Westward Bound: Day 2

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Daniel Slocum

Our trip home will hopefully be uneventful. Like today, we’ll mostly be rolling along across this great land. We do have two sightseeing stops planned. We will drive through Arches National Park and have a tour planned through Monument Valley. Otherwise, it’s keep moving west, chasing the sun.

Because of the inherent danger of using cameras while riding a motorcycle, I’ll likely not post much in the way of photographs until we stop in Arches and Monument Valley. If you’ve ever traveled the US Interstate system, you already know what we are seeing.  Farm after farm, cow after cow, truck stops and rest areas.  Nothing is really different unless you jump off of the Interstate and drive one of the US Highways, like Route 66, 30, or any of the many others that were our primary routes before the Interstates were built.

Today, we rode from Avon, Ohio to Davenport Iowa. Our route skirted Chicago’s South Side, and took us past South Bend, Indiana where my mind chanted “Rudy, Rudy, Rudy” as we went by. Dad and I have joked that no motorcycle trip is complete unless we ride from Cycle Gear store, to Cycle Gear store.  This is because on one of our previous trips we did just that. We stopped in Redding, Valencia, Redding again, Salem, Vancouver, and of course our home store of Tacoma before we left.  Today, we kept the tradition alive. imageYesterday afternoon, we encountered some significant rain. That’s when I discovered one of my waterproof boots, was no longer waterproof. As we approached Cleveland we rode through easily the heaviest rain I’ve ever been in on two wheels. Torrent, might be an understatement.  It was in this moment that I discovered the other boot was also no longer waterproof.  Cycle Gear, has a 5 year warranty on all of their “in house” brands so we looked up the nearest store that wasn’t behind us and added it to our itinerary.  The fine folks there swapped out our boots without even looking up our receipt in their computer system. The shift leader told me to pick any boot in the place and he’d make a straight exchange 1 for 1. FAVOR!!!  Once again, God had his hand on me. He has gone before us in the day like a cloud and a pillar of fire by night.  We’ve seen so many miracles, divine appointments, and blessings it’s hard to not ride completely and totally undone.

Case in point, this evening at our last gas stop leaving Illinois.  We were at the Loves Travel Center at Interstate 80 exit 81 (Utica, IL). We’d gassed our bikes and gone inside to snag a cool beverage before running the last 90 mile leg into Davenport, IA for the night.  Dad and I both chose our drinks and I picked up a candy bar.  While I grabbed my Midnight Milky Way, I heard the Assistant Manager, Mac, call Dad over to a register he’d just opened. Mac scanned Dad’s drink and Dad tried to swipe his card to pay for it.  Mac picked up the card reader and moved it away saying “No, no”. That’s when I walked up.  Mac then took my drink and my candy bar, scanned those and said in a deeply meaningful and sincere tone. “Not today…. thank you.” (it’s Memorial Day, he could see our patches on our vests and knew us to be Veterans.) I was blown.  It was a moment where I was so glad I still had on my riding glasses and they’d not “transitioned” to indoor clear yet. I shook his hand firmly, squeaked out, “thank you” and left the building.

Friends, patriotism isn’t dead.  You just have to get out of the big cities to find it. The USA is brimming with people who love this land and want to see her returned to the nation God built to protect Israel and to be a light of Biblical principles to the world.

A note about Memorial Day.  This is my own soap box. You don’t have to agree, but please listen and save judgement till you’ve read it all.  This is not my or any other Veteran’s holiday.  If you see a Vet on Memorial Day and feel compelled to chat with them, a simple thank you and a handshake is enough.  A lot of Vets suffer from survivor’s guilt and other “demons” on Memorial Day. It can be tough to chat with a stranger in those moments. Memorial day is for solemnly remembering our KIA, POW’s who haven’t been returned, and MIA servicemen for they laid down their lives so we can be free. Was I blown away when Mac paid for our snacks, absolutely! Was I grateful, yes! I recognize it was his way of saying “thank you” to those who lie silent in our National Cemeteries and I’m ok with that. However, as a general rule, I’d like to ask each of you to save those gestures for Veteran’s day and honor our dead heroes and not the living one’s on Memorial day.

