Wyoming is cool, hot, wet, and snowy, all in the same day

Today Dixie the Wander dog and I are sitting in Wyoming. Since this morning we have had rain, high winds, snow, hail, sunshine. I was sitting here thinking that Mother Nature was just practicing for next winter. Then I saw five or six motorcycles roll in to the truck stop. They were all in rain gear. After they fueled and went in for some food the sun came out. It has been nice since. Maybe Mother Nature likes motorcyclists? I hope they get to where they are going safely.

That is about it for today.

The poll is going well, two yes, and one no so far. I do not guess it matters much. I probably won't link back to the RFTW web page this year. But it is interesting to see that at least three folks have read what I am writing.

Dave Talley

My Report that this years Run is over was a little premature

Yesterday after I posted I saw two very familiar bikes headed west on Interstate 70. I saw a white trike with a VW engine, and a trailer followed by a brown Harley. This couple were definitely on the Central Route of Run for the Wall. In fact I helped push start the trike in Hurricane WV when its alternator quit working, and the Harley, well that thing blew up on the way to Lewisburg, VA. That I found out about on Saturday in DC when the rider of that bike rolled up on a brand new Ultra. His bike was in the shop at Shenandoah Harley. When the owner found out that this guy would have to ride on the back of his wife's trike, he decided to give him a three day demonstration ride. They looked like they were rolling pretty good so I guess they got the Harley fixed OK. I blew my Air Horn and waved, but I doubt that either of them knew it was me. If they read this they will know. I have received emails, and calls from others, and POP TOP was in the chat room so I think he is home too. I also got a call from the WV coordinator for next year. He has a tough act to follow, Krispy has done great in that job for the last five years that I have been involved in the Run. But since he works in an office that looks over where we park when the Governor takes his picture with us I think he will do fine.

One last thought for today, the poll is going a little different that I expected. Three votes, one no and two yes. How ever it turns out I will be thinking hard about reconnecting this blog to the CR web page. I may never have the chance to do it, but hearing how the readers that I have feel about it is important to me. Thanks,

Dave Talley

This years Run is Over, time to plan for next year

Well I have been back in the Big Red Truck for a week. I have seen many many bikes headed west in the last couple of days. Some had Run patches, some did not. I just say a prayer that all of them get where they are going dry, safe, and happily.

I am in Ohio today, and will be headed to California, again. I want to thank everyone that reads this blog. I could use some comments on what you think about it. I am going to put up a simple poll. It will be should I relink this to the Run For The Wall Web pages? I think everyone that reads it regularly knows how to find it, but I need to know if people think that new folks will like to read it or not.

The only comment that I have gotten lately was that my rants and tirades were terrible.
I did not realize I was ranting, but maybe I was. That is the reason the link was pulled.

So let me know. I am planning on doing the whole Run next year. If Judy goes with me I will be in hotels, if she doesn't I will camp. Camping is tough, but more rewarding and worth the extra work.

UPDATE ON STATUS OF MY PERSONAL PRIDE:

Some may know that I dropped Clyde on the way to Corydon, IN. Some may not. Nothing really hurt, people were amazed that there was no visible damage to Clyde. My personal pride was in the Critical Care Ward, on Life Support for a while, but seems to be recovering nicely. I will take a motorcycle safety course this year and will aid it in healing.

OK That is it for today

Dave Talley

PICTURES FROM ANGEL FIRE TO DC

The pictures here are in no particular order, and were taken from Angel Fire NM to
Washington D.C. Some are of me and new friends, and some are of me and old friends. All bring back good memories of this years Run, and anticipation for next year too. I hope folks read this and look at the pictures and realize that the Run and the mission that is the Run is greater and more important than any of the parts.

Dave Talley

Gold Star, the one award no one wants

This year I got to meet a few Gold Star Mothers, and Families. This is an award that I never want to earn. My Run family will know what it means, but my Trucking friends may not. When a Mother, Wife, Husband, or Father, or Family has a loved one in the military in harms way they become a Blue Star family. When that person dies in action they become a Gold Star Family. No one wants to become a recipient of a Gold Star. The ones that do are very brave, and go on with their lives, and help others that have lost loved ones. There are a lot of folks that have Gold Stars. WWII created the most, and there are over 50,000 from the Vietnam War. There are many from the other conflicts this nation has been involved in. I salute everyone that has ever lost a loved one to war. They are a strong lot, and they support themselves and others very well. They are in part a reason for riding for those who cannot. My own parents, Mother, Father and Step Father were Blue Star parents during Desert Storm, and Vietnam, and a few other minor dust ups. They were lucky because my Brother and I were lucky.
OK that is enough, just a quick thank you to all those Gold Star families, you sons, daughters, husbands and wives served proudly and I will never forget the freedom they bought me with their blood.

Dixie the Wandering Truck Dog is back

Yesterday I headed back out onto the road. Dixie the Wander Dog is back on the truck. She seems to have grown a little, but I am glad to have her back and she is pretty happy to be back on the truck. She gives me an excuse to stop once in a while and walk around. She remembers all her commands, and we are already working on the walking on the leash thing. She almost has me trained there.

