Author: Boots

Day 3 – May 20, 2022 Southern Route

Today we started out in Las Cruces, New Mexico.  We started with breakfast at the American Legion.  A great breakfast was served with biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, sausage and bacon, yum.  Does it seem like we eat a lot?  Yes we do, the folks and the organizations that greet us are feeding us some awesome food and we are very honored to be treated so well and greeted so warmly.  There was a raffle from the Legion where they handed out tickets to win $100.  This story is unique because the lady that won the Golden ticket to have all her gas paid along the run this year also won this raffle.  I don’t know her given name, my apologies for that but we all know her as Lucky now.  She wears the smile very well.

We then went on to the Las Cruces Veterans Memorial Park.  It’s a very nice park that is well put together.  Some pictures are below.  There was a very nice wreath laying ceremony and we had LEO (Law Enforcement) escort all the way through town and later on onto Highway 10 and quite a ways out of town.  We were traveling on towards Odessa Texas which is our stop tonight.  Most of the way through Texas we also had LEO escort.  They are clearing the highway, keeping cars and trucks from entering the freeway for our line of bikes which is running about a 2.5 mile footprint on the highway.  When we get to highway exits and head for a refuel stop; and afterwards we go to another location like a legion post or church to be fed, we don’t stop at lights or stop signs, it feels like we’re a long parade.  We are honored!  It’s quite a feeling and everyone is so nice and warm to us.  It’s a big change to the ‘70’s when you didn’t wear your uniform state side when not needed because you were worried about the reaction you’d get.  I’m sure a lot of you remember those times. And then we get into these places and everyone has big hugs and lots of Thank You(s).  There were significant greetings on the highway.  Overpasses with people waving, One place had a lady on a hillside riding a horse with a big flag!  Fire Trucks with the ladder extension hanging a flag off the side of the freeway all timed out for when we drive by.  It’s mind blowing.  Some of these smaller towns that coordinate with leadership and state coordinators to host us look at this like a huge opportunity and it’s one of the big events of the year for them.  The majority of the town comes out to greet us, wave flags, it’s all very cool.  And, I venture to say very little of this would come together without the hard work of the state coordinators that are working in the background all year long to make this happen.  Big Kudu’s to all the state coordinators for all the routes.  It’s amazing work.

“Reckless” (Rod Runyon) went with some bikes to an outreach to Old Glory Memorial, a memorial for all American citizens to honor all who have served our Country and those that have given their lives in the name of the freedoms we enjoy every day.  El Paso Texas Flags Across America has erected a 180 foot flagpole on the Trans-Mountain Campus of El Paso Community College and is flying a United States Flag, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and lighted at night.  On special occasions, EPTFAA will be flying a beautiful 50 foot by 100 foot united states flag.  Fifty (50) state flags, six (6) Armed Service Flags and six (6) Territorial flags.  Some pictures from the outreach are below.  Words spoken by Reckless (words worth keeping in your heart) at the outreach:  “There are many ways you can keep our fallen, as well as our injured and ill veterans, in your mind and heart throughout the year,  Countless ways to give back to those who have endured the physical, psychological and emotional wounds that may arise from military service.  Working together with friends, neighbors, veterans groups and entire communities, we can ensure that the sacrifices made by our nations finest and bravest never go unappreciated and that their memories are never forgotten.  I thank you all for joining in today’s tribute.  I hope you keep our military man and women – and all the sacrifices they made – close to your heart today and throughout the year.”

Boots
USAF ’72 – ’75

Las Cruces New Mexico Veterans Memorial Park

Outreach to Old Glory Memorial

Pic from the day

May 18, 2022

Today was the day we started!  We left Ontario California on time and started riding our bikes towards today’s destination, Casa Grande, AZ. Before we left, there were some ceremonies, thanks and plaques given to many groups that assisted us with getting our start this year.  Organizations like the Ontario Police and Fire Department and some companies that donated and helped in various ways.  We also had opportunities to thank the leadership of our great organization like the BOD and RC’s.

It was a long day, I think it’s the longest we’ll have on this run, 402 miles.  We had an awesome lunch in Blythe, CA which is very close to the AZ border.  The Blythe towns people hosted us at the local fair grounds with hamburgers, hot dogs and lots of goodies along with a very warm reception welcoming us to their town.  It was a very nice experience and we felt honored.  We toured through many other towns and made it to Casa Grande where it seemed the whole town was there greeting us with flags waving, people gathered on the sides of the road for a couple of miles.  We went to the Elks Lodge and were fed a great dinner of chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and corn.  It was again, a very warm welcome with friendly people with some hard working cadets that were serving the dinners and cleaning up.  Awesome town.

I had a chance to speak with the gentleman from Israel that is riding with us.  He has some great stories but one I thought was worth passing on was that last week, he helped deliver an ambulance to Ukraine.  So one week he’s delivering an ambulance to Ukraine and the next week he’s here doing the Run with us.  What a life?  They drove the ambulance up to Ukraine and provided it to the folks providing medical care so they can transport patients as needed.  We see on the news there are a lot of needs there.  We hope they can come up with enough gasoline to drive it as much as it seems they need to.

I also ran into Arnie.  Arnie is an FNG and he has his grandson with him who is active military.  They are on a CanAm Spyder.  Arnie has 8 fellow patriots that were either MIA or KIA.  The two MIA’s are Major Walsh and Major Perchello.  He started putting the info together for 602^nd Air Commando Squadron remaining pilots from 1967 through 1968 and had a strong positive reaction where these remaining pilots appreciated the “keeping the names alive”.  Arnie then learned about Run for the Wall and realized this was the perfect opportunity to continue the mission.  Arnie has 8 patriots he is honoring during the run and obviously at the Wall when we get there.  There are more details so if you run into Arnie, ask him to tell you about the guys which have family still waiting for them and kids that are now grown and didn’t get to know their dads as well as they should have.

Tomorrow we do about 50 less miles and end up in Las Cruces, NM.  Good Night!

“As you become a part of Run For The Wall,

the Run becomes a part of you.”

– Bob “Captain America” Nelson