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Westward Bound: Day 1

Posted on May 29, 2016 by Daniel Slocum

Our return trip does have a few days with an event planned, but mostly we are making tracks as fast as possible toward home. If you’ve traveled by bike you know that any stop is a 20 minute or more adventure of removing gear, doing whatever you stopped for, and donning gear again.  You can easily consume a half hour just getting gas, using the boys room, drinking a bottle of water and getting going again.  The point is, time is not your friend on these long hauls. Because of this, we won’t be stopping for sighting seeing much at all.

P1000354Today, however, was an exception.  We planned to make a short stop at Gettysburg to snap some photos of the General Slocum statue.  I’m not sure of the exact lineage, but Dad says he’d fall into the category of cousin.  Can’t say how many times removed, it’s been several generations since the Civil War. We’ll just call him Cousin Slocum.

We stopped first at the Visitor’s Center hoping to catch a quick movie or some other interpretive experience but found the place is so commercialized that not even our National Parks Pass garnered us admittance to anything. So, we did what all consumer conditioned Americans do… we stopped by the Gift Shop to see what we they might have that we “needed” to take home.  We also snagged a bite of over-priced lunch. With map in hand, we set off to find Cousin Slocum.

P1000361Wow! He’s huge.  I was very surprised to find that we had “giantism” in our family genes. 🙂  Actually, he was just created that way. History books indicate General Slocum was somewhat of a shorter man. I don’t find that very surprising, most of the Slocum’s I know come in around 5’8″.  One of the plaques on his statue gave his full list of military assignments. I found it pretty cool that both he and I were Field Artillery. Redleg must run deep in us.

Stopping at Gettysburg added a good number of miles and time to our journey. We slowed down to a near crawl for the last 40 miles of our journey as we were in a torrential thunderstorm complete with lighting.  God saw fit to route the lighting away from our route, but it filled the sky magnificently, while the rain assaulted all of our waterproof gear searching for any weakness. We both arrived with wet spots on clothing and inside boots where the rain successfully penetrated our defenses.

Regardless of the rain, we had reason to be grateful. We made it safely to our destination without injury and our machines are in great working order with the rubber side down and the shiney side up.

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Day 11: Mission Complete

Posted on May 28, 2016 by Daniel Slocum

Once again, my heart is in my throat and my “allergies” have been in full bloom. Today, we went to Arlington National Cemetery, the Lincoln Memorial, and The Vietnam Memorial… “The Wall”. It was an incredible experience. The Wall consumes you, it’s size conveys the truth that the loss of 58,220 souls is enormous.  At first I felt as if my presence there was but a small thing in comparison, but that is not so. I have a huge intrinsic value, placed there by The Creator. I am not bigger, nor smaller, than any of those brave men listed there, but the sheer number of lives lost is staggering and The Wall conveys that importance to great effect.

Likewise, was the experience at Arlington. Row after row of neatly lined, flag adorned imageheadstones is a sobering reminder of the cost of my freedom. Without the shedding of blood, no man can be free. It’s true for Countries, and it’s true for individuals. Military men and women, lay down their lives for their countries and Jesus laid down His life for mine.  It’s a truth as old as the world itself. I’m very blessed to live in this great nation, founded on Godly principles and fought for by hundreds of thousands of brave men and women, many of whom have lost their lives in battle. This is the reason for Memorial Day. We must never forget.

We had four missions at The Wall. 1. Get a rubbing of the name Thomas Utter. He’s the P1000335hero for whom my dad rode in the missing man formation. Dad will take this rubbing back and give it to a soldier who served with Thomas and survived Vietnam. 2. Get a rubbing of Gary Miller. Gary is a soldier friend of the man I met in a grocery store in Ontario the day before the official start of Run For The Wall. I will mail this rubbing to the man I met, along with the USA flag flown on the back of my motorcycle on our journey. One very cool “coincidence” (God’s divine intervention), both of these names P1000338appear on the same panel of The Wall. No way we could’ve planned or seen that coming. This is just one more reminder of how God has had His hand all over our mission.  3. Delver to The Wall the photo of Popcorn Billy’s brother Bobby.   P10003414. Last but most certainly not least, deliver to The Wall the flag we were entrusted with at the Orting Old Soldier’s Home from GySgt Shirey’s Memorial.  Mission accomplished on all accounts.

In the Vietnam War, new guys added to a platoon were called FNG’s.  The first word is a common cuss word that I won’t print here. This term was common because the new guys with limited to no experience were harder to keep alive in battle and generally made mistakes that meant injury or death for someone else. The Run For The Wall has adopted the term FNG but has traded out the first word for “Friendly” or “Fine”. The Run gives great respect and honor to these Friendly New Guys/Gals. Veterans are encouraged to regularly seek out P1000344FNG’s and ask if they need anything, give them a hug, a listening ear, and help in any way possible to Welcome Them Home and make this journey to The Wall as meaningful and as healing as possible. Every FNG is given a button upon registration, identifying them as such. At The Wall, to signify completing the mission, it’s customary to have someone turn that button upside down.  When my button was flipped, it was very emotional for me. I’d not realized how much it would mean to me to complete what we started. Dan “Boilermaker” Koster gave me the honor of turning my button. Dan isn’t a veteran but his patriotism and respect for veterans is epic. While I met some absolutely astounding people on this mission, Dan was a standout. I couldn’t have asked for a better man to be there for me at the end.

Tomorrow, we begin our journey home. Our plans are to divert into Gettysburg for a brief visit and then head for an overnight stop near Cleveland. Thanks for making this journey with us. It’s been a huge honor knowing so many are praying for us and The Run For The Wall.

Here are some other resources to review for the Run For The Wall experience. 1. Mama G’s Blog. Lots of pictures here.  2. Major Dan Clark’s Blog. A good, 3rd party, reporter style accounting of our mission.

Pictures are below:

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Day 10: We’ve arrived

Posted on May 28, 2016 by Daniel Slocum

“Charlie Mike”  Continue Mission is a standard military term.  It’s an order given to troops after they’ve encountered an obstacle and have overcome it, or have taken losses and are seeking clarification from superiors.  Sometimes, a Commander will give a different command such as “Return to Base” or direct the combat team to another mission entirely.  In our circumstance “Charlie Mike” has been Dad and my mantra for the duration of our Run For The Wall. Today was no exception. Twice in our trip we’ve had to do maintenance on Dad’s bike. Today, we had to do it all over again.

We left the pack at our lunch stop in Staunton, VA. Dad’s bike was trailored to a Honda IMG_1625Dealership in Waynesboro, VA about 20 miles away. Diagnosis? Stator wasn’t working. While this was a huge inconvenience, we felt totally blessed that we got this far with a bike that was having charging problems. The dealer ordered parts via overnight shipping and promised to have it fixed by tomorrow.  Dad rented a car and we drove/rode the last 166 miles to DC.  He’ll have to endure the 166 mile round trip tomorrow to return the car and pick up the bike, but compared to the things POW’s, MIA’s, and KIA’s have endured, it’s nothing.

IMG_1626Our hotel is across the street from The Pentagon and we can see the Air Force Memorial as well.

Today we Continued the Mission, tomorrow we complete the mission.

 

IMG_1627

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RFTW Day 9: We are rockstars!

Posted on May 26, 2016 by Daniel Slocum

As the Hall of Fame baseball announcer Dave Niehaus used to say, “My Oh My!” So many things to share about today. It was almost as if we crammed two days into one.

Morning started with rain on our 13 mile ride from the hotel to our staging location. We P1000224fully geared up. It was worth it for that ride as it hit us pretty good. However, during our morning briefings it cleared up nicely which caused us to get wet anyway! Plastic rain gear and 75 degrees with 98% humidity don’t mix. After the briefings we had just enough time to shed the gear and jump on the bikes for a short ride to Charleston, the capitol city of West Virginia.  There, we were given special access to drive through a security corridor to a circular drive in front of the Capitol steps. P1000217The Governor addressed us proclaiming May 26th to be Run For The Wall Day which was pretty cool. Dad and I took a stroll around their War Memorial and snapped a few photos of Gunney’s flag in front of the Vietnam section.

After the Governor’s proclamation, we took a group photo on the Capitol steps. I found myself at the top of the group, so I thought I’d see about gaining access to the rotunda for a comparison to Washington’s Capitol. I found they don’t allow folks in the main doors, instead requiring the public to enter through a security door, complete with metal detectors via a side entrance. While a kind young lady was explaining this to me and giving me directions I was approached by a tall, all business looking man, who asked me to quietly follow him. Yikes, that could’ve been scary, but instead I found myself escorted into the rotunda via the main door and on a guided P1000235tour by the House of Representatives Sergeant-at-Arms.  That is some kind of favor right there. He told me about the number of lights and how they represent each county, described to me the chandelier, where the marble came from and then took me inside the House Chamber on the main floor.

Inside, he introduced me to three Representatives who were sitting at their 100% original wooden desk furnishings which were all hand-made for the room when the Capitol was first opened. The place was beautiful. Before we left the chamber, he had me stand behind the Speaker of the House’s lectern at the front of the room so he could take my picture using my camera.  Unfortunately, he didn’t push the right buttons so we didn’t actually capture anything. No worries, the visit wasn’t about me. It was about access to a place where laws are made and policy is set. It’s a seat of authority.  God granted me favor to go in there carrying His authority. It was an opportunity, not just to marvel at the craftsmanship of man, but to quietly pray for the fine men and women who sit in those chairs to make Godly decisions. It was a huge honor.

The second half of our day was spent at Rainelle Elementary School in Rainelle, WV. This is an amazing place in a severely hit economical region. What once boasted the biggest logging mill in the region and a flourishing coal mine, is now a town gasping for life. The mill has shut down and regulations have drastically reduced mining operations. All along our trip, starting in Ontario, our group of riders has had raffles, auctions, passing of the hat, military branch of service challenges, all to raise money for this school. RFTW has been doing this for a very long time. When I went inside to eat lunch, I saw on every wall lining the main hall, poster boards full of photos with the years they were taken clearly imagemarked. There were also newspaper clippings from media coverage and patriotic artwork done by the students. All totaled, we donated just over $21,000 dollars.  The Principle was all choked up when she received it.  I told her she needed an armored car. Very little of it was in the form of a check. We’d collected it as cash money and passed it on to her that way.

This was all really awesome, but the highlight of the day was when we first arrived in Rainelle.  I’d heard we’d be able to interact with the students and should come prepared with things to give away. The Army Recruiting Station at home sent with me 100 pins and lanyards to hand out.  I gave 25 of the lanyards to another Army guy to pass out and I held onto the remaining 75 items. The kids mobbed us. They treated us like rock stars, heroes, who they wanted to meet and talk to.  Each of them had a little bag for the gifts we brought and they carried autograph books and pens for us to sign our names in.  This gave me 75 opportunities P1000244to sew a seed in a kid’s life and I took full advantage of it. I didn’t just write my name in their books, I sewed seed of identity into them picking out of them a golden nugget of who they are and writing it down so they’d see it and hear it from someone else. I’m sure God will water these seeds, He had me there for that time and place for a reason.

It was an amazing day. Looking back, I’m seeing now the connection between my experience at the Capitol and the school. It was a day of generational gardening in the fields of West Virginia for God. He will bring in the harvest when the time is right.

I have a good number of photos to post, but the hotel wifi isn’t playing nice. I’ll try again tomorrow from Washington DC!

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RFTW Day 8: Rotors overhead

Posted on May 25, 2016 by Daniel Slocum

Today was amazing.  We again visited a VA Hospital (Robley Rex) to interact with patients and staff. Dad and I chatted with several patients waiting for or just completing appointments. We also chatted with the girlfriend of one hero in the surgical waiting room while her beau was undergoing a procedure. The staff and ambulatory patients lined the streets like it was a ticker-tape parade.  While we’ve had big turnouts in places, this rated among the most attended. It was amazing.

