Another beautiful day. Woke up and it was 45, but by the time we left it was 64. NICE!!
First order of business stage the bikes....
... then breakfast. They have sausage and gravy, burritos, bananas,...yum!
As Larry and I leave breakfast and head to the bikes, I asked him "where are we?" meaning the bike. A person the live in Williams said "In Williams". As the days go on, and we travel thru many towns, we have a tendency to forget the city , state, time zone.... but we always remember the mission.
If you have followed my blog in the past, you will know that we raises money for Rainelle school in WV. We do this by 50-50, raffles, platoon challenge.... etc every morning. Jimmy and Judy will be the ones running the show. This is a big job. Most of the work was done prior to leaving. Had to get all the donations. Thanks guys!!
Pledge and prayer. Hope you can see all the vets we have.
This is the Mayor of Williams. He has been around for all 30 years. And plans to continue!!
Last year, a lady in Louisville contacted Larry for some help. She wanted RFTW to carry POW/MIA flag across the US to the Wall. Also have a book signed by as many people as we can. The book is to let the families know their loved ones are not forgotten. Once we get to the wall, we will bring the book and flag back it will be given to the families. There is a very nice ceremony with this and other flags given to the families.
Lynn Vernon is doing this for us this year. The POW is James Vernon Dawson. She jumped at the chance to help. With the name "Vernon", she said it was meant to be. And her brother-in-law is James Vernon.
Here is what we see when we leave.
Flag is saying " I got you covered.... have a good day."
Love the pine trees around Williams.
Check out all those bikes...
Larry and Jean
This is the main pack. Several times during the Run, a few of the platoons will do a break out. Today they left early and went to Winslow. Courtney and Ron were on the one today. Courtney reporting:
Today we got the opportunity to leave ahead of the pack for a breakout stop. We got to Winslow, AZ and arrived at a 9/11 memorial that had 2 of the beams from the Twin Tower buildings. After getting off the bikes we gathered around with the 2 other platoons that joined us. We were asked if anyone had lost someone close to them and one woman had a friend who was an EMT that passed away from helping people in the buildings. We completed our trip with a moment of silence before getting back on the bikes to rejoin the pack after getting gas!
Ron and Courtney: give you an idea of the size.
Look at the lead bike, you see his arm out with thumbs up. This says to the road guards they can go ahead and rejoin the road guards. (remember the order : RC and missing man, road guards, six pack..)
Check out the bikes behind me....... Lots of lights.
Leaving Williams the terrain changes. Back to flat as we head to Winslow.
Enjoy all the kids.... we did.
How many remember the Eagles song: Take It Easy?
This is the corner of Winslow AZ, and the flat bed Ford.
We went right past the 911 memorial.
Courtney was able to get some pics of us as we came into the gas stop.
Jenny on her Spyder
Larry and Jean
Larry chat with Papa Smurf about the road guard role. (he was the RC in 2016)
Ready to role.
Heading to Holbrook, AZ
Coming in to the town. I think we go past every school and they are all out.
We have seen several pictures of Gomez. He part of the new Outreach program. They take 2 FNGs and visit Gold Star Families.
4-5 year old sing God Bless America. It was so darn cute
Found so cool shade to relax a bit before we head out to Gallup, NM
Remember Courtney is out media person. Kirk is the one that is working with her. They are trying to figure out how to do a live stream off the RFTW face book page. She actually got it to work. She did it for 13 mile into Gallup. It had 1000+ hits with in an hour. AMAZING!! Thanks Courtney
Ready to rock and roll.
Closing in on Gallup we start seeing lots of people on side of the road. In the middle of nowhere.
Sorry, cannot help it. Beautiful scenery
Crossing the NM border, we get law enforcement for the entire state. We have no traffic thru the whole state!!! No trucks , cars, .... will be on the road where we are. LOVING IT
Coming into Gallup, NM. This city was named the most patriotic small city in the US. And I kn
ow why. We went 13 miles from the exit to the Red Rock Park. We had people the whole way. Unbelievable!!! Enjoy the pics. I think I could have gotten 100s.
This lady was in tears as we came by. Then I started. In talking to the Mayor the other day, this town loves RFTW and are so appreciative that we do this to remember all our server men and women, past and present.
check out the cars on the left....we saw this all the way thru town
We are approaching Red Rock Park
Our Fuel team
I was almost afraid someone was gong to get hit. There were so many and cheering us on the way in
Some of our guys getting pics with the LEOs (Law Enforcement Officers).
Our next generation
The RFTW riders walk the circle. The Navahos have been preparing this for several hours prior to us arriving. It is to keep us safe on our journey to DC. There were also 4-5 other tribe present to help with this ceremony and the hospitality for the day.
Taps is played. Lord I cannot ever get thru this without tears, and thinking of all those that have been before me and current to keep me safe and for my freedom.
Dinner was great!!!
As we were leaving, Audrey stopped me. She has been on the Run for 2 years and always riding with someone else. She now has her OWN bike and riding with the Ambassadors. She was so excited. I love the color.
Mom and dad are still also riding. We met Gil and Jeanne on our FNG year 2015. Here we go with the next generation. We need to keep this going. Enjoy Audrey
So many flag going thru Gallup..... few I captured.
Temps = 45-87
Total Miles = 224
Remember : Freedom isn't free
Note: tomorrow we had to Angel Fire. The last few years internet has been really bad. So keep your fingers crossed I can get something to you.
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