Category: Uncategorized

Greetings RFTW Midway Family!

I am pleased to announce the completion of our Midway Itinerary book for 2020.  It is now posted on our RFTW.US website under the Midway Hub. I would like to thank our State Coordinators, ARC,  Road Guard Captain and Connie Williams for their assistance with this important planning and project.  I would encourage you all to check it out.  The new website looks fantastic! As a Road Guard and Road Guard Captain, I have always focused on the safety of our pack and defined the success of our mission by our representation of our mission and getting everyone to Washington DC safely. As Route Coordinator, I continue to focus on the safety of our riders and success for our mission. This year, I have put together a safety briefing for Midway and have added it to our itinerary book. Please read and understand it. My goal is to make sure that everyone receives a consistent and thorough understanding of our safety guidelines and procedures no matter where or when they join us!

I have received several complements about the hotel registrations.  Our hotel coordinator, Jerry Wilkins, worked very hard on this and I am glad to hear most people are having good experiences with making their hotel reservations.  If you have not made your reservations, the hotel list is also posted on the Website under Midway Hub.  I encourage you to make your reservations ASAP.

Speaking of hotels, I would like to let you know that our $1000 hotel raffle fund raiser has covered the cost of the prize.  We are now in the profit stage so all money received from this point on will go to pay for our Midway fuel.   Except for Ontario and Arlington, this fundraiser should pay for your hotels across the country!  Wouldn’t it be nice to have your hotel costs covered?  The cost per ticket is $10.00 or you can purchase 10 tickets for $50.00!  If you purchase $100.00 worth, you will get 25 tickets.    If you purchase 10 tickets or more before the end of February, you will receive 2 extra tickets (per 10) for free.  The tickets will be capped at 30 per person.  I ask that you support this if you are able.  The raffle tickets will be given to you in Ontario and the drawing will be in Hopewell, VA.  If you would like to purchase the Hotel raffle tickets, please make check out to RFTW and send to:

Ken Dugas

9849 Loblolly Pines Lane

Denham Springs, La. 70726

You may also electronically send the money through Zelle.  Use my phone 225-405-2735.  Please send me an email at ken.dugas@rftw.us to let me know if you are sending money.

Fundraising is so important for our mission.  I want to thank everyone who is working on fundraising and all of you who support their efforts!  I would like to share another example of what people do for our Mission.  Bob “Captain” Mazzone is Southern route’s RGC.  He has made beautiful stained-glass tributes to RFTW for each route.  These works of art will be raffled off and the proceeds will be going to support the schools that support our mission.  Thank you Captain for sharing your talents and generosity with us!  Tickets for this will be sold out of the merchandise trailer beginning in Ontario.

Our Camping Coordinator position has been filled.  Welcome Darlene “Rachel” Taylor to the leadership team.  Thank you for volunteering to serve in this capacity for our mission.

I have begun the dreadful task of exercising! Lol!  Unfortunately, I am not in my best shape but will be working on that.. May will be here before you know it.  I encourage you all to take care of yourself and make sure you and your bike are in good shape for this mission.    The journey is much easier and enjoyable when you are in good shape.

Pre-registration for Midway is now over 220 bikes.  Please register if you have not done so.  Pre-registration helps us plan and be better prepared.

If you are a team leader, please make sure that you are checking the leadership list on the Midway Hub on RFTW.US.  Make sure your list is accurate and notify me if any changes or additions need to be made. 

Have I told you lately…………….. I love my RFTW Midway Family!  😊

Honor, Hope & Healing

Respectfully,

Ken “Six String” Dugas
Midway RC

Happy New Year Midway!

I have an important update concerning the Holiday Inn in Albuquerque. The hotel has been bought by Best Western. The phone number is correct and remains the same. However, If you made reservations using your IGH points, your reservation has been cancelled! You should have received an email. However, I want to know that everyone is aware of this change. You need to contact the hotel to give them a credit card and reserve your room again. If you did not use IGH points for your reservation, you are good to go.