Not much else to say today. I will be posting a lot of pictures tomorrow from this years run. I had a good time in spite of myself. I am not quitting, the mission is too important. I probably won't be doing much except riding when I go back.

The forum on RFTW has been a little heated. I am not going to weigh in there, as much as I would like to. Also if you do not have the URL for this blog, you can no longer find it on the RFTW web page. I got some comments that I did not post through there. Three really bad ones, and one really honest one. Sorry but this blog is not dedicated to the Run, I still am though.

Dave Talley

The Blog has changed and Change is good?

I have changed the blog a little. I am hoping the changes are good. No one was commenting on the posts, not sure why, but now you can simply check at the end of each post. I need help with keeping this thing interesting. So if it is funny, interesting, or you think it is cool please check the appropriate box. I am currently moderating all comments because I can. I will still post all comments that come in. but I will be careful about that too. Clyde is no longer posting what is written here. I am. I decided that hiding behind a motorcycle was probably silly. I do tend to give life to inanimate objects, and will still do that from time to time. In a few hours I will post a lot of pictures here and on face book. I do not have as many as I wanted, but there are many more than I thought too. I left my camera at the tent while in DC. Probably a good thing, but I do have some pictures from the wall, and the run to share.

Dave Talley

Home Safe, Thre Trip was good

Well I am home safe, and I had a good trip. The picture here is of Barry and Marylin Matthews. They are great friends from Canada. They are also a part of the Run For The Wall Family. Notice that they have the RFTW from LA to DC bumper sticker on the front of Barry's bike, and Marylin has a similar sticker for RFTW on hers. These two are great folks. Here they are finishing up a memorial ride in Canada. I missed them and Shooter this year on the Run. I hope they will come back some day.

I had a good run in spite of my self. When I got to Angel Fire I saw a need and took care of it. I delivered Judy and My book marks to the kids at Rainelle, WV. I helped get a lot of FNG's safely to Washington DC, and I made some new friends, and got to talk to some old friends. All in all it was a good trip.

I am glad I am home, and now I have to go back to work. I will be back in the big truck tomorrow.

Dave Talley

Video Bar Information

The video bar that I had been running was old information. I have updated it with two new videos. The first one is RFTW's Southern Route arriving in Blythe, CA. When I can find another about Central Route I will post it. Run For The Wall is one Run, two routes. Check the history of the run for an explanation of that idea. In reality there are more than five routes. Two Run For The Wall routes, Northern Veterans Awareness Ride (NVAR) for short, and believe me that makes Vietnam Vets stand up and take notice. An Eastern Route that starts in Wisconsin and goes north through Canada and then back down I-95 to DC. Then There is a Rolling Thunder group that comes out of Los Angels too. All of these people ride for those who cannot. All of these people are bringing out awareness of POW/MIA issues, and Veterans issues.

The RFTW forum has some comments about the Central Route from people I dearly love. I do not agree with these comments. I also do not think that the Forum is the place for these comments, but I can disagree with those comments here freely. Central Route is not going downhill fast. The fact that we had so many new people this year does not reflect that loyal riders are going away, it does reflect that communication works. I have talked up the Run on Satellite radio for five years, and some of that might be why more people are aware of the Run.
Those new people are partly the reason that I do not believe the central route is going downhill. Some of them will be back next year. Yes some of the folks that have done the Run for years will not be back. It has been thirty years or more since Vietnam was ended, and people that started the Run are getting older. I think the Run has aged well, and grown well. I believe that our not forgetting, and our not allowing the returning troops of today to be treated the way the Vietnam troops were treated has reaped its own rewards. A great number of the new people are currently on active duty, or just released from the military. They need to heal too. That is what the Run has become. I believe in the mission. I believe in the people, and I pray that I will have the strength and wisdom to do the run again someday. If not next year then some year.

Dave Talley

Bounce is back

I over reacted to something my Brother said. I am going to apologize here for that. I realize that a lot of folks read this blog, and that they enjoy what I write here. This blog started on a fluke, but it is good for me.
I will be writing again. Not because people enjoy reading my thoughts. Not because it is important to me to write. Not because I have received a very short and forceful email from a friend telling me that he enjoyed this and I better put it back up.
I may never really share my reasons for restarting this blog. Heck I am not even sure why I decided to stop, or restart. Bounce is back, he never really went away. I also got hammered by my wife Judy for stopping. No that is not the reason I am restarting either, although it will make my life a little easier.


