RUN FOR THE WALL Jean and Larry: May 19, 2019 - Day 5 to DC

WOW the prayer warrior must have been working overtime. It was an absolutely beautiful day. And the wind was there just not as strong. Thanks to all.

I forgot to add this last night. There was a table:

As we ate dinner, this is what was read :

POW and MIA REMEMBARANCE TABLE

Is set for one, symbolizing the fact that members of our armed forces are missing from out ranks. They are referred to as POWs and MIAs.

We call them brothers and sisters.

They are unable to be with their loved ones and families, so we join together to pay humble tribute to them and bear witness to their continued absence.

This table, set for one, is small, symbolizing the frailty of one prisoner, alone against his or her suppressors.
The tablecloth is white, symbolic of the purity of their intentions to respond to their country’s call to arms

The single red rose in the vase, signifies the blood the many have shed in sacrifice to ensure freedom of our beloved United States of America. This rose also reminds us of the family and friends of our missing comrades who keep the faith, while awaiting their return.

The yellow ribbon on the vase, represents the yellow ribbons worn on the lapels of the thousands who demand with unyielding determination a proper accounting of our brothers and sisters who are not among us tonight.

A slice of lemon on the plate reminds us of their bitter fate.

The salt sprinkled on the place reminds us of the countless fallen tears of the families as they wait.

The glass is inverted – they cannot toast with us this night.

The chair is empty – they are not here.

The candle is reminiscent of the light of hope which lives in our hearts to illuminate their way home, away from the captors to the open arms of a grateful nation.

Ok back to Sunday....

Curtis , our head chaplin, gave a great Sunday service. A great way to start the day. Thanks Curtis.

Today we road with the Ambassador group. This is one of the advance teams, meaning they ride ahead of the pack. They will stop on the bridges and at schools. They start every day giving the team pins, cards and stickers to be handed out.

Here is the team.

Eric and Sonya are the leaders. They go thru the stops for the day. Today is only bridges so this means they will leap frog. Last 2-4 guys go to a bridge, then the next bridge....by then the first few recycle back and go on another bridge.

The team for the day.

You see some stay on the highway and 2-4 will go on the bridge.

These flags are on both the exit and entrance ramp at this exit, perfectly spaced.... wow how long did that take.

The team thanking them for all their work.

This lady was in shorts. And yes she was freezing. ( it is in the 40s and very windy). Her comment was she I trying to warm up the day for us, so she had on short.... Good logic.... I guess LOL. Thanks for the support.

First stop is in Oakley, fuel and lunch. Fuel team giving us a hard time and laughing the whole time. Thanks America Legion for paying.

This is part of the advanced road guard team. These guys are the ones at exit ramp, turns in roads, help out in the gas stops....and so much more to get things set up before the pack gets there.
Thanks guys

Since we were ahead of the pack, the ambassadors greeted them in true fashion.

Here comes the pack

I got a good look at the staging team in action for a small parking space. WOW does this take team work when you need to line the platoons back to back.

Magic... this is looking great. 350+ bikes all lined up and ready to go.

Steve has a booklet with every parking lot with its dimension. There are over 50 lots.

Now to complicate this, the platoons do not line up in the same order every day. Example :

Day 1 - Platoons: 1,2,3,4,5

Day 2 - Platoons: 2,3,4,5,1 , Etc.

Now this is the simple version. We have 13 platoons. One platoon is bikes and trailers, so they need more space. 2 platoons are 3 wheel bike. So now try and figure out how to combine all of them.

The ideal situation is for a big enough parking lot to have them next to each other. But when you have a street that is narrow, you have to line them up back to back. The list below, tells Steve the order of the platoons. The order is needed for the next leg. My mind is spinning.

Star Spangle Banner is played and accompanied with a trumpet. Sweet

These are covered picnic table. They moved them to the side of the building to block the wind. Great guys we did stay a much warmer.

They also have the Moving Vietnam Wall, 3/4 the size of the original. It is updated the same time the one in DC is. If there is a + in front of the name, this denotes MIA. A diamond means they were brought back and laid to rest in the US. It takes 8 hours and 25 men to assemble. Each panel weighs 80 pounds.

This is a Healing Wall. This is what the Run is about. We are there for each other.

Here is the Semi that transport it. There is so much information. If this comes to your town, please take time to view it. An interesting fact is that the first item left was a purple heart.

Lunch is over back on the road. WOW Kansas you have out done yourselves. The number of bridges with people on them I am guessing over 50%. Here are just a few.... ok maybe more than a few.

Here is one we went to visit. Kids there and were excited to see all the bikes come thru.

Little guys was a bit shy.

Here is one amazing bridge that we were able to visit. WOW

They even had the motorcycles on the entrance and exit ramps with flags.

They had lots kids. One told me he had a motorcycle and it was blue. I ask him if he wore a helmet and he said yes. He grandpa is a state trooper. Thanks grandpa for your service. Have is said yet that it only takes a few seconds to shake a hand and say thanks to a veteran or our current service men and women. I thought I did forget to tell you that. :-) I wanted to stay longer to see how long it took...Saddle up, lets go!!!

Side Note: the amazing picture of the wall and the bridge with all the flags was given to me by Melissa. I saw her in the motel later and we just started talking. Here and her husband flew from Italy to be on the Run. They have a home in Colorado. He picked up the bike and met her in Ontario. He has retired after 26 years of service where he was CW3 Army Special Forces (Green Beret). He served in Iraqi Freedom, Afghanistan, and Desert Storm. He currently is DOD Civilian working for Navy as a program analyst. Melissa is DOD Civilian Budget Analyast NATO HQ after 17 years of service.

THANK YOU BOTH FOR YOUR SERVICE!!! (See that was pretty easy)

Next is gas stop. Each staging team usually has to people holding these up. Leadership ("L") was short a person so I stepped in. I got some very strange looks, then they just laughed at me. The staging team really works hard to get everyone ready for the next leg.

Isn't she a cutie. She we just smiling at everyone.

Kids handing our chap stick. Thanks mom and dad for bringing them.

Some of our road guards talking to he kids. They loved it.

You getting tired yet of all the bridges yet. I never did. Here are a few more pics.

Heading into Junction City.... WOW what a welcome. We now have the Kansas Flags.

How cool is this shot. My niece was on top of the fire truck. She got a video of us coming and streamed it live on face book. How cool is that!! Modern technology is great.

This is my niece, Courtney. She will be joining us to DC on the back of her dad's bike. Even though she was not here, her dad and I have been sending her pics and short videos. She has been posting them to Twitter, face book.... What a real trooper! working and not even here yet. Ok Courtney, this ball is all in your court now. Thanks! FYI her road name is Tweeter

Kansas Vietnam Veterans Memorial

It is constructed of 7 black granite panels and stands 13 feet tall and 46 feet long. Four of the panels bear the names of 753 Kansans killed in action in Vietnam. Another panel displays the names of 38 Kansans who were still missing in action in 1987 from the southeast Asian war. Two military decorations, the Purple Heart and the Vietnam Campaign ribbon are also engraved on the panel with the MIAs. The remaining two panels depict two soldiers in larger-than-life size.