I also want to notify everyone who wants to participate in our Midway Hotel raffle that the raffle tickets will be limited at $100.00. If you would like to donate more for fuel that is fine but the raffle tickets will be capped. This is because we have had people donate up to $5,000 and we cannot give raffle tickets for every donation. A limit on the tickets will give everyone a chance at having fair odds of winning.

The route has been finalized, the hotel lists are published and work is continuing behind the scenes. We are on track with our preparations and are looking forward to a great 2020 RFTW.

Wishing you all a Blessed and Happy 2020!

Ken “Six String” Dugas
Midway Route Coordinator

Happy New Year RFTW Midway!

I decided to send out my January Newsletter a few days early to give everyone an update on the hotel list situation. The hotel lists for all routes will be released and published on the RFTW.US website at 0800 pst (California time) on January 1, 2020. We all know that the hotels will be slammed with phone calls for reservations. We have a limited number of rooms available to us on the RFTW block of rooms. Please be patient with the hotels and be polite. Remember, it is “Mission before self”! You are representing RFTW. Please be good ambassadors for our mission. If there are no rooms available in the RFTW block, you may want to try to get one on your own. Our hotel coordinator did a great job trying to increase the number of rooms blocked for us where he could. Except for Flagstaff, all the hotels are close to each other.
Speaking of hotels, I would like to announce my last personal fundraising effort to help pay for fuel for our Midway route. This is something I think everyone will like and I hope will participate and support. Many people want to donate to RFTW. This is a way that you can do that and get something in return. Except for Ontario and Arlington, this fundraiser will pay for your hotels across the country! The estimate for the hotel cost came out to be approximately $1,000.00, so the prize for this raffle will be $1,000.00! Wouldn’t it be nice to have your hotel costs covered? The cost per ticket is $10.00 or you can purchase 10 tickets for $50.00! If you purchase $100.00 worth, you will get 25 tickets. All money made from this raffle will be returned to our riders in fuel! If you purchase 10 tickets or more before the end of February, you will receive 2 extra tickets (per 10) for free. I ask that you support this if you are able. The raffle tickets will be given to you in Ontario and the drawing will be in Hopewell, VA.
Our State Coordinators and our Promotion Team continue to work on donations and fundraising. We also have others on the route working on fundraising and donations. I really appreciate everyone’s efforts! I want to have all the fuel for our route donated or prepaid for our riders. It makes our fuel stops very efficient and is nice for our riders.
So far, our Stafford Air & Space Museum patch has not been very successful. We have only sold 24 patches. If you would like to purchase a patch ($25/ea) or would like to purchase the Hotel raffle tickets, please make check out to RFTW and send to:
Ken Dugas
9849 Loblolly Pines Lane
Denham Springs, La. 70726
You may also electronically send the money through Zelle. Use my phone 225-405-2735. Please send me an email at ken.dugas@rftw.us to let me know if you are sending money.

We have finalized our Midway route. This week, we had video meetings to review maps of all our stops. Our Road Guard Captain, ARGC and Advanced Team leader are doing a fantastic job for us. I cannot adequately express my appreciation to them for all their hard work! Ray “Cornman” is doing a great job as ARC and I appreciate the work he is doing with our State Coordinators. It truly takes a team to make this mission a success. I may be biased but I think I am surrounded by the best team in the history of RFTW! 😊

I am looking for a volunteer to be our camping coordinator. We have the camping sites lined up. This person will make themselves available to assist the campers on our route. Please let me know if you would be interested in this position.

As we approach this new year, many of us make new year’s resolutions. Some good ones would be to get in shape and work on your riding skills. This journey across the country can take a toll on you. Prepare yourself to have a safe, fun and rewarding trip. It is a privilege to be a part of this great RFTW mission. Let’s all do our part to make it a great 2020 Run.

We are better when we work together!

If you are a team leader, please make sure that you are checking the leadership list on the Midway Hub on RFTW.US. Make sure your list is accurate and notify me if any changes or additions need to be made. I am asking for your help in keeping this list accurate and up to date.

I wish you all a blessed and Happy New Year.