I publicly apologize to all my Run Brothers and Sisters for basically being a complete jerk for the first three days I was on the Run this year. I was doing a job that I volunteered for, and did not want to do. The staging crew is a good bunch of folks, and last year after a few days I realized that they were not getting breakfast, or breaks while doing their jobs, so I started doing that for them. That was all I intended to do this year. I have a job on the Run, and it is to keep the Big Trucks from panicking, or causing an accident that could and would probably kill riders. I was frustrated because I could not do that job. Krazy Karl was doing it alone from California until Wentzville. I was helping a little by talking to West bound Trucks ahead of the pack, and alerting trucks in Rest Areas and Truck Stops that they should go, or wait half an hour, so that they would not get caught on ramps by the pack. I allowed my frustration to bubble out. No I allowed it to erupt, or explode. I tried to let Trunks know that it was going to happen, and he had no time to hear me. Then when for the third time that day a rider, who knew that I was staging platoon 6 decided to cuss me out for not doing my job right (please note that the rest of the platoon found me and knew that I had the #6 in my hand, and this rider knew it too, but because he did not feel that I was doing my job properly he told me.) I simply blew up. It was ugly, my words and actions were ugly. I apologized to that rider later, and now apologize to everyone that did or did not see and hear this event.
I also apologize to my Brother, Shoreparty, I was sending him my daily check calls along with others. My last check call was written after a long day. I stated the truth in the email, and jumbled my words a little. I have read and reread the email, it made sense at the time, but is jumbled. Run For The Wall, is a mission of healing, remembrance. It is a mission to make America aware that We have left a lot of people behind and can never forget them. Run For The Wall is not in any way a protest, nor is it misnamed as some have indicated. The Run goes to the Wall. In the past it has ended at the Wall. In the future it will end at the Wall again. The mission of the Leadership is to safely get a lot of motorcycles safely across the country and to D.C. This year that was done again very successfully. The leadership guided it, but the people that joined and participated were responsible for the safe completion of that mission. In 2005, my first Run, my Brother and I left the West Virginia Capital after the pack, and we stopped and picked up trash. There was not a lot of it, but there was some trash. It may or may not have come from the riders, but it was there after the pack left. We took a few minutes to pick it up. We both mentioned that there had been trash left, and Leadership told riders that was unacceptable. Every year since then (and twice in 2005 and 2006 I proudly did it with my Brother) except for 2008 I have picked up the trash after the pack has left this area. 500 plus bikes, most with a rider and passenger, can leave a little trash without intending too. Things fall off packs, especially when folks dawdle a little while waiting to roll. In 2008 I rode into Rainelle with the staging crew because I was needed there.
in 2005,2006, 2007 there was some trash, not much but some. This year I picked up the trash too. There were three full water bottles, and I saw two of them fall off a bike that was passing me. The third probably fell of a bike too. That was it. There was not a single scrap of paper, or even one wrapper anywhere on the ground. That is the type of rider we had this year.
To the folks that have said the Central Route is going downhill, I say no you are wrong. To the person who asked me if I felt more comfortable with my riding this year, and asked what I attributed that too, I say that yes I was more comfortable with my riding this year, because I now have 32,000 miles on my bike. Not because he decided that riding two up is not safe, he was a team leader and he can run his team any way he wants. I ran my team the way I wanted, and followed my plan. He on the other hand used the excuse that he had been simply following the license plate in front of him for the previous years for getting his entire team lost not once, but several times. In addition I think he may have started the whole controversy about riding two up as opposed to staggered. Two up is the way Central Route Rides. They do it proudly, and even with more than 50% FNG's this year, WE DID IT WELL. I do not know if I will do the Run next year or not. This has nothing to do with this year, it has to do with the cost to me and my business. The minor mishaps, including my dropping Clyde involved experienced riders. As far as I know no FNG was hurt while riding in the pack. There was one ankle injury and that happened at a fuel stop, not on the highway. 4ridden (pronounced FOR RIDING dropping the G) got hurt, but will heal, a Road Guard got hurt but will heal, I lucked out and because I was working with the big truck behind me I am alive. Had I not told him the pack was stopping before I dropped Clyde, I might be a greasy spot. I dropped Clyde because another bike went where I had decided to go, and I could not hit that rider. Minor damage to Clyde, my personal pride will come back too.

OK now that I have ranted. I will at the request of friends, and I will list their road names here, like Krazy, Bones, North, Broomie, Snow Kitten, Black and Chrome, and many others, continue to write. I had no idea how many folks have read this blog, and I thank them for their encouragement and support. I prayed and got the answer, it is not always the answer you want by the way, so I will continue to write. Now if you have read this far thank you. I have pictures to post, and people to thank. Entries here may be long or short, but in the future they will be clearer than before. I will think about what I write, because Shoreparty is correct, our words do have consequences. I will be writing about this years Run, and things and people that I meet during my job as a truck driver.

I sincerely apologize to any and every one that I have ever offended. I do not intend to do that. Run For The Wall is not a rally, it is not a party, it is a mission. One does not have to like it, one simply has to do it. That has been my feeling since May of 2005 when I first joined. Run For The Wall is more than just an event, it is a family too. Some do it once, and mark it off their bucket list, others like myself will probably do it until either everyone left behind is brought home, or until someone has to ride in tribute to them because they have passed on.

To Jack Tilkens Family thank you for giving me the honor of having a Marine in the over watch position this year. I have a copy of the tribute and pictures of where I left it. Also there were at least three CAP marines that wrote down Jack's info and Gunner should be contacting me with a website that he is posting Jack's information on. I will forward that to Mark when I get it.
Everyone on the Run I am praying you all make it home safely, thanks for putting up with me, and thanks for making every year better and more memorable than the last.

Dave Talley
Writing as Bounce, or Clyde the motorcycle. They are interchangeable