Washington DC - Mission Acconmplished

As I write my last blog it is bitter sweet.  I have loved sharing our experiences and sites as we went cross country, twice.  Hope you have enjoyed it.

Today was another early day as we had to stage our bike for Arlington National Cemetery in the garage at 7:00 AM.  Only FNGs are allowed , and they only give out 400. Even though, we had to line them up at 7:00 we did not leave until 8:45.  Being they were in a garage, once they all started it was pretty loud.

 Last directions of the trip.

 We have a police escort on this highway.  No cars to exit for Arlington.

As you enter Arlington, there are 624 acres of gravesites.  For the Memorial Day holiday, there were more than 228,000 flags placed by each grave marker.

Run for the Wall rolls in

These will be the gentleman for the wreath ceremony

 Changing of the guard.

 Wreath from Run For The Wall.

At this time Taps was played.

We then head to the Lincoln Memorial for RFTW picture

 There are bikes everywhere.!!!!!!

 Next we proceed to the Vietnam Memorial Wall. This is amazing if you have not seen it.  The person we carried was James Badley.  He is just shy of his 24th birthday. He was lost in N. Vietnam when his plane crashed.

 I also have a cousin that is MIA.  Crashed at sea in N. Vietnam: Leaonard, Fredrick Vogt

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Glenn: you kept us safe all the way.  For you brother.

 We have made it and we therefore have our FNG pins places upside down.  This is a symbol that healing can now start.  Dan turns my niece, Jamie's pin.

Here are a few fun facts about our trip
 - Temperature ranged 34-94
 - We traveled in 15 states + Washington DC
 - From CA to DC – 2998 miles.  Loveland to DC – 5409

We did not pay for meals on our mission. Every town we stayed in welcomed us, fed us, and prayed for our safety.  The support, encouragement, respect that the Americans have for the mission is incredible.  There is an unbelievable amount of time hanging banners, kids making bracelet, making pocket patches, hanging flags on the over passes, closing down streets, organizing volunteer for meal, ....... and the list goes on.

100s , 1000s of hours given by so many to make this happen: route coordinator, state coordinators, missing man coordinator, staging team, fuel team, hydration team, road guards, medical personel…..and the riders themselves.  The logistics to get that many people across the country, coordinated with all the towns for escorts, gas stops, parking, .... involve so many people.

We have endured all kinds of weather: rain, snow, hail, fog, cold, and dodged a tornado but these were short lived.  Our service men and women had these conditions for hours and probably sometimes days in a fox hole.  Our trip was nothing like theirs.

Seven of us crossed the country west ( Brian, Dave, Bill, Tim, Aaron, Larry and Jean) to get to CA. We came back across with a new family of 300+

We continually asked each other : what time is it? what time zone are we in? what day is it?  But there is one thing we knew the answer to: what was your mission?

Many of the common phrase you heard every day:

                                                           - Freedom is not free

                                                           - All gave some, some gave all.

                                                           - We ride because they can’t

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!!

 , 

I want to thank Ken and Jenny Ward for getting us involved in this worthwhile mission.  

I especially want to thank my husband for such an incredible journey.  

One more set of prayer please, and that is to get everyone home safely from DC, and continue to pray for all service men and women, past and present. 

Day 10 of the Run - May 22

What a beautiful day!!!!

Hard to believe this is our last day of the ride. We went 254 miles with only a stop for Lunch and a stop for gas. We arrived in DC at 3:30.  15 minutes ahead of schedule.  Got to love it.!!

Our niece Jamie, lives in DC.  She drove to Lewisburg to ride the last day with us into DC.  She rode with Larry and I rode with Brian on the first 2 legs and Ken on the last one into DC.  She has probably less than 2 hours on a motorcycle much less riding like this. She was pretty excited to get the day started.  In the true fashion of and FNG, there are hugs from everyone.   Her first hug was from one of the staging crew.

 So after 9 days, Leroy finally got a road name : Clutch.  The poor guy had so many issue but thru perseverance, he made it to DC.

 Last day for Ken to go thru his speech of all the rules to keep us safe on the road.  The person on the right is his son.  

I am still amazed and love to see all the bikes traveling like this.  After seeing it for 9 day, hard to believe that going into Arlington will be the last time (for this year).

Our only stop was lunch provided by Shenandoah Harley Davidson.  As we all got off the bikes to have lunch, I looked at Jamie.  She was grinning from ear to ear.  I guess she liked it.

We had the Star Spangle Banner played and a  prayer. The view behind the flags was amazing.

I am riding with Brian in the tail gunner position.  We are behind all the platoons.  As I make my way there, I look over in the sea of bike and big bikers, and see this little 95 pound girl.  She is there in the green if you cannot find her.

Pretty steep hill to get out. That is Larry and Jamie in the red and green. 

Before getting on the road,we ALL were able to line up. I do not think I got them all.

  Check out the order of cars: red, white , blue.

So here are the last set of scenic pics I will send. The hills of WV and VA are beautiful. you did not think I would forget ,did you?

Our last gas stop, we all decide to take a drink of the 5 hour energy drinks.  WOW do  they taste bad!

Melissa, the girl on the right, is a Pittsburg fan.  I think we have her convinced cheer for the Bengals.

 Back on the road again and with a LEO escort.  Highway shut down again. Look on entrance ramp and the highway.

 Here we are on the ramp

Nathan and Mary

As we get closer to our final destination (Arlington), I watch  the road signs.

 46 miles to go

 41 miles to go

 17 miles to go

  I wonder about the hard roads our veterans had to travel, the days and nights in fox holes, the POW camps, the bad weather, the missing of loved ones.  Our journey was only 10 day. Theirs were a lot longer than that and some never made it back. We had a lot of celebrating, hugs and cheering.  Our Vietnam vets got none of that.  We are not quite finished until we visit the Wall tomorrow.  For now there are lots of cheers we made this short journey across the United States of America.  We still need to bring our guys home.

 A familiar site in every city we went thru.  These guys never forgot and love that this mission is still going strong.  RFTW will keep the memories alive of our veteran from all wars.

 This is how we need to bring our troops home.

The #3 platoon as we arrived in DC

 Platoon #3 that went all the way!!!!

 Our platoon leaders and tail gunners

 #3 stage master - Tyron

 Gunny and his wife were there to greet us

 Gunny even had a RFTW pin for Jamie.

 Brian found a friend

Leroy has a new family. All 300+ of us. Thanks Leroy for being with us!!!