Welcome to
Run For The Wall
Southern Route - 2009
"Service Beyond Self"
Please scroll down this page for other information including contributions to the Southern Route.
If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com, you can pick out a thank you card. Xerox will print it, and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq or Afghanistan. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war(s), our soldiers over there need to know we are behind them.
This is FREE, takes just 10 seconds, and is a wonderful way to say thank you. Please take the time and please take the time to pass it on for others to do. We can never say enough "thank yous."
Familiar faces from RFTW are in this AARP video link about Rolling Thunder sent by Rick Muessner.
2009 Southern Route Itinerary:
Download .pdf booklet version
(This version will print on 8-1/2
x 11" paper, and will arrange
back-to-back into booklet form.)
Download Word version
(This version is 23 8-1/2 x 11"
pages, sequential days,
printed "landscape" format.)
2009 RFTW Mission:
2009 Mission Flyer
(Adobe Acrobat .pdf file)
2009 Mission Video
(Windows Media video file;
25.3 MB; 11:50 min.)
Mac users without Windows might
need free download software
entitled "Flip4Mac."
Many thanks to Mark Borsuk for
his Run For The Wall song. Visit
Mark's website by clicking here.
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2009 RFTW - SSR Leadership Team:
Below, left - Coordinator -
Greg "Pied Piper" Smith
Below, right - Assistant
Coordinator - Ray "Too Tall"
McDowell (with wife Kay
"Too Small" McDowell)
Second row, below, left -
Road Guard Captain -
John "Slammer" Gebhards
Second row, below, right -
Advance Team Leader -
Ted "Oscar Bear" Riedel
The photo above changes daily to reflect a variety of experiences on Run For The Wall.
Message to Tumbleweed and other current U.S. military personnel serving all over the world....
Run For The Wall XXI rides for YOU! We are blessed to have you watching these pages and hope they inspire you.
Received 5/7/09 - "Hey All,
Well the Run is Here. you have no idea how much i wish i could be there. Good luck everyone, Keep the Rubber Side Down. I'll try to call My Dad [Okie Dan] a couple of times at your Scheduled stops.
[Below is] a pic of me with David Robinson, Tommy Lasorda, and 3 guys from the show "THE UNIT" I'm the one on the right
Love you all
Tumbleweed
MSG Billy M. Smith"
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A Run-to-The-Run e-mail from Santa Chuck (forwarded by Cowboy on 9/8/09):
Good evening folks -
I need to tell you a story about something that happen to us tonight at a restaurant here in Senora, Tx.
A group of veterans from around the country arrived in Houston last night to gather for our annual trip out to CA to start Run for the Wall. As we proceed out of Houston, we picked up more riders, more in SA and two more in a small town about 55 miles East of here. Our total today - 9 bikes and 11 riders.
105 was the temperature as we arrived at our hotel. Hot and tired, we went across the street to a local Mexican Rest. While we were waiting to be served, I noticed an older gentleman sitting at a table by himself. I approached him and and asked if he might be a veteran. Why yes, he said. WWII, Army (SGT) with service in the Philippines and other islands in the Pacific. He is a Purple Heart recipient and has lived here in Senora most of his life.
I literally hollered to our group and then invited him to come over so we could pay our respects. Our table stood and everyone shook his hand. He told us many stories about his service, loss of his buddies and adventures while in the service.
Eventually the stories stopped as our food was delivered and Mr. Galindo walked out the door. However, he returned with his Army ID and then said "all of your food has been paid for". We couldn't believe our ears but the waitress confirmed that this is what he wanted to do. He and his wife operate a small "resale" shop here in Senora.
With a firm handshake to those of us that were still stunned, he left.
One of the people receiving this email works for the local paper., I write this not only to tell you, but she is going to write this up for the citizens of Senora.
So, when you see someone that is sitting by themselves and their age might denote having been a veteran, please take a minute and say THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY!
None of us here tonight will every forget the kindness you showed us Oscar.
His name - Oscar Galindo, 84 year old WWII veteran who served his country proudly
DEFINITION OF A VETERAN
A Veteran - whether active duty, retired, national guard or reserve - is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a check made payable to "The United States of America", for an amount of "up to and including my life."
