RUN FOR THE WALL Jean and Larry: Day 5 of the Run

LEROY PETRY IS BACK !!!!!!!!!!

If you recall, he is the medal of honor recipient that had the transmission blow a few days ago. The Harley dealer they went to, removed a transmission from a new bike and put it in his. You have never seen anyone grinning so much as he was today. 2 days ago, he announced as we were having lunch, he would not be able to ride and was going home. He was very emotional and was very sad he could not continue. He equated it as he was reliving all over again of the loss of his arm. Everyone in the place was emotional and very sad to see this happen. He is a very humble man.

We had a great breakfast. The scouts helped server and clean up. We also found out the girls scouts raised $300 for the Central route. After breakfast was a church service. We have been gone so long, I am losing track of the days. We then had our normal meeting. Started off with the pledge, prayer and honoring our Blue and Gold start people. This never gets old. We found out there was an active gentleman that flew in from Korea to be able to make this ride. Amazing.

Forgot to tell you yesterday that we had to "tap" out. This means you go out of formation and go to the side of the road. The bracket for out horn broke and was hanging there and hitting Larry's leg. We were afraid if it fell off it would hurt someone. We got back on the road and slide in front of the chase vehicles.

So in New Mexico, we had police escort all the way across the state . In Colorado, they picked up all the gas. Unbelievable.

Here is one of the chase vehicles. Heading to the Harley dealer down the road to see it they can get them back on the road.

We also have platoon meetings every morning. Ken is our platoon leader. Larry and Dave are the tail gunners for the day. These meetings are to go over caution and safety practices. Since there are people that join and drop all the time, we want to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Here is Dave as we leave the parking lot. He looks like he is ready to ride!!

We are heading out for Day 5 of riding. BEAUTIFUL blue skies that lasted all day!!

The sign below says "God Bless America".

Now he is serious. These days take a lot of concentration. We ride 60-70 MPH and ride tight. We try not to use the breaks, all down shifting. You always have to be on your toes, literally

I never get tired of seeing this. It is amazing to be riding with so many bikes and this is only half

We see so many kids in front yards, on bridges, on sidewalks....all smiling and waving their hands or waving with flags. These kids are our future. Several of the conversations over the last few days, talk about the kids. we are so glad they show an interest and are excited.

Here is Bill as we park for lunch.

Here is Dave with a little power nap after lunch. They had the best pulled pork!!!

Here are a few pictures of the bridges we went under today. Think about it. We come thru these towns doing 65-70 MPH. The parade may last only a few minutes. It amazes me. There maybe a bridge in the middle of no where and there are people!!! Who knows how long they waited. Great support!!

This so far has been the best. They were all the way across the bridge

This is another process the works. They can usually get several hundred biked fueled up in about 15-20 minutes

As we pulled into the Bunker Hill gas station, there are tons of people and flags.

As we leave , the VFW stood out in the hot sun in suits and saw us off on a safe trip.

Sorry just cannot get thru a day without some pictures of the country. Kansas is really flat :-)

Next stop Junction City. As we roll in, I hear E-Z say, "Here you go FNGs. THIS is what it is all about. "

The streets were packed.

As we get the bikes parked, we make our way to the town square. They have a nice ceremony honoring Vietnam Vets, and all men and women in our armed services.