Bringing SMILES to faces
Put Your Tongue in the Wind
We're changing our start date so that I can be in Raleigh for the Triangle Flight of Honor. This is a non-profit organization that flies our World War II veterans to Washington DC and they spend a day visiting their WWII memorial and other memorials.
On May 3, we will start at the Harnett County Veterans Memorial in Lillington, NC and go to the east coast. We haven't decided on the destination, but it will probably be either Wrightsville Beach or Oak Island, both are in North Carolina.
On May 4, we will stand in honor of our WWII at the Triangle Flight of Honor at Raleigh-Durham airport. You will have a chance to meet me at the Atrium (parking deck) at the airport on the evening of May 4.
On May 5, we will again start at the Harnett County Veterans Memorial and begin our westward trek across the US. I think this is also the National Day of Prayer. I'm hankerin' for a Chewy-burger at Smackers, so we may spend the night at Maggie Valley. Before we depart, we will determine our route, estimate our fuel stops and our butt-stretch-stops, and post them on this web page. We're thinking about a short break to visit at the Visitors Center at Salisbury National Cemetery in North Carolina.
On May 6, we will ride Tail of the Dragon (US 129) -- that reminds me of the song "129" by the MeanStreet Riders. If the weather is good, we might ride it a few times. We will go south to Atlanta and spend the night near Columbus, GA on May 6.
On May 7, we will roll into Alabama and head south to Destin or Ft Walton Beach, FL, where I can see the Gulf of Mexico. If they're available, we're going to link-up with our friends Dowlin, Shannon, Denese and Christine of the MeanStreet Riders and family!
On May 8, we will be in Marshall, TX and we will stay there on May 9.
That's about as far as we've planned so far. We think we may make it to Van Horn, TX on May 10, but we'll paw over that while we're in Marshall.
My driver designed a calendar to summarize each day's destination and posted in my "Route" page. (When you go to my route page, please scroll down to see my travel calendar.) Much of it will be plugged in as we go, particularly on the return to the east. Thomas, my driver, and I are going to try to be as flexible as we can, but we want to be in Washington, DC no later than May 21. If we can arrive earlier, we will.
Today, we went to the funeral service for Darleen Zupo, a US Air Force veteran. We escorted Ms. Darleen and her family from Elizabethtown, NC to Sandhills National Cemetery (near Ft Bragg, NC). Thomas and my driver had the Honor and Remember flag and PGR flag for people to sign. Please respect that signing the Honor and Remember flag is reserved for Gold Star families.
This afternoon, Jeff Davis gave me his helmet camera. It's much more high-tech than the one we're using now. If you see an improvement in our videos, you can thank Jeff. If not, then my driver hasn't figured out how to use it. My driver will be spending the next few days working with the camera. He's thinking about mounting it on top of the T-Bag so you can get a perspective of sitting behind me -- sort of like me being your driver.
My driver ordered 1,000 custom business cards and we should have them before the Triangle Flight of Honor on May 4. I hope that is enough for our mission. You can check out the front and back of the card below.
On May 3, we will start at the Harnett County Veterans Memorial in Lillington, NC and go to the east coast. We haven't decided on the destination, but it will probably be either Wrightsville Beach or Oak Island, both are in North Carolina.
On May 4, we will stand in honor of our WWII at the Triangle Flight of Honor at Raleigh-Durham airport. You will have a chance to meet me at the Atrium (parking deck) at the airport on the evening of May 4.
On May 5, we will again start at the Harnett County Veterans Memorial and begin our westward trek across the US. I think this is also the National Day of Prayer. I'm hankerin' for a Chewy-burger at Smackers, so we may spend the night at Maggie Valley. Before we depart, we will determine our route, estimate our fuel stops and our butt-stretch-stops, and post them on this web page. We're thinking about a short break to visit at the Visitors Center at Salisbury National Cemetery in North Carolina.
On May 6, we will ride Tail of the Dragon (US 129) -- that reminds me of the song "129" by the MeanStreet Riders. If the weather is good, we might ride it a few times. We will go south to Atlanta and spend the night near Columbus, GA on May 6.
On May 7, we will roll into Alabama and head south to Destin or Ft Walton Beach, FL, where I can see the Gulf of Mexico. If they're available, we're going to link-up with our friends Dowlin, Shannon, Denese and Christine of the MeanStreet Riders and family!
On May 8, we will be in Marshall, TX and we will stay there on May 9.
That's about as far as we've planned so far. We think we may make it to Van Horn, TX on May 10, but we'll paw over that while we're in Marshall.
My driver designed a calendar to summarize each day's destination and posted in my "Route" page. (When you go to my route page, please scroll down to see my travel calendar.) Much of it will be plugged in as we go, particularly on the return to the east. Thomas, my driver, and I are going to try to be as flexible as we can, but we want to be in Washington, DC no later than May 21. If we can arrive earlier, we will.
Today, we went to the funeral service for Darleen Zupo, a US Air Force veteran. We escorted Ms. Darleen and her family from Elizabethtown, NC to Sandhills National Cemetery (near Ft Bragg, NC). Thomas and my driver had the Honor and Remember flag and PGR flag for people to sign. Please respect that signing the Honor and Remember flag is reserved for Gold Star families.
This afternoon, Jeff Davis gave me his helmet camera. It's much more high-tech than the one we're using now. If you see an improvement in our videos, you can thank Jeff. If not, then my driver hasn't figured out how to use it. My driver will be spending the next few days working with the camera. He's thinking about mounting it on top of the T-Bag so you can get a perspective of sitting behind me -- sort of like me being your driver.
My driver ordered 1,000 custom business cards and we should have them before the Triangle Flight of Honor on May 4. I hope that is enough for our mission. You can check out the front and back of the card below.
Front
Back
This is the Honor and Remember Flag we will be carrying across the country. This flag is available to Gold Star families to sign.
Thomas Sanders is on the left. He's going to be my Wingman on this honor mission. The guy on the right is just my driver.
Thomas Sanders is on the left. He's going to be my Wingman on this honor mission. The guy on the right is just my driver.
Photo by "One More"