Author Unknown
Santa Chuck
RFTW CR-RG
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2/09 - Donna Elliott forward this w-mail message to us. Please HELP!
H. Res 111 calling for the formation in the House of Representatives of a Select Committee on POW/MIAs has picked up three more cosponsors for a total of 57 cosponsors.
Additionally, both the Colorado POW/MIA Coalition and VietNow, have joined with the National Alliance of Families, the Korea Cold War Families of the Missing and the World War II Families for the Return of the Missing to endorse H. Res 111.
Please continue your efforts, by calling, writing, faxing and emailing your congressional representative asking that they join the growing list of cosponsors for H.Res 111. Visit www.nationalalliance.org/legis/111congress.htm for a list of congressional representatives along with their addresses, faxes, phone number and a hot link to email them directly from our site.
Please make your call or send your letter, fax or email, in support of this important resolution.
3/17/09 - At right is a photo of Frank Perry presenting the Brazos Valley VVA Chapter check in the amount of $300 to Greg Smith, 2009 Southern Route Coordinator for Run For The Wall. This is the second presentation in two years from the BV VVA Chapter to RFTW. The funds are to provide fuel to the motorcycle riders on their way from California to The Wall in Washington, D.C.
"AT 16:10 HRS., DEC. 12TH, 2009 LARRY D. RODGERS (STEPPER), OUR WARRIOR BROTHER WENT HOME TO BE WITH HIS SAVIOR, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. IT WAS A PEACEFUL PASSING AND HE IS FINALLY AT REST.
"INFORMATION REGARDING A MEMORIAL SERVICE WILL BE FORTHCOMING. PLEASE PRAY FOR PAT, JAMES, KIMBERLY AND TERRI, AND THE REST OF THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY.
"THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOUR PRAYERS, VISITS, PHONE CALLS AND E-MAILS.
"GOD BLESS,
PREACHER"
Above, Larry Rodgers on 5.24.05 - taken by Mike Dobson
Below, Larry in Jackson, MS on 5.21.08 -
taken by Sharon Reeves
We appreciate having these photos of our friend!
Any supporter is welcome to submit photos accompanied by a text explanation to the webmistress. June 3 - LOTS more great photos have been received. They will be posted over the next month or so; please keep checking back and look for the "updated" notes and dates. Almost ALL pages now take considerable time to load because of the number of photos, and photos added last on pages will load last.
5/6/09 - SR Coordinator Greg Smith has his blog up and running now: www.myridetotheirwall.com
Note - If I had the skills to keep the website this way, I would. Just hearing Greg's commentary is so much more informative than photos without the voice narrative. You'll miss something if you don't look at and listen to his site. -Anne P
Day Four - May 16 - Odessa, TX, to Weatherford, TX
(updated with video link at the Permian Basin Memorial on 5/19 and
on 5/25 with link to YouTube video coming into Weatherford)
11/29/09 - see great video posted on YouTube of the arrival in Terrell at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93AE4MOKptQ&NR=1
5/30/09 - An e-mail from Flag Man to share photos with RFTW riders:
"Please add a link to the Southern Route for the Pictures I have posted from 2006, 2007, 2008, and Day 5 of 2009.
ALL these pictures came from my camera(s), and I am allowing the riders and supporters free access to them.
http://www.van-hecke.net/rftw/
Stephen VanHecke, aka "Flag Man"
5/14/09 - David Talley, riding with the Central Route, is the main contact Run For The Wall has with the truckers and their communication venues. To give you an idea of what he writes to truckers, in today's communication, Dave gave this explanation of how the pack enters a highway with 200-300 bikes: "With that many bikes in the pack it takes almost 12 miles to get up to road speed of 65 which is 5 under the posted speed limit. The right lane of I-40 and I-10 [for May 15 locations] will be tied up for a long time until all riders and last man vehicle get on the highway. Sheepdog [Central Route Coordinator] and Pied Piper [Southern Route Coordinator] are actually driving a motorcycle that is over two hundred bikes long, and will maintain ramp speed until everyone gets on the highway, then slowly roll up to speed. Just getting everyone on the highway takes almost 3 miles."
