewed by Reed Black.  The link is below:

http://youtu.be/btmMhq-sO9Y

You may have to copy it into your browser line.  It was a pleasure to tape it and to narrate what was going on.  We ride in parade formation all the way across country, and we do it well.  No one rides like we do, and we ride as we do for safety.

Everyone on all three routes is in Arlington VA tonight.

Tomorrow the new guys and gals get to ride into Arlington Cemetery.  This is a privilege reserved exclusively for Run for The Wall.  No other group is allowed to do this.  You can ride motorcycles into Arlington but not as a group. We will lay a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown,  and then go to the Wall.

I will ride a shuttle there, I have a remembrance to leave there, a flag from OOIDA and then I have some pins to turn.  I am then heading back west to Wisconsin.  The plan is to visit a friend in Hurricane, WV tomorrow, and be home by Monday evening.  its only a thousand miles.  I have already ridden a little over 6000 miles.  Piece of cake.

Bounce

Wonderful day to be a fast motorcycle

Every cop in 9 counties was escorting the Run, so Bounce really let me roll today.  He thinks it was too hard, but I really really enjoyed sucking up that premium gas he used.....it is good to be a fast motorcycle when there are no cops around.



Clyde

Day 6 Done

We got to Wentzville, MO OK.  Weather great.  Met lots of great people in Columbia MO, and took two other riders to OOIDA for an interview.  It will air on Sirius/XM on Wednesday evening.  It should be good, the interviewer, Reed Black, a Vietnam Veteran himself does a great job of asking questions and getting good answers.

Rode old Clyde pretty hard and fast today.


More to come tomorrow.  Visit VA Hospital in Jefferson Barracks and overnight in Corydon, IN.  Another great little town.  So far 6 Mayors have declared the day we were in town Run for the Wall Day.   All the folks at the stops have been wonderful, so many cookies today at Columbia.  Law Enforcement Support has been outstanding.


Pictures and longer post tomorrow, or Friday.


Bounce

Day 4 done'

We have had great weather, and we have a great bunch of folks this year.  Last year there were a lot of people doing the Run that neither cared about our mission, nor would ever be back.  The one thing I have noticed is that there are almost no (I have not seen any at all but there could be some) 2013 FNG buttons.  This to me means I was correct to say the the Hype would be less (last year was the 25th year of the Run) and there were a lot of people fulfilling their bucket lists and that was the only reason they came on the run.

We have already at this point raised $800.00 for the School kids at Rainelle, WV.  Last year at this point we had abut $200.00.   No one last year was very happy at this point, and there was a lot of disrespect for the places we went, and the people we met.  Last year I spent 15 minutes picking up trash after folks left the night stops for their hotels, this year I found one tootsie pop stick on the ground in the parking lot, and from the looks of it, it might have been there for a few days.

Larger groups on the run are not bad, but large groups of folks doing it because of a special anniversary is bad.  They people that do things like that are not dedicated, they insist that everything must be done for them.  Now it might be because I have a hat that says leadership on it this year that makes folks listen when I tell then where to go, or what they are supposed to be doing, but that does not make people police their trash, or listen at the presentations, or thank the people that feed and house us.

OK that's  enough.

Clyde almost dumped me today, I made a mistake getting onto the highway at Ratone, NM,  and  almost lost it in front of hundreds of folks, but I recovered, Clyde kept me from falling, and we went on.


tomorrow the real work of calming truck drivers down starts.  We have had full Police escorts since we left Williams, except for today from Limon, Colorado to Goodland, KS.  So tomorrow we will have truck traffic, I am hoping it won't be heavy, but I now have two other riders helping me, and we got a chance to practice a little today.  So I think it will work OK.

That's enough for now.

Pictures tomorrow.

