May 11, 2026 - In Ontario

May 11, 2026 – Day to Ontario

Great day!!  Reconnecting with the RFTW family is always a lot of fun.  Everyone is running in different direction to complete their last minute lists of what needs to be done.

Lance and Bernadette offered a rider's skill practice session.  Here is the path to follow.  Riders to you get this?

Some of the riders working the course.

Larry and Curt discuss how the cones are set up to match the map.  

Confusing to me.  All I see are cones everywhere.

Way to go Larry....you did not drop the bike.

Larry , Ron and Lance look like they are on a very serious discussion.   

That is until I hear all the laughter.

V-Mac was changing his oil in the parking lot.  Hahaha.  He said he need to do it because the time to change would be in the middle of the Run....soooo  do it now.

Next task for the day: get registered.

All riders must register.  You have wrist bands showing you are part of the Run.  Also the bikes get ribbons that get tied to  the handle bars on the clutch side to help the road guards recognize quickly if a non-registered person jumps into the pack.  It does happen occasionally.

Now the fun part.  Cleaning the bikes before we leave.  The Elks Lodge has supplied everything needed  Way to go guys, they look great!!

I always like to walk in the parking lot.  Some bikes have awesome custom paint jobs. 

Here are a few of them.

   

 

Time for dinner.  The Elks had steak, baked potato, salad and dessert.  AWESOME!!

The Elks serving all the sides for our meal.  We always thank them.  Those of you on the Run, please remember they too are volunteers.  They have come out to feed us, and set up the building for us to be able to get us on our way.  Again, a simple "Thank You" goes a long way.

 Here are some of the guys on the grill.  It was in the upper 80s while they were cooking.  Yikes it was hot back here.  THANKs guys for the great steaks. 

One more day!!!!

Destination: Ontario    
Temps: 75-94
Route: na
Miles: na

Flag: From the Elks

May 10, 2026 - Day 8 to Ontario

May 10, 2026 – Day 8 to Ontario

Today was a very boring and HOT day.

We started out on SR 89a. It was a beautiful rolling road and lots of fun.

Not long into the ride, we stopped at the Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park.  It was in honor of 19 men that lost their lives fighting a fire that took weeks to put out.  They were all from the Prescott community, the town we stayed in last night.  I copied off the article that was at the memorial.  Hope you take a few minutes to read this. 

We talk a lot about our military and what they do and their sacrifices for our country.  Men and women like the Hotshots are all over this country: fireman, policemen,...  All of them deserve to be thanked for what they do.  Please take a few seconds, go over to them, shake their hand and say "Thank you for your service".  It only take s few seconds. 

We leave and head down the mountain, into the desert.  

UGH.....HOT!!! and boring.. Oh wait, I already mentioned that.

Weird though, we saw tons of RV Parks, in the middle of the desert. Nothing around.  We tried to figure out why..never  really came up with a good answer. Maybe to look as the stars.

Yeah finally get into California.

We did see a farm (if that what you call it) of palm trees.  

Again out in the middle of the desert. This make sense, was about 1/2 long.

We head into Palm Springs.  I think they should change their name to Windmill Springs.  Unless you have gone thru here, you cannot image the 1000s for windmills you pass.

We arrive at our hotel and their is a package for Ron.  A little background first.  Ron had a minion mascot, Jerry, for years.  Last year Jerry left Ron's bike somewhere in Indiana.  His wife got him a new one but it arrived after we left.  So she shipped it to CA.  He got a new one and this one even came with a rain coat (a plastic baggie).

We headed up the to host hotel and started our family reunion.  Here are a few pics.

This is part of the raffle rouser team.

Ron and Papa Smurf (Ron's assistant platoon leader)

Rich Boy, Clutch, and Scooter.

Jean with Gunny Gregory (Founder of RFTW)

More to come tomorrow as we all work on last minute thing.

Destination: Ontario, CA
Temps: 65-112
Route: AZ89a, ST71s, ST60w, I-10w
Miles: 347

May 9, 2026 - Day 7 to Ontario

May 9, 2026 – Day 7 to Ontario

Today was 76 degrees before we even left. We just drove around today with no special route. The sun hit the mountain just right today. Colors were so bold.

This must be a popular road.  Lots of hikers.  Cars park all along the road.

This is the road we took to get to Coconino National Forest.

Boys.... read this sign..!!!

Beautiful from the top

Lets head to Jerome.

The town in on the side of the mountain.

This little girl's mom said her daughter has been commenting on the motorcycle all day.  and gets very excited.  We sat her on the bike and she did this.  Soooo cute.  We asked if she was ok and her mom said she does this when she gets excited.

We headed to the Haunted Hamburger for lunch.  This place was  hopping. Check out the skeleton on the sign.

Can you see the ceiling?  It has a shelf IN it.  Ron and Larry figured out how they could do that in a house.  Ron's wife said "Ummmm....nope".  However, his son-in-law said sure.  Let's put it in our new house in the basement above the bar.  We will wait and see if it gets done.

Pretty cool looking for those that like Halloween.

Look out!!  Skeletons trying to get in.

View from the restaurant.  WOW!!!

Ice cream on a hot day seemed to be the order of the day.

Heading up the mountain.  Breath taking.

Stopped in Prescott for the night. Short day.  

As we went to dinner at “The Palace”, the major intersection was painted unique. Look at this very closely.  There are 2 cross walks diagonally thru the interaction.  All traffic stops and people walk from all 4 corners thru intersection.  Larry and I walked to the middle then made a 90 degree turn.

Tomorrow driving thru the desert.  Looking at temps over 100.  UGH!!!

Destination: Prescott, AZ

Temps: 76-93
Route: SR 89a
Miles: 162

Flag: