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Central Route – Day 2 – Williams, AZ to Gallup, NM

Thanks to all those prayers warriors out there.  Keep it up.  We had a beautiful day!!!

All lined up and ready to go. Wow that is a lot of bikes

This is Jim Sloan, aka Sweeper, and Jenny Ward, aka Lady Jen.  Jim drives the truck  after the last platoon. As the pack gets on the highway, we travel only 35 MPH.  This allows everyone to get on the road and get together before going at highway speed.  Jim lets Eamon know when all the bikes are on the expressway.

 

Here is Lance in action. He is our raffle rouser.  We also auction items.  The money raised is for the kids of Rainelle.  This is a school in West Virginia.  RFTW has been helping the kids for many years.  More on the school as the days go on.

 This quilt is gorgeous and was one of the auction items.

This is Everett and his wife.  He drives the truck for leadership support.  For each stop, RFTW presents the town with a plaque to thank them for their support.  That is a lot of towns. This is just one of the items.  Since we have limited space , this vehicle is very much needed. The other couple is the Raffle Rouser from last year. They could not make the full trip this year but they did want to ride a few days.  Thanks Jimmy and Judy for coming to visit  your RFTW family.

There is a lady from Kentucky, Loretta.  She is putting these bags together with a POW/MIA flag and a book for each one of the service men that are KIA or MIA from the Louisville area.  The book has pages for people to sign as we cross the country.  Once we reach DC, we will get the book and flag back to the family. We have done this in the past and the family are very appreciative that their loved ones are not forgotten.   Roger Rash, in the middle,is the FNG that will be doing this.  Thanks Roger.

The mayor is in the cowboy hat.  We sponsored our breakfast this morning and has done this for many years.  Did I mention that from the time we leave Ontario until we get to DC, breakfast, lunch and dinners are provide to us by the communities of the cities we visit.  Unbelievable!!!

 All the hands up are FNGs (First time riders).  There are over half.
 OH NO!!!!   Is that a Honda I see on the trailer….
…yes it is.
This is Mini Mike, another one of our road guards.  He is from Gallup and has been going the Run for 20 years.  He served from 1975-1979 in the Coast Guard.  Another one of our veterans  Thanks for your service!!

Wow … this is like the three musketeers or maybe the three stooges.  Dan, aka Boilermaker, Dadbo and Larry.  Having a little fun before we hit the road today.  Dan is our quartermaster.  He makes sure we have all the arm bands, hats , pins…..before we leave Ontario.  The hats and bands distinguish the role.  Example : road guards are red.

 Tried to take a pic behind me.  Not too bad

 

 Look what we see as we leave Williams. Blue skies!!

 

Heading in to Winslow AZ it was very flat and very windy.  We had to run in a staggered formation. most of the way.  (normally most of the platoons ride side by side).

These 2 bikes are the lead bikes into the towns.  They carry 3 flags: America, POW/MIA, and the state flag.  This one is for AZ.  We will have one for every state we travel thru.  Something else that goes in the leadership support truck.

 

 

The gas stop in Winslow was paid for by the American Legion and VFW from Tempi AZ.

 Deno lead the effort by selling t-shirt to raise the money.  Thanks Deno and tell every one how much we appreciate it.!!!  So now we have gas paid for.  NICE!!

 

 Robin is another one of our road guard.  This is her rookie year as a guard, but not her first year on the run.  She was on staging the last few years.

Bud has everyone smiling.  Some times the legs can be pretty long and tough because of wind , rain, cold….  He keeps us smiling.

Jenny give one of the chaplin’s wives a ride as we head into Holbrook. (sorry forgot her name)

OK now we head for Holbrook.  I love the support we see on the way.
 New hat Walrus?

Holbrook must have every kid out of school this day.  Their side walks are just full of kids!!

 

 

 

 

 

 OUR FUTURE!!!

The American Legion served us lunch.  Oh my was it good.  Another homemade meal.  I am gong to gain 10 pounds on this trip.

 

Gomez was walking around with a shovel.  Kind of strange when you are on a motorcycle.  He said it was one of the shovels that was used to break ground at the Vietnam wall in DC.  Pretty amazing what you see on this trip.

 

The local Navajos preformed for us.  What a treat.  Check out the colors!!!  so beautiful

 

 

I think this little one got a little stage fright.  Wouldn’t you if you were about 5 and saw all these bikes?  She did actually make it up there with a few of her friends.

Lets Ride!!!  Now heading to Gallup NM.
Look at all these bikes. And this goes for 3-4 blocks. Every now and then you hear “Where is my bike?”  This is kind a common question.  Need to pay attention to where  you park.  Now multiply this to 3-5 stops a day.  Not hard to forget.
 Enjoy the pics!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Wind was really strong so riding staggered again.  If you look real close there is a dust devil.  Like a little tornado.  We saw them a lot today.

As we head into New Mexico the land changed drastically.  Enjoy!!

 

 

 

 

 

Here comes the LEOs!!  (LEO – law enforcement officers)  In New Mexico, the law enforcement will escort us 370 miles from border to border.  We will not have another car riding on the highway where we are.  This is so nice.

 

 

We head into Gallup.  Enjoy the pics.  We were 13 miles from our destination for the ceremony from the Native Americans when we got off the exit.  There were people all the way. OH MY GOSH
I understand why they are called the “Most Patriotic Small Town In the USA”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we arrive we here them chatting and playing drums.
They have been since noon.  This is for our safety in our travels.

 

 

 

 

Most of the RFTW riders joined in.  What an amazing ceremony.
What an amazing nation!

There is now a 21 gun salute.  Then “Taps”.  As many years as I have been on the Run, I still get tears every time I hear it. Where are the tissues?  It is only day 2, I guess I better put some in my pocket.
This is Gunnery
Sargent  P.J. James.  He represents the Code Talker during WWII.
The name code talkers is strongly associated
with bilingual Navajo speakers specially recruited during World War II by the
Marines to serve in their standard communications units in the Pacific Theater.
The enemy could not break the code.

We are served us an amazing dinner.  Ok now I am up to gaining 15 pounds.

As we are heading out, we see “Drops-a-lot”.  This is Cindy’s road name.  You have seen me use ‘aka’ name as I am  writing.  Most of the names were giving because of something dumb you did or something happened to you.  As you can see, Cindy is not very tall.  Two years ago, she was a road guard.  She is an excellent rider.  Well she has a pretty good size bike , and as she pulled over to block traffic there was gravel.  Needless to say the bike went over.  And it happened 2 more times hence the name “Drops-a-lot”.

 

Temps: 60-77
Route: I-40E
Miles: 224

Quote of the Day:

Home of the free, because
of the brave

 

 

 

 

 

 

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