Have I told you lately…………….. I love my RFTW Midway Family! 😊

Honor, Hope & Healing
Respectfully,
Ken “Six String” Dugas
Midway RC

Season’s greetings RFTW family,

My December update brings exciting news. I am pleased to announce that we will be adding a parade ride through Tucumcari, New Mexico! Mayor Ruth Litchfield and the town are very excited about supporting our mission and welcoming us. I always find it exciting to ride on historic Route 66 and I am happy that we will be able to do this and give this opportunity to those who have not had this experience. Mayor Ruth tells us that we will have excellent LEO support and the citizens will be on the streets showing support for our mission. The Mayor is also working on getting a fuel stop donated for us. I hope she is successful with the donation. It is very gratifying to see the positive affect our mission has had in the area. Mayor Ruth actually approached us asking us to come to her town! This would never happen if we did not ride with respect, show appreciation to our supporters, work professionally with LEOs and represent our mission well. I thank all our riders and leadership teams for this! I am very proud to be a part of the Midway team.
Midway’s hotel list is complete and has been submitted to the BOD. I thank Jerry Wilkins for all his hard work on getting the hotel contracts done for us. The hotel list should be published Jan. 1, 2020.

With that said, I must address a negative issue. It has been brought to my attention that some people have been contacting the hotels trying to make reservations. When the hotels let them know that they cannot make reservations at this time under RFTW, some have been treated very rudely and disrespectful. Please remember that the hotels are doing what they have been instructed. This type of rude and disrespectful behavior is not the culture of RFTW Midway route and will not be tolerated! Remember that all of you associated with RFTW represent RFTW and need to be good ambassadors for our mission. It is a professional and respectful representation of our mission that allows good things, such as Tucumcari, to happen for our mission. Be forewarned, anyone treating people rudely or disrespectfully while representing RFTW will be given their registration money back and not be allowed on the Midway route. Bad behavior causes harm to our mission! We must be “Mission above self”.
The route cards will be given a final review this week as we are getting ready to send our route information out for publishing and printing. Once the route cards are finalized, we will review and update the Itinerary. May will be here before we know it!

I would like to add a leadership position to Midway for 2020. A major part of our mission is to support our veterans and aid in their healing. We all know that RFTW is an emotional “roller coaster ride”. It has its ups and downs and I am so proud to see the support the Midway family gives to those in need. With that said, I want to address a personal issue for some. I know that RFTW can be a very tough time and may create extra challenges for those who struggle with alcohol use. I feel these people need extra support to help them if they struggle. I am looking for a “Friends of Bill” coordinator. This person would make sure that he knows when and where there are AA meetings scheduled along our route for those who use AA. People come to this mission for healing. I don’t want it to take someone into a darker place. We need to be there for these people. If you are familiar with this and would be interested in this position, please contact me. We are family, and family is there for each other.

I would like to thank all of you who support our fundraising activities. The Stafford Air & Space museum patches have come in and are being mailed out this week. This patch will identify you as a rider of the RFTW route that left its permanent mark at the Air & Space museum. I know it is the holidays, but we have only sold 24 patches. The cost is $25.00 per patch. $5 pays for the patch and $20 goes towards our fuel cost. Keep in mind, your support of the patch and most of the cost comes back to you as prepaid fuel. Please consider purchasing this patch as everyone will benefit from the fuel stops.
If interested, mail payment ($25 per patch) made out to RFTW to:
Ken Dugas
9849 Loblolly Pines Lane
Denham Springs, LA 70726
You may also send the money electronically transferred through Zelle. (the account is tied to my number (225-405-2735) If you send money through Zelle, email your mailing address to me at ken.dugas@rftw.us
If you are a team leader, please make sure that you are checking the leadership list on the Midway Hub on RFTW.US. Make sure your list is accurate and notify me if any changes or additions need to be made. I am asking for your help in keeping this list accurate and up to date.

We are better when we work together!
I wish you all a blessed and Merry Christmas season.

Have I told you lately…………….. I love my RFTW Midway Family! 😊
Honor, Hope and Healing

Respectfully,
Ken “Six String” Dugas
Midway RC