At our morning briefing, we were told of a gentleman who volunteers at Robley Rex VA Hospital. He is the coordinator for all volunteers there. Billy is a prominent fixture at a popcorn machine in the West Lobby, where he greets patients and family members with his overwhelmingly kind spirit and gentle heart.  We were told at our mass morning briefing that we needed to be sure to meet him. Our Platoon Leader, elaborated in our smaller group safety briefing on “Popcorn Billy’s” story.  Billy and his twin brother Bobby were sent to Vietnam together. They served in the same unit and on one fateful day in January of 1968, Bobby was killed and Billy was wounded.  This changed Billy forever. I don’t know what kind of man Billy was before he lost his brother, but I love the man I met today. God’s light just shines from him. He’s gentle loving and full of life. While we were talking he noticed the Cross patch on my vest and asked if I am a Chaplain.  My answer

Image sourced from Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_Vietnam_Veterans_Memorial

Image sourced from Wikipedia.

was “not officially” which garnered a huge smile. He pointed to a Cross pin on his lapel and told me that Jesus is his everything. Yup, God is so bright in this man, the leadership of a group of 400 or so bikers made sure to tell us all to go meet him.  What a witness this man has.  I told Billy of our mission to carry the flag of Gunney Shirey to The Wall and about how Gunney loved and served Veterans.  Upon hearing this, Billy turned to a nearby table where he had laid down a small US Flag he’d been handed for waiving as we arrived. He asked if we’d also take that flag to The Wall in honor of his kinship with Gunney.  What a huge honor to be asked to do this! I asked if we could pray over him before we left. It was brief, but a great time where I could feel Holy Spirit in agreement with my prayer for Billy to be a light in a dark place, for provision, and for energy to complete his calling. But, wait! There’s more.

Our Platoon Leader, Tanker and his wife have developed a relationship with Billy over the years, which has resulted in a tradition of Billy, annually, handing them a photo of his brother Bobby and a bag of popcorn to take to The Wall for him.  I didn’t know it but Tanker was watching our interaction with Billy. Upon returning to our bikes to prepare for departure, Tanker asked me to complete the mission of carrying Bobby’s picture to The Wall. Such favor, such honor. It’s overwhelming me as I type.. God is so good.

After our visit to Robley Rex VAMC, we traveled to the Kentucky State Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  I can’t do this place justice, you’ll have to Google it.  The memorial is a sundial that someone has painstakingly completed math, angles, and a bunch of other amazing mumbo jumbo to align just right so that it casts a shadow over the engraved name (see image above) of each of Kentucky’s Vietnam heroes on the anniversary of their death.  It’s absolutely astounding P1000191to see.  Dad and I carried Bobby’s picture and the little flag up to the memorial, found his engraving and took a picture. We’ll do so again at The Wall, and then leave the two articles there. The picture, will likely have popcorn in it as well. Tanker gave that special bag of popcorn to one of our other riders to carry.

The day ended with us arriving in Hurricane, WV to an overflight of the freeway by a Huey helicopter.  What an amazing sight. Too bad I was riding the bike, video of that would’ve been spectacular. I hope Jean took a photo or video of it. 

Jean and Larry, with Dad.

Jean and Larry, with Dad.

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Day 7: Fried foods day!

Posted on May 24, 2016 by Daniel Slocum

Have I told you all that every meal is donated during the 10 days of the Run?  The amount of planning it takes to coordinate this must be daunting.  VFW Posts, churches, CMA chapters, Motorcycle Dealerships, various foundations and even individuals sponsor all of our meals and nearly half of our gas stops.  What a blessing!

IMG_1610Today’s lunch was a filling fried chicken feast which could only be topped by a fried catfish dinner! Wowzers, was that catfish good!  Felt like we were on a mash up episode of Wild Hogs, and Duck Dynasty.

