Day 4 – May 21, 2022 Sunday – Southern Route
Greetings – Day 4 was another day of long riding with some impressive memorials to visit. We spent the night in Odessa Texas. We were treated to a great breakfast at the American Legion in Odessa. Very nice people that took care of us well. We then went to Midland TX to the Permian Basin Memorial. It’s a slightly smaller memorial but the people that raised the funds to build it are very proud of it for good reasons. It pays tribute to local warriors that have lost their lives from all branches of the Armed Forces. It was locally designed by residents and pays homage very well. They have a statue in the middle of three warriors, one carrying a wounded soldier to a helicopter and a third soldier assisting but also looking back to the wall with names of those lost that they can’t bring back with them. It’s touching when you realize the story and intent. One of our RFTW volunteers father is listed as one of those KIA in Viet Nam which brings home meaning of our mission to not let any of our warriors be forgotten. You will be remembered! We did have a wreath laying here.
We then went to the Big Springs Veterans Memorial. This was also a very nice memorial and there was a wreath laying.
Then we were off to Colorado City, TX. Colorado City is a small town that goes all out to give us a warm welcome and feed us a great steak and/or chicken with green beans and a fantastic potato salad. I expect this is one of the highlights of their year to have the RFTW group come to have dinner (lunch time) with them. The warmth and hospitality cannot be outdone, Thank You Colorado City! We then drove more to get to the Dubiski Career High School where the students participated in preparing a great dinner and taking care of us. Again, wonderful hospitality which included a bag pipe player, an honor guard and having your hand shook 20 to 30 times just to get into the building. Some pictures are attached. The weather has been hot, decent but hot. We have a chance of rain in front of us but we keep moving with rain gear if that happens. A few other things worth mentioning that are a critical part of this Run To The Wall is the support we get from the volunteers that help keep us organized. There are unsung hero’s that race in front of us to be ready to set up the fueling stations, that stage us so we can take off in an organized fashion in the correct platoons that we were assigned to, the people that open up and hand us drinks so we can stay hydrated, the nurses that are ready to take care of us that need help along the way, the people selling merchandise to help raise funds for financing this run, road guards that are guiding us safely through traffic and I’m probably forgetting some but the number of volunteers is amazing. Without each one, we would not have such a successful and well organized mission. A huge Thank You to all of you helpful volunteers! Today, we also had LEO escorts all the way through our travels in Texas for the whole day. Again, much safer and faster. Thanks to the local police and Texas State Police.
Thanks for listening.
