Up at 5:15 - I slept in. Over to the staging area in front of the hotel. Cup of coffee times 4 or 5, then flag detail - in this case, waving a flag to show the riders where to stage their bikes for todays Mission. Then some coffee. Couple of oranges. At 0615, a special detail of about 45 bikes (and including me) take off for the Topeka VA. Its about an hour and we'll only spend about 45 minutes with the staff and patients - but its enjoyable all the way around. The patients cover most of the Wars and vary from relatively injured to severely injured. And a pretty good range of ages. And a few riders will go into the lock down wards to spend a few minutes with the less fortunate.
Getting to the VA we had to cover a half dozen intersections one of which was a real pain - main artery. But, we did stop all the traffic and even those people waved and cheered for us. Or with us!! When we leave, we will catch up with our main body and zip thru a toll booth paid for by the townspeople. On the freeway we have a mishap - someone had not secured their hat and off it flies. The two bikes in front of me saw the hat (weren't aware what it was) and did a combination of swerving and locking their brakes. The bike in front of me went down with the driver and passenger. After a trip to the hospital, they both went home with some abrasions and one destroyed helmet.
The rest of the day was traveling to our over nite - Wentzville - where they had a few hundred people to greet us and really really good food. Roast beef, mashed potato's, and al the rest of the trimmings. They have camping at the site, but with the rain and everything, very few decided to take advantage of it. Dozens of intersections with the (what's become) the normal amount of people waving flags, waving their arms, cheering, etc. And kids all over the place, again and again. NO negatives, all positives. Overpasses full of people with flags, constantly. Again, also, in the middle of no where, in towns, everywhere. And they all thank us for doing the Mission, and look for nothing in return.
Falling asleep - take care!!
The Mission Rules,
Doug
Getting to the VA we had to cover a half dozen intersections one of which was a real pain - main artery. But, we did stop all the traffic and even those people waved and cheered for us. Or with us!! When we leave, we will catch up with our main body and zip thru a toll booth paid for by the townspeople. On the freeway we have a mishap - someone had not secured their hat and off it flies. The two bikes in front of me saw the hat (weren't aware what it was) and did a combination of swerving and locking their brakes. The bike in front of me went down with the driver and passenger. After a trip to the hospital, they both went home with some abrasions and one destroyed helmet.The rest of the day was traveling to our over nite - Wentzville - where they had a few hundred people to greet us and really really good food. Roast beef, mashed potato's, and al the rest of the trimmings. They have camping at the site, but with the rain and everything, very few decided to take advantage of it. Dozens of intersections with the (what's become) the normal amount of people waving flags, waving their arms, cheering, etc. And kids all over the place, again and again. NO negatives, all positives. Overpasses full of people with flags, constantly. Again, also, in the middle of no where, in towns, everywhere. And they all thank us for doing the Mission, and look for nothing in return.
Falling asleep - take care!!
The Mission Rules,
Doug
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