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CR – May 13, 2026 – Day 1 to DC – Ontario CA to Williams, AZ

IT IS HERE.  The day we get to ride.  There has been a lot of planning, by a lot of teams.

Reminder: Run for the Wall Mission Statement:

To promote healing among ALL veterans and their families and friends, to call for an accounting of all Prisoners of War and those Missing in Action (POW/MIA), to honor the memory of those Killed in Action (KIA) from all wars, and to support our military personnel all over the world.

It is a beautiful day and no rain.  It will be a day of mostly riding.  The longest (402 miles) and hottest (got to 104 today).

Every place we go, we have to stage.  We run in platoons, about 10-15 per platoon.  In order to start moving, everyone must be in their platoons.  So every stop you see these signs.  I will show more of these later.  Organized chaos.

Presentation of the colors and reveille

We say the Pledge of Allegiance.
The Star Spangle Banner was played. And had a prayer for the safety of all riders and healing of all veterans.

John Staub is the president and presided over the meeting today. He acknowledges the following: FNGs, veterans, patriots, active military, blue star and gold star families, red star family members.

James “Gunny” Gregory is the founder of RFTW.  He welcomed all.

He said he could not believe it has been 36 year. He thanked us for continuing the mission.
HOW FAR WE GOING??  ALL the WAY
Everyday, the RC or ARC will read 2 bios.  They are those still MIA. We ask that someone carry this person’s bio to the wall.  READ THEIR NAME, NEVER FORGET.  The bios are then placed on the Vietnam Wall.
A sea of bikes.  They sound good and LOUD once that all get started
Lance is one of our road guards.  This is his third year being a rookie.  You have to go all the way as a road guard to rid of the rookie status.  Sooo the other road guards gave him this. It is his Rookie Wrangle Rope. ( I think I got this right).
We got a police escort on to the highway.  Can you image closing I-10 in California during rush hour!!
Started our very foggy but nice a little way down the road.
Check out this flag… nothing around it.  Little signs of patriotism is still around.
Check out some of the bridges as we head out of town. How long do you think this took to organize… for the RUN that goes by in probably 5-6 minutes.  Amazing.
Our first gas stop, I catch up with Gomez.  Gomez was on the first time we went on the Run.  He is one of our veterans and still today does a lots for them.  He is always joking around and has a smile on him face.
Next thing I know the tables have turned. (Just FYI the lady in green is me – hahaha)
And the other side of him…. as we leave and head down the road.

Another very important part of our mission is the missing man.  It is an honor and privilege to ride this position for someone, usually KIA or MIA. The escort “Rides for those who can’t.”

Tom “Bones” and his wife Denise are our Missing Man Coordinator.  He does a lot of work scheduling every leg, every day with someone.

The person’s name is put in the Missing Man position.  Every leg on the Run is covered.

Missing Man Formation:

Route Coordinator                    State Coordinator

Escort                                        Missing Man (space)

Missing Man Coordinator        Head Chaplin

Many of the riders will stop and pay respect to the person in the Missing Man place.

We are in Barstow for our gas stop and Bernadette is one of the state coordinators for California. In doing her job of getting gas stops, police escorts, ….. she came upon this lady whose husband died in the Gulf War. She asked her if she wanted to ride the missing man. What an honor…

Here is what it looks like on the road:

Next gas stop and another look at our stagers.  Check out the sign…. sorry no more pics here, I went in and got an ice cream.  It was into the 90s by now.

I take a lot of pics of this beautiful country of ours.

More well wishers on the side of a hill!!!!  Holy Cow we live in a great country.

As we ride the road into Needles for lunch, the road is lined with these rock formations.  This one say USMC.  One was Army, Navy…. talk about patriotism.

It is now 102, and everyone is delayering.  There is music playing by the high school band

…and a lady holding a sign…. (Cooling Station).Towels for around our necks, water, ice…it felt sooo good.

Turkey REALLY wanted to cool off!!

The mayor welcomed us to Needles and declared May 13, 2026 RFTW day.

The local priest said a prayer for all the rider for a safe travel… he then blessed us with holy water…felt great.

They concluded with one of the high school students singing our National Anthem. It was pretty cool as some of the riders joined her.

Inside for lunch (it was air conditioned) the younger students had paper hanging

As we get ready to go, I see Jim, the route coordinator, (road name is “Who?’) and he had a monkey as a mascot on the back of his bike.  Someone gave this to his an said
“If you can train a monkey to ride a motorcycle, the road guards will get him to DC”.
Back on the road and we take a side step for ride thru Seligman on historic Route 66.
Sign says “Roadkill and Cafe”
Our road guards and leadership done the road.
More bridges
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Last stop of the day, Williams, and it is 83 out.  Last year it was 30.
Small town, no traffics lights, big hearts…
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OMG, there is Walrus and Tophat. 2 of RFTW retired road guards.  Walrus used to use the umbrellas when he was directing the pack if it was hot.  TOOO funny.
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Dinner was great and checkout the dessert table… I have started gaining my Run 10 pounds right here.

 

It was one of our longest days, and everyone looked pretty exhausted.

Get some sleep and we start again tomorrow.

You prayer warriors are doing great.

 Destination: Williams AZ

Temps: 65-104
Route: I10, I15, I40
Miles: 402

Quote for the day:  Freedom is not free