May 17, 2020 – Day 5 – Goodland, KS to Junction City, KS
Sunday start is a little later than normal. There is a non-denominational Church service. The place is packed.
Curtis, our head chaplain, and a few other chaplains give a great Sunday service. A great way to start the day.
Chaplains ride all the way with us. Remember this is a healing mission. And many of our chaplains are there to help out veterans.
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.
I got a good look at the staging team in action for a small parking space. About 350 bikes per parking lot.
Steve has a booklet with every parking lot with its dimension. There are over 50 lots. That is a lot of planning
We have 12-13 platoons. One platoon is bikes and trailers, so they need more space. 2 platoons are 3-wheel bikes. 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.
Star Spangle Banner is played and accompanied
There were new covered picnic table. They moved them to the side of the building to block the wind. Remember we are in KS
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 of 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 I 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.
The picture of the bridge with all the flags is amazing. Think about the time it takes to organize all these people.
Heading into Junction City…. WOW always a welcome. This is how the pack comes into a city: American flag, POW/MIA and then state flag: Kansas Flags.
There is always a service at the KS Vietnam Veterans Memorial
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.
Taps are played with a second bugle echo. AMAZING…. darn I did forget my tissues again.
Quote for the Day:
Never forget