Good night all

Bounce

Day one of last leg to the Run done

Today my Brother and I left Colorado Springs to head out to L.A. for the 26th annual Run for the wall.  We had planned to go across I-70 through Utah and down I-15 through Las Vegas to L.A., but old man winter has not given up on the mountains just yet.  We found a little ice on the road in the Shadows.  Called the third rider that is with us to see if he had left yet, he had been trying to call my Brother all morning because he did not want to deal with Vail pass, so we met him and went south to I-40.  In the process we picked up a 4th rider.  We also met several very nice folks on the way.  Almost all of them have been walking up to one, or all of us and thanking us for our service.  The vests we wear have patches indicating that we are Vets.  I have had this experience before, and this is nothing new, but it is always really cool.  We met one gentleman today, who is a Vietnam Vet, who said he thought the nutty part of what we are doing is going all the way out to L.A., California just to turn around and go to Washington D.C..  He did appreciate what we are doing, just thought it was a little nuts.  We all agreed with him, and my brother said "Some one has to do it."  He is right, if we did not do this did not make a big deal and ride across country like we do no one would remember, and we can never forget that this country has left way too many behind.


We are in Gallup, and the Mayor is coming to see us.  This is very cool because he is a friend, and a great guy too.   He redid my Brother and Sister-In-Law's wedding vows in 2011 and her ring needs to be repaired, he has graciously offered to get that done.  He is a great guy, and Gallup is lucky to have him.

Well 0630 comes early, I am going to head to bed as soon as Jackie McKinney get here.

Thanks for reading.


Bounce
aka the truck whisperer.

Oh I almost forgot, I jumped down a truck driver's throat with both feet today, I asked him to back off, he pulled a radio Rambo and told me not to tell him how to drive his truck, I told him that our bikes could stop in 150 feet, his truck stops in 540 feet, either back off because my Brother's trailer was reacting badly to the wind we were in, or go around us.  This was a Tyson Driver I got his truck number, but he backed off, and then went around us, so no problem.  I was pretty firm, but polite, and I wiped my boots off before jumping down his tailgating throat.

Run for The Wall

This blog is not dedicated to this motorcycle event, but I as the writer tend to be.  I am en-route to do this mission for the 9th time.  7 times all the way and 2 times I joined on the way.   It is hard to explain why this mission is so important to those of us who do it.  Shadow says that some have quit their jobs to do it if they could not get the required time off, he is correct.  This year for the second time we have three separate routes, and one mission, and we are one big happy family.  We seldom agree with each other on much, except the mission, and that we can not stop doing it until Congress brings everyone home.

The recent news of the Marine in Mexico and his treatment and the ignoring of this treatment by the same people who say we must be nice to illegal aliens here, and SSgt Bergdahl still being held as a POW in Afgahnistan is horrible.

As far as I can tell nothing is being done for either of these individuals, they do not meet the narrative of the national media.  Fox News is reporting on them, but unless you get your news from the internet you have never heard of either of them.  I myself am ashamed that I do not know the Marine's name, and that he was captive for 60 days before I knew of it. 


We who do the run for the wall stop at monuments, memorials, VA hospitals, and schools on our ten day trek across country.

27 years ago was the First Rolling Thunder Parade in Washington D.C.  and 26 years ago was the first Run for the Wall.   Millions have participated in Rolling Thunder, and Thousands have participated in Run For the Wall.
Then of course there is all the support that goes into making Run for the Wall possible.  Thousands of folks wait every year for us to come.  I have never been in the planning of the event, but always in support of leadership during the event.  I guess it must be hard with so many communities wanting us to stop.  If we could we would stop at all of them, but then the trip would take ten times the ten days we have to do it. 
We start in Los Angelas, (actually now Rancho Cucamunga a suburb of LA) and we go to Washington D.C.
The trip could be done in 4 or 5 days, but with all the commitments we have it takes us ten days.
It is a good ride, but it is an intense ride.
The original group rode in parade formation all the way across, without much support.  In fact most of the time they could not even buy a cup of coffee in most towns.  They were thought to be some kind of motorcycle gang, not the event that they were.  A few places welcomed them, Kansas Abate paid their tolls there, Wentzville MO a gas station owner (may he rest in peace) bought them gas.  Then of course the West Virginia Turn Pike refused to do as Kansas had been so gratuitous to do.  So the original Run took the Midland Trail around the turn pike.  That put the Run in Rainelle WV, and it was a wonderful thing, and is a wonderful story.  It is told by one of the founders of the Run on rftw.org much better than I can tell it, cause he was there.
Today when we do the run, at least on the Central Route, and I am pretty sure this happens on the other two routes too, every over pass as we head east has someone on it. Rain or shine, hot or cold, they wait to see us thunder under them, or past them, or sometimes through them as in the case of Junction City KS, where people line the streets with flags.  Then there is all the food, I lose weight on the Run, but do not know how, we get free breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.  This year we have several fuel stops that are being paid for by groups or individuals.

