RUN FOR THE WALL Jean and Larry: May 12, 2024

May 12, 2024 - Day 8 to Ontario

Let me give you an update on the Sena headsets. We worked ALL day yesterday and today. Yeah.... but yesterday Ron's CB with us stopped working. All music worked; our intercom worked. So, what was the problem? We rebooted, checked all settings.... Turns out, Ron somehow bumped the CB channel we were running on. Wow, something else to check. The rest of yesterday went great. And today all is good.

Last night we met up with several RFTW family members. Ken and Jenny Ward, Tom and Denise Pogue. You will see them again as we start the run. They all have roles that are so important as we cross the country.

Ok let's roll. It is 58. Great temps. It is going to be a short but hot day. We are heading thru the desert. There will be 5 bikes today. Let's go. Destination Ontario.

Pretty flat but since we left early in the day, temps were not that bad. It was 74 at this point.

There was a section of road that was so rough, Jenny looked like she was waving at the road. (Riders will use their left hands to point out rough roads to let the rider behind them know what is coming). Here she is signaling to move left. We finally moved to the left lane as the right lane was ok

Elevation went as low as 600 feet, then back up to 2300. Terrain started to change. We started to see some mountains as the temps increased.

We met up with Gil and Jeanne Harrison. They were in the same platoon our first year. Their daughter, Audrey, was also a huge part of the Run. Unfortunately, she passed away after a terrible motorcycle accident. More on this after we start the Run. Gil will be carrying her urn cross country to Washington DC on his bike. Jeanne will be riding in a van. Mama Jeanne and Mama G. (everyone gets road names)

Gil

We had not gone too far, and we noticed Gil pulled over on the side of the road.

Ron dropped back and the van riders said Gil was ok. At the next stop, we found out what happened. Audrey must not have wanted to be riding, so she jumped off the bike and was bouncing down I-40. YIKES!! This could have been a disaster. Good thing Gil made a box for her urn and it held up. AND no one hit it. Gil stopped his bike and walked back down the highway and found her about a mile back.