May 7, 2026 - Day 5 to Ontario

May 7, 2026 – Day 5 to Ontario

Another great day for riding. We started out at 41 degrees. Ok... let's gear up.

Not long after we head out, we see pronghorn.

Down the road we see a sign "VLA".  Figuring is was just the name of a small town, we moved on.  Of course it reminds you of "walla".  So we kept joking and using it through our conversation.

One of the things we do is guess how far away we are from something.  Today there were these white dishes in the field.  The one on the right stood alone and we started guessing.  

Seeing VLA signs, we again assume it is the name of a town.

Here is the one we were guessing the distance on.  I said 5 miles and it turned out the to be 8 miles. OK where it the city?  Larry said he thinks it stand for something.  Yep, he was right:
VLA = Very Large Array
It is a radio telescope facility for radio astronomy.

Trivia for the day: what is Radio Astronomy?
Astronomers around the world use radio telescopes to observe the naturally occurring radiowaves that come from stars, planets, galaxies, clouds of dust, and molecules of gas. (Google for more info)

We cross into Arizona and such beautiful country.  Here are a few pics:

Beautiful!!!

We got a surprise, there was a black bear and one of her cubs. (she has 2)  One of the rangers said she has been garbage picking.  UGH.... they want to get her and her cubs move to a better location.   This is the baby...

and mom.

Ron captured a video of her going into the trash bin.  Pretty funny.

Our excitement for the day.

OK back on the road to lunch....The number of pics I have is crazy.  So amazing.

Lunch: Drift In Saloon, built in 1902

This remind you of anything? A puppet from Jeff Dunham?

Since I will be riding with Ron during the Run, we decided maybe I should ride with him a little.  I finally got a shot of Larry.  hahaha

In this area we started seeing the talk cactus for about 5 miles. Then they stopped.

You would see one alone,  or...

.... a whole hill side.

They could be the Saguaro..

So I asked "I wonder how long the live?"

2nd Trivia: They could live as long as 100-200 year.

Before heading into Sedona for the night, we went past Roosevelt Lake.  Beautiful blue color. 

We go past several lakes when we ride but I have never seen this.  Along the edge of the water are campers.  There had to have been 30-40. 

Last pic as we end  the day.  The colors are so brilliant....!!!

No riding tomorrow.  We are doing things in Sedona.  

Destination:

Temps: 41-93
Route: SR60, AZ188, AZ187, AZ260, SR89a
Miles: 463

Flag: Near Roosevelt Lake

May 6, 2026 - Day 4 to Ontario

May 6, 2026 – Day 4 to Ontario

Watching the weather last night, Denver was getting 12-18 inches of snow. Yikes.. we were going to go that way. We decided before we left to head south. Also Limon, CO (one of our stops) was supposed to get 6-12 inches of snow. I sure hope it all disappears by next week when we head thru there.

Today was a great day. It started out about 44 degrees. Geared up and heated gear on. This is ok since the wind was not like yesterday. We head to Amarillo TX. And we got to "Amarillo By Morning". Some of you remember this song sung my George Strait. Hahaha

Much of the road today was like this. Really boring but no wind (mostly)

The word of the day is "trains".  We must have seen 8-10 trains.  

Each one had 130-150 cars.  

5 engines for this one

2 engines in the middle that were actually running.  This train was over 200 cars.

You ask how I know this.... you guessed... I tried to count them.

Again something to do on these straight roads.

Trivia question for the day:  What was the purpose of the caboose?

It has served many purposes over the years. Started as the brakeman station.  Before air brakes were invented in 1869, the brakemen had the critical role of pulling the handbrakes to bring the train to a stop. Their jobs were one of the most dangerous but most important jobs at that time.  To pull the brakes, these men had to ride on top of the train cars, jump from one to another to stop each cab.  Even though their jobs were so dangerous, they were forced to operate in all climates and unsafe weather conditions. The Caboose offered shelter for these personnel to travel safely in a cab until time to perform their duties.

We head into Hereford and see huge grain silos.  

There were many we saw along SR60 running along the train tracks.

Riding the motorcycles, you always smell thing better....

in some instances that is not so good.  

Miles  down the road you can smell this slaughter house.

I have never seen one this big.

More straight road and trains.

Then we get a little color and some curve in the roads. I love the colors.  

At one point we saw antelope

Tomorrow we head out on SR 60 to Sedona.

Destination: Socorro, NM

Temps: 44-70
Route: I-40, I-27, SR 60, I-27, SR60

Miles: 456

Flag: From Clovis

May 3, 2026 – Day 1 to Ontario

May 3, 2026 – Day 1 to Ontario

Welcome back to all those that have followed me before.  And "Welcome" to all the newcomers.  I am Jean and I will be submitting an entry every day on our journey from Loveland, OH to Ontario, California.  I am riding west with my husband, Larry, and my brother, Ron.  Then riding from Ontario to Washington DC with the RFTW family.

 May 13-22, 2026

 We ride for those who can’t.

 

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This will be our 10th year.  The ride is called “Run For The Wall”.  (RFTW.us)
The ride will start in Ontario May 13 and end May 22 in Washington DC.  
Please go to the web site for more details.  My blog will attempt to capture each day the events of this mission once the Run starts.

Mission Statement of RFTW : To promote healing among ALL veterans and their families and friends,

to call for an accounting of all Prisoners of War and those Missing in

Action (POW/MIA), to honor the memory of those Killed in Action (KIA)

from all wars, and to support our military personnel all over the world.

 

Philosophy:

We strive to maintain a safe, supportive, and private atmosphere in

which all participants can reflect and heal on their journey to the Vietnam

Memorial in Washington, DC in the hope that they can return

home to a new beginning.

 

Goals:

1) To guide the participants across America. 

2) To educate future generations as to the importance of accountability

in wartime actions emphasizing that no one should be left behind.

 
I am sure many of you have family member that serve.

We have a brother, brother-in-law, and uncle that served in
Vietnam. Our fathers served in WWII and in Korea. Also, a few
cousins are active today.  

 

Not all of those that served were on the front line or even in the country

where the war/conflict happened.  This does not minimize the fact that

they have given their time from their lives and families to serve to keep us safe. 

 

Any time you see a service man or woman, police or fireman, please

take a few minutes to go over to them and thank them for their service. 

It only takes a few seconds.  Let them know you appreciate what they are doing. 

This trip will end at the Vietnam Memorial Wall but the support we need to give to everyone that serves should never end.  Keep us, and all the riders we will be riding with, in your prayers for a safe ride and nice weather (we ride in rain, wind, and hail 😊 )

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So let's get started:

We started on Sunday May 3 to get a few hours in. The day was sunny and 60.

We had a few on hand to wish us safe travels.

Even the little ones want to get into the act of taking pictures. Hahaha 

As we head out, about the only thing picture worthy was all the bridges in Louisville.

As we got about 1/2 thru Indiana, and we all thought we were in Kansas. The wind was crazy and we got pushed a lot. 3 tired people for the day that felt like we had wipe lash.  

Destination: Mt. Vernon, IL        
Temps: 60-65
Route: I71, I64
Miles: 313