OMG!!! OH MY GOSH what a day!!!
What a gorgeous day for a ride. Someone could have turned the fans down a little. The winds were wicked..
First order of business. Eat.
All cooking done on Coleman type stoves
Guy on the left, we met last year. He is a vet. Last year he had bypass surgery. He did not want to miss the Run. He even brought his brother
Pray from Curtis, head Chaplin
Presenting of the colors
Star Spangle Banner
Little girl in the back is signing the song
Fly over, here is the formation
Here is a close up ( love my camera )...... also thanks to Ron for showing me how to get this on blog
RFTW board
There are 3 routes. The left 3 are Southern, Midway, Central ( this is the one we are on), Harry is the President
Everyday we go over hand signals. These are critical on the run. Left is Harry (aka Attitude) and Papa Smurf demonstrating .
Here is out buddy "Blue". Vietnam vet that took a long time to come back to us. He has had a rough road. Rode with is ALL THE WAY last year but can only be with us to William. He can up with: What time it is? It is Hug thirgy!!! Thanks Blue... glad to see you again
Staged and ready to go. A sea of helmets
There are even trick and bike with trailers
Here is Ron. First day, saddled up and I am sure a bit nervous and excited.
Well wishers
As we leave Ontario is it VERY foggy. but no rain
Then the SUN came out. Did I ever say how much I hate LA traffic. Especially on a motorcycle.
Now come the fun pics!!! I probably have 100+ pics of the landscape today....Larry and Ron were able to look at them before they went to bed. On the way to CA, is was a bit hazy, but not today.
Hope you enjoy
What a way to lave CA.
First gas stop. WELL let's just say it was a bit crazy. normally the fuel and staging team leave 20-30 minutes ahead of the pack. Leaving the Ontario parking lot, they let right in front of us. so needless to say, they were still finishing fueling their biked when we pulled in. Everyone was scrambling . But we made it thru.
Lady Jen , and Larry and I had to leave everyone for the next stop. Since we were at 2 different gas station, it works better. Here is out leader Lady Jen.
Wind really kicked up. The side by side platoons has to go staggered for safety. Next 2 pics show the dusk that was kicked up. It was pretty bad riding. Worse than the fog we had earlier
We ride right next to semis.
Hydration team
Here is Shawna and Robin, from the staging team marking off the spots. They use chalk. They need to know every day how many are each platoon. This way they will make enough room for each platoon. The staging team has the same person per platoon, so the riders and easily find where their platoon. They are running around getting this done to be ready for riders. So they have to gas up, park in a separate place so they can leave 20 before use.then stage the bikes.
Wild Bill is one of the last ones getting gas. He was the road guard making sure all left the prior place
Since we got in before the pack, I was able to get pics coming off the ramp. Pretty cool to watch!!!
Ron
Much better fuel and staging stop!! yeah. Still looks like chaos.. but it is organized chaos.
One slight mishap. From the parking area to the pump, is a gravel hill. I was walking up it with all my gear and boots, slid on the gravel and down I went. Just a little embarrassing. All good and lots of helper... Darn they saw me LOL
Road guards help direct bikes to the staging area
Staging teams. you can see the signs per platoon. This is a very easy place to stage, wide open. We do not get that luck all the time.
Pumps are started and bikes go side by side. They pay to the next dollar. All the extra goes to the chase vehicles at the end of the Run for their gas.
Stops normally take about 20 minutes to get everyone gased up. You say "wow". At least I did the first time I heard this. Remember their tanks are only 4-6 gallons and we normally go fill it average 3-4 gallon.
All parked and time to get a drink and snack from hydration trucks
All saddled up and ready to go.
More pics. You will just have to put up with me. Hard not to post them all. Love this country
Almost like a painting
They are out in the middle of no where. pretty cool!!!!
Here is our arrival into Needles. WHAT A WELCOME. Yeah time for lunch.
For the next 10 days, we will not pay for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The town , the VFW, the Chamber of Commerce, ...... pay and prepare if for us. Each organization has lots of help. Image feeding 400 bikers.
We gas up and we are getting better. By day 10 we should be perfect. Larry, Jenny and I have to collect the money from each pump and pay it. Now people are giving us $1 and $5. So we then have to count it. It does take time most pumps are $80 - $120. At this stop, there was a gentleman behind us. I apologized for the delay. He ask if this was RFTW. I said yes. He thanked me for doing this. I then found out he as a Vietnam vet. I shock his hand and said, "no, it is I that thank you. Without you serving, I may not have the freedom I have today." He thanked me again, and said how much that means to him. He pointed to his heart, and said "this is part of the healing process and i really appreciate it." Holy cow!!
The town and organizations that feed us are all presented with plaques as a gesture of thanks.
There was a nice presentation with a drill team
And the kids left us notes. Soo cute.
This time I got my pic with Blue. Love this guy
Introducing the 6 pack. sometimes it is an 8 pack or a 10 pack
DC and his wife are the raffle / 50-50 organizers. The money is collected for Rainelle. School on day 9. More to come on this one.
Roger is the SIT Rep Reporter. He will give a summary of the day and post it on RFTW.us
Dave is our photographer. Also on RFTW.us
Boilermaker the quarter master, you already met him. Handles all the things we need to help organize us
Leaving Needles, we are all loading up. Missing Man is next to Platoon 1. This is where Ron is. Well the state coordinator did not show do guess who got to ride the next 2 legs in the front; RON. More on the Missing Man another day. Starting to get tired and let more left to post
Believe it or not, the white in the middle is a train.Still never ceases to amaze me you can see all of it
Yes she is asleep
In this gas stop, Larry , Jenny and I almost did not make it on the train. They were ready to leave. We had to gear up in rain gear as it was supposed to rain down the road. Helping Larry ( bec of back) and me and ..... Lord I was sweating. Then Larry did not get jacket zipped. you should have seen me trying to get it zipped , going 60 MPH down the highway. But yes we did get it done 😏
Now heading to William where it is supposed to rain.
Little change in the terrain. Lots of evergreens
In Williams, the streets are wet but we dodged it. However the Fuel, staging and road guard got it.
Dinner was amazing and provided by the Amreican Legion posst.. THANKS for the warm meal. Temps were down in the 40s when we got there.
We started at 48 degrees. Got to the low 90s in Needles then back to the 40s in Williams.
Tomorrow morning will be 31 , Yikes that is cold.
Thanks to all the prayer soldiers. Larry's back not great but was able to keep on the bike.
Staying in these little
town is so neat. We have Coleman
sleeping bags as bed comforters. Got to
love it.
Total Miles: 402
Route: I 15 - I 40
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