The fact that 25 years ago there were no POW/MIA flags flying  anywhere, and today they fly at rest areas, capitol buildings, and military bases shows that what we do has an impact.  We do this mission for POW/MIA awareness, and we also do it to promote healing for veterans of all wars.  Many of our riders are veterans of the war on terror.  This year we will have participants and supporters from WWII, Korea, the Cold War, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, and Afgahnistan.  As we the Cold war Vets, and the Korean Vets, and WWII Vets, and the Vietnam Vets get older the younger folks will carry on for us.  I for one will do this run until I cannot hold a bike up, then I may go on trike.
The riding is not easy, it is not a Party, nor is it a Rally, it is a mission, and like any mission you do not have to like it, but once committed to it you just have to do it.
I like the stops, I like the family feel of it, but I really do not like the riding.  I enjoy riding to and from the Run, but the Run itself requires constant focus, a little mistake by one rider can get a lot of people hurt bad.  We have had accidents, and unfortunately we have had people die coming and going to the Run.

I pray everyone gets to CA safely, and that all three routes have good weather and safe travels.  I thank all of you who support our efforts, even though thank you is not enough, it is all I have.


Bounce

pictures of the third leg of my Run to the Run

here are pics of my junk that I loaded into Clyde, and before and after loading pictures of Clyde, and me ready to roll.  I also got a really nice picture of the sunset at York, Nebraska too.

Goofy I know but hey it is my blog.  It is not dedicated to Run For the Wall, but I am.

Safe and Sound in Coloraodo Springs, and except for Vail Pass, it is an all downhill trip from here.

I am safe and sound at my Brother Bob Shore Party's house. He and his wife Penny aka Sage Owl, allow me to visit here every year on my Run to the Run.  Bob and I leave for California on Sunday, which is Mothers Day.  I left early from Wisconsin to avoid rain, and except for a few sprinkles in Denver I did it.  First time in 10 trips that I didn't get wet.

The pictures above deserve some explanation. The first is the center of Clyde's fairing, it is a decal that Shore Party put on him in 2005.  Gives him character, and reminds me of why I ride.
The Second is Krazy Karl Hartz, in DC with a T-shirt some cool school kids gave him at the wall.  Karl doesn't ride with us anymore, and I miss him and his guidance and support on the Run.  Well I miss it in person.   He follows with this blog and my emails that I send to Stevens Transport folks, and he reminds me of things, and chews on me for others.  Which is good keeps me honest, but I still miss his Yankee Voice on the CB.

The last picture is of a Security Police Badge with a black ribbon on it.  That is for all the guys and gals that have lost their lives in the line of duty, protecting and serving.  I dedicated my ride one year to a friend from Technical School and Air Base Ground Defense School, he died in a chopper crash a long time ago.  I have ridden for him pretty much every time I have done the Run.  Chuck I miss you too.

We had a discussion way back in 1977 about what we would do after we got out of the Air Force (we called it the "war" back then but as a joke).  We decided that we would grow pony tails and beards and ride motorcycles from coast to coast (Like Bronson  a 70's Television show) and that too became a joke.  We needed it cause Tech school was tough, and the Air Base Ground Defense school was tougher.  But we got through it.
So Chuck, I now have a pony tail (will get pictures and maybe a video of it getting cut off this year.  I plan to donate it to Locks of Love in Chuck's name) that will be cut off on the Run this year.  

OK that is it for today, have a check call to type.

Thanks everyone for reading this blog.  If you enjoy it leave a comment, if you want to know something leave a comment, if you don't like something leave a comment.
I moderate the comments, but I do not edit them. Unmoderated comments open the door for spammers and kids at Rainelle sometimes read this thing.

Thanks again,
and Clyde you did great getting me here old horse, keep up the good work

Bounce
The Truck Whisperer