Day 5 – May 22, 2022 Sunday – Southern Route
A great day where we avoided being rained on. It looked threatening at times and after pulling into the hotel after dinner, it did indeed start raining a bit. So, we were blessed with good weather for our riding today. We started in Grand Prairie Texas and ended the day in Monroe Louisiana. We had breakfast provided by a MacDonalds in the Grand Prairie Super Walmart parking lot where we staged for leaving. There were 3 fuel stops with lunch at the Longview Texas Fairgrounds in Longview. At the Fairgrounds is a large building that we take up a big chunk of as they feed us and entertain us. Good sandwiches, lots of baked goodies with very warm greetings. There’s a gentleman that sings to us with karaoke tracks running and it’s good entertainment. We surely get that “appreciated” feeling along this route and today was another day to get that feeling. Some of the troops went on an outreach this morning to the Texas Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Fair Park. There are some pictures of that below with a wreath laying by members of our ride volunteering to be the honor guard. After lunch we headed towards Monroe, LA. Once we hit the Louisiana border, we had State Motorcycle Police escort us with them blocking the highway entrances to not have traffic coming into our long procession of motorcycles. With the traffic stopped, one of our road guards would take that spot and the State Police Officer would head down to the next area that needed blocking and it continued all the way to our destination. Those officers came to dinner with us at the Monroe Shriners Hall where we were all treated to really good Catfish, Pork or Chicken along with Coleslaw and Hushpuppies that had a bit of a spice byte to them – great stuff. Oh, then the long tables filled with baked goods. We’re not going hungry this trip. We rode 323 miles. One of the fuel stops in the morning needs to be acknowledged is the town of Terrell Texas. It’s a large store parking lot where after filling up with fuel, the local folks gather to greet us, give us drinks and snacks. Along with the RFTW State Coordinator and her connections with the Daughters of the American Revolution, things were put together to make this stop a reality again. With Covid over the last couple of years, it almost slipped the minds of important players but it did come together with the Mayor and City Council also proclaiming May 22, 2022 to become the official Run For The Wall day. At the Longview lunch, they also declared that in the City of Terrell, May 22, 2022 is also going to be Run For The Wall Day. Now we just have to work on the rest of the country!
The picture of a Bio in a sleeve in the parking lot needs a bit of explanation. The Missing Man is an important part of Run For The Wall. As we travel along on our mission, FNG’s have the opportunity to ride up front with the Missing Man platoon and ride for someone with a personal connection to them or choose one of the Missing Men that’s on a list, longer than we like. Each leg of the journey (between fuel stops) is another opportunity for an FNG to participate in this honor to remember the Missing loved ones. The formation is set up where the Route coordinator and the Assistant Route Coordinator are side by side, then the FNG is immediately behind the Route Coordinator with an empty spot next to the FNG representing the Missing Man. After the FNG and the empty spot is the Missing Man Coordinator Judy “Not Airborne” Wormmeester and the Missing Man Chaplin Bo Pearson, also riding side by side. We are riding to remember those that have been lost. Tomorrow we go to Meridian Mississippi as we get closer to Washington DC. 
R “Boots”
USAF ’72 – ’75
