The following photos were sent by Judy Lacey and posted on 7/28/08:
Left, above, Pam Baker being interviewed in Oak Grove about her uncle, Eddie Livingston (his ashes are in the ammo box on the back of the trailered bike). Right, above, Snow White and Grumpy. Below, left, RFTW arrives in Wentzville. Below, right, Shooter.
Left, above, VFW Post 5327 in Wentzville feeds us like royalty.
- - - - - - - - - -
Official Sit Reps from Central Route:
May 19th
Day 6 - Junction City to Wentzville
Our new stop in Junction City has been great! The people have really shown us their support and we are looking forward to sharing this experience with them again. We were greeted with a beautiful sunny morning and a delicious biscuits and gravy breakfast provided by CMA in the WalMart parking lot. We sent one platoon out early at 7:00 to visit the Topeka VA hospital who then met up with us at the first gas stop. As the rest of us pulled out we had 197 bikes.
As we pulled in to our lunch stop in Oak Grove, we fueled up courtesy of the VFW national headquarters and then had a lunch turkey and ham lunch provided by the Missouri Freedom Riders District #4. It was a hot sunny afternoon of riding and we are very grateful the rain has stayed ahead of us.
We stopped in Columbia for fuel and a police escort and then headed back out on the road for Wentzville, one of our most special stops. We had a free fuel stop and then a fantastic police escorted parade out to the VFW grounds where we were greeted by thousands of people waving flags and cheering us on. As always, the fire trucks were there to hoist the large flags at the entrance - always a spectacular site with the late day sun shining through.
We had a short ceremony where we heard from a POW and other Vets. It is always so special to hear first hand experiences of those who have fought to preserve our freedom. Afterwards we all ate a great homemade dinner and once again, fresh baked deserts. The grounds are beautiful and all the campers set up the home for the night and enjoyed visiting. "Easy", a very special patch making lady, came at 9:00 am this morning and stayed up all night serving us and making specialty patches for all the new road names that have been passed out this trip. It's been another wonderful day and we will all sleep well tonight.
- - - - - - - - - -
More from David Talley:
Day 6 is over. Junction City Kansas Marriot Convention Center fed us a great spaghetti dinner. The sauce even had meat in it. It was a great welcome, too. There was a group of local Viet Nam Vets that provided breakfast. They even delivered plates of food and coffee to our staging crew (These guys start their day at 0530 and never get breakfast, or enough time to eat it. Eating on post isn't fun but it is better than not eating).
One of our riders from previous years (He was an FNG in 2005 and is in the video made from that year. He is the one that actually said what FNG used to mean.) Doc was great and the food was all home made and cooked in the Wal Mart parking lot. Those folks were out there all night doing what they did.
Tolls on KS turnpike paid by Kansas Abate, along with the gas at the gas stop. Lunch at the Petro at exit 28 in MO on I-70 fuel provided by National VFW, fuel at Wentzville, MO provided by a donor at the Shell station. Dinner provided by VFW post 5327 and several other groups. The local fire department set up a huge flag for us to ride under. At lunch, I was interviewed by XM radio channel 171 Land Line Now. We had one incident getting through the first toll booth, and bike with trailer rear ended another trailer. Both rider and bike are fine, and the trailer is also already repaired. Then the leader of our 8th platoon lost his throttle cable on the on ramp of I-70 coming out of the Columbia fuel stop, he got on the shoulder and sent his assistant to lead. Pretty good day considering some of us older hands are scared to death of Kansas City.
Frank (didn't get a last name), the post commander of VFW 5327, told me that all the meat was donated by the Wentzville beef and pork associations. Dinner was great and the breakfast here is simply the best food I have ever had. We had fifty bikes go to the Topeka VA hospital today. It is a small place and they asked us to come, but could not take the whole pack. I think that went well but have not had a chance to talk to anyone about it.
We registered almost 100 folks tonight, and there will be more tomorrow. My guestimation of bikes today was about 350 plus fuel crew, advance teams, and road guards. That puts us at over 400 bikes, and tomorrow we could be over 500. I know that registration is well over 700 now, but folks come in and out on different legs, so the number grows and drops. Tomorrow we go through St. Louis. That is a piece of cake compared to Kansas City, and we did fairly well in KC today.
Going to bed now, if I had to log these days I would have a lot of 14 hr. and 70 violations, but busy is good. The ladies are already cooking breakfast.