The day’s events were better than the food.  Our platoon of riders did a breakout mission to lay a wreath at the gravesite of a recently deceased long-time RFTW and Patriot Guard Rider. Many of our leadership knew him. It was a somber moment, which clearly meant a great deal to his family and those in attendance. It was an honor to represent RFTW for this important mission. P1000186 Afterwards, we visited a VA Hospital and Soldier’s home.  Dad and I laid hands on and prayed for a staff member. We also visited with a number of patients. It was great to hear their stories and to let them know they are not forgotten.  We handed out pins and a shirt as keepsakes before we had to depart.

Dad’s bike is still acting a bit wonky on the electrical side of things. He couldn’t get it to start at our gas stop just before lunch.  Bonus here, lunch was at Waterkotte Harley-Davidson. They pulled and charged the battery for him. This made us miss the departure time with the main group so he and I rode the 160 remaining miles of the day by ourselves. We crossed over the border from Illinois, and nearly rode across the bottom of Indiana to our stop in Corydon.

All said, it was a great day.  We did hit some rain, but the crazy, tornado spawning, storms are still behind us.  God has been oh so good.

Keep watching Jean’s blog for pictures of each day’s events. As a rider, I’m to busy to take many pictures.

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RFTW Day 6: Storms are at our back, looking ahead to DC.

Posted on May 23, 2016 by Daniel Slocum

Today started out under threat of severe weather.  Weather.com has been reporting on severe weather in the region for several days and into the days ahead. Tornadoes and hail have been the norm across the region.  We’ve been overwhelmingly blessed as we’ve stayed out in front of it.  Last night, Dad and I were talking about how God could show His power by cutting us a path through it.  This morning’s radar? Heavy thunderstorms to our South and rain to our North! Oh yeah, we have some serious favor with God. I’m pretty sure I’m His favorite. We had a few sprinkles during our morning riders briefing, and a short patch of rain in Kansas City, but otherwise it was a glorious day for riding.  The weather has been so nice, long-time riders have commented on how amazing it’s been.  Ha, ha, we know why!

Today, Dad and I did what leadership here calls a “break out”.  A small group of us, lead by the Communications Coordinator, left one of our gas stops early and motored ahead to do a radio spot on Sirius / XM radio. We were interviewed on why we are doing the run, what P1000178it’s like to reach The Wall, and how our pack is getting along with traffic on the freeways. I can’t say enough about the quality of the folks on this run. To a man/woman, everyone talked about the mission of The Run and the importance of bringing home everyone from every war, past and present as well as what the ride means to them.  I was moved by the passion with which these great people spoke. Patriotism is alive and well and our country is still pure in heart!

At least once each day, something I witness makes my eyes leak. The guys on the Run say “My Allergies are acting up”, when this happens. I just own it.  Yes, bikers cry… at least these ones do.  Today’s moment was when we were leaving our lunch stop in Concordia, MO.  The streets were lined for several miles with flag waving citizens from every age group and seemingly walk of life. It was during this that I had an “allergy” attack. To my left, I saw a young girl, maybe 10 years old, holding a flag and blowing us all kisses.  Really? Kisses?  I find it amazing her family would instill this much respect for Veterans that she would show it the best way she knew how, by blowing us all kisses. As I do with my own daughter, I stuck out my hand and “caught” one then slapped it to my chest across my heart.  Thank God for parents like her’s and towns like Concordia.

Today’s route took us from Junction City, KS to Wentzville, MO. Once the pack hit Moussouri, we picked up a full police escort.  Law Enforcment blocked off all traffic behind us, and at all freeway entrances, giving us free sailing for most of the day’s ride. It was wonderful. Below is a link to a video of what it looks like from an overpass to have a full police escort in Missouri.  The video is of last year’s run.

 

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Halfway there: Wind blown in Kansas.

Posted on May 22, 2016 by Daniel Slocum

Today was day 5 of Run For The Wall.  Hard to believe it is half over. We are also about halfway, or a little better across the country.  Today we rode from Goodland Kansas to Junction City Kansas.  Our biggest obstacle across Kansas has been the wind.  We generally ride side-by-side in a very tight formation. Today however, we ran the entire route in staggered.  The last two days, we’ve been blown around a lot. It’s kinda fun for a bit, but several hundred miles of leaning into the wind trying to hold your line and stay in your lane gets old after awhile.

