The question in everyone’s conversations, emails, texts; “Is it May yet?” YES IT IS!
In fact today IS Tuesday the 13th of May, 2025, Midways first day on their quest to Washington DC.
With the sounds of motorcycles firing up in the hotel parking lot at O’dark thirty, to the voices and chanting at the morning rally point. You could feel the excitement growing as the clock ticked away ever closer to the time when the engines fired up, rumbling and reving in anticipation of the words ‘let’s roll’ from the route coordinator to come over the radio.
Once given, it was almost as if a scene from nascar as was team, each platoon, each rider started rolling towards the open road.
With the help of the California Highway Patrol as well as the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, 2025 Midway Route took to the streets and interstate, making their way Eastbound.
255 registered riders, 81 of which are FNG (Fun New Guys/Gals), and 136 volunteers to help lead, guide, and bring everyone safely across this great nation. This year’s run is especially more significant as it is the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War (1962-1975) with some very special guest in attendance as well, our Vietnam Veteran Hero’s in our 1st Platoon.
The first day is always the trickiest, learning how to ride next to someone else that you may never have ridden with before and getting used to each other’s riding habits. In time each rider will grow, but today is basically introduction day on how we ride in RFTW.
Our first location on schedule was to parade through the Marine Corps Logistics Base in Barstow, CA where members of the community and military lines the street to wave and salute the Hero’s and riders of the Midway Route.
Shortly thereafter came our first fuel stop, a great training opportunity for our FNGs as well as a refresher for everyone else. If you ever get a chance to see ‘organized chaos’ in its finest, watch how the RFTW Fuel team pushes 200 plus riders through the fuel pumps in less than 15 minutes.
And remember that learning but about riding with others in a pack, everyone also got a taste of Mother Nature in the desert with 20-30 mph cross winds while passing traffic and big rigs on the freeway.
As we headed into Arizona and up to our next fuel stop, folks from Yucca, Kingman, Las Vegas, and so many other places lined an over pass with flags, fire trucks, and even fireworks as we rode underneath, welcoming us into their community.
Lunch was donated and served in Kingman by the Kingman Elks Lodge # at the Mother Road Harley Davidson.
Unexpectedly after lunch, an accident on I40 closed down a large section preventing us from heading directly to our next destination. Rather than sitting in bumper to bumper traffic only a little outside of Kingman, the local police department suggested a route around the scene by traveling down Historic Route 66, completely bypassing the area of traffic and getting us back on the road with little interruption.
The new route led us through canyons and valleys, open fields and local communities with absolutely gorgeous scenery all along the way.
Once back on our designated route and refueled from our last pit stop of the day, up the mountains we went towards Flagstaff reaching our destination on time, even after everything that was tossed at the Midway Riders.
The Flagstaff VFW Post #1709 along with the community and Boy Scout Troop # welcomed us in with a hot meal of sloppy joes, warm hugs, and open arms.
Can’t wait to see what ventures tomorrow will bring to our Hero’s and riders.
Written by STITCH. Photos by Kim Butler
Due to circumstances beyond our control, Midway Route Photos from previous runs are no longer available. 