Along the way, they'll hook up with more riders from across the country. The goal is to be in Washington, D.C., on the Sunday before Memorial Day to participate in the Rolling Thunder Parade with nearly a quarter-million other motorcycle riders. Some just go out for a day or two and come back, but it's all important. There are no political speeches or demonstrations along the way. Stops are made at war memorials and veterans' hospitals.
Riders pay their own way and find plenty of support in the communities they travel through.
Run For The Wall began in 1989 as an effort by a couple of Vietnam veterans who traveled across America on motorcycles, talking to newspapers and local television and radio stations about the thousands of men and women still unaccounted for from our nation's wars. The Wall, of course, is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial where the names of nearly 60,000 American men and women who died in that war are engraved. This year, that ride begins at 6 a.m. on Wednesday at Denny's in Temecula. I know it's early, but I plan to be there to see the riders off. Maybe you can be there, too.