God has been very faithful to us on this trip.  Last night two tornadoes were reported in the areas within 30 miles East of Goodland.  Had those hit while we were on the road, it could’ve been disastrous. I’ve been speaking to the storm clouds telling them they can do their business, but they must either wait for us to pass. So far, we’ve been dry save a very short spurt in Eastern Arizona. Then too, I told it to stop, and it did.  Trying to learn from my disciple buddies’ mistakes.  🙂  Matthew 8:23-27   Tomorrow morning is forecasted for rain over the first 100 or so miles.  The remainder is forecasted as dry. I’m planning for the whole day to be dry.

Dad is holding up well, but I can see the lack of sleep in his eyes. This afternoon I asked

Our platoon Leadership. Tanker, Soul Tracker, Pokey and Rock.

Our platoon Leadership. Tanker, Soul Tracker, Pokey and Rock.

our Platoon Leader, Tanker, to let us escape the pack upon arriving in Junction City so we wouldn’t be trapped in a sea of bikes at the donated dinner and ceremonies. On days past, we’ve been locked in and stuck there, late, until others move. We always want to participate in those events as our hosts have gone to a great deal of effort to provide for us.  This time though, we came directly to the hotel and got settled.  The early arrival gave Dad the opportunity to take his bike to a local Harley dealer which was open for services tonight.  They fabricated a new air filter for him and now his bike, which was lugging up even minor grades, is running smoothly.  We’ll look to get a new stock filter put in before our return, but this will get him safely to DC. Now it’s off to bed, at a very respectable hour.

Oh, one final note.  Every day, there is at least one something that makes my eyes water. Today it was when we passed a whole row of Law Enforcement Officers who had parked their vehicles in perfect formation across the center median of the freeway.  Each officer was standing at crisp attention and saluting as we rolled by.  I was a mess for several miles.

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RFTW Day 4: All fixed and off to see Toto

Posted on May 21, 2016 by Daniel Slocum

Today’s post will be just text for now.  The wifi at the hotel is miserable and it’s also rather late.  It seems each day is more full than the previous.  When the folks who’ve made this run say, “it’s not a joy ride, it’s a mission”, they aren’t kidding.

This morning Pops and I started in Eagle Nest, NM at 39 degrees after scraping frozen dew IMG_1598off our bikes, and ended in Goodland Kansas under a tornado watch. It was a very full day which saw us leave before the pack and ride on our own into Pueblo in search of a dealer to look at my bike. The fine Service Department at Rocky Mountain Cycle Plaza took my bike right in to be looked at after I told them the trouble I was having. About an hour later, it was good to go. The problem was related to dirt and gunk collection in the shifter linkage. They took off the floorboard, removed the side cover and cleaned the entire linkage system really well, then lubed it properly. It’s as good as new!

While we waited, we visited Starbucks and just unwound for a few minutes. Ahh, relaxation, it’s not something we do on the Run. While I walked back to check in on the IMG_1600bike, Pops decided to do something every hard core biker is known to do “wink, wink”.  He got a manicure!  I’m not sure what his road name will be now, but I’m pretty sure the guys on the run will come up with something good for this one. Manicure?  Not exactly a biker kind of thing. While I’m absolutely going to give him a hard time, I’m glad he did it. It’s good to take care of yourself on this Run. It’s very difficult.

Highlights of the day.

  1. Bike was fixed.
  2. Long-time friends, the Nelson’s came to visit us during the lunch stop in Fountain, CO
  3. We rode in crazy winds that had us all leaning our bikes way over just to go straight
  4. Our host city is under a Tornado warning.

Don’t forget to check out Jean’s blog. Her hotel may have better wifi than mine.  We do have pictures, I’ll upload them to this post when it’s more convenient.

One last thing…  Note item 3 above. We started into the winds as we headed East toward

Image from weather.com

the Colorado/Kansas border. It was pretty windy in Colorado, but true to the image from Weather.com, as soon as we hit the Kansas border things got really crazy.  Please be in prayer for clear skies over the next few days.

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