One of the highlights we have been looking forward to enormously was the time we were to spend in the home town of the two main riders, Thomas Von Kaenel and Alvon (Ace) Elrod.
It was just great to be in the town, the people gave us a great welcome.
The day started for us with a ride from Toccoa, a town in the Eastern side of Georgia. As you can see the day actually started with a group photograph in front of the Court House in Toccoa.
Oh yes, that is Alvon doing the head stand.
In fact the Blog is all out of sync and I will be given more info about the days running up to and arriving in this fine town, but as our arrival in Clemson was so special I thought it sense to look at that right now.
As the riders left Georgia and crossed the State line to South Carolina they were joined by more intrepid bikers, and here they are, TVK, Greg Bauld, Alvon Elrod and Chip Bailey.
The RV driver and crew sadly could not bike on this occasion but could grab a coffee and meet some interesting people along the way,
We arrived at lunch time and were met by a very special old school friend and peer from those days, Lindsey Graham, for the English reader, Lindsey is the Senator for South Carolina. He has been a stalwart supporter of the mission since day one. We have met him in DC prior to the run and he has helped garner support as we have travelled.
The evening saw us return to the town centre and the town's memorial gardens for the ceremony that we do each day, this is where we read the names of 110 people that have dead in the wars since 9/11. This we do each day and will continue to do so 'till the end of the trip. In this way we will complete the naming of all that have died in the wars from both the UK and US since 9/11.
On Saturday we had more people by some margin than we would normally expect, in addition it was very welcome to hear the States's Senator add his comments on the mission and on the background to it.
Each card is read and the information it contains is, the name, rank and age of the man or woman that has died, it also tells of the place and town where they came from.
Our thanks must go to the three young Boy Scouts who did a very good job of passing around the cards an as well reading some of the names of the fallen.
The emotion of the event clearly evident on Tom's face last Saturday.
The bikers have cycled over 3,000 miles and have rather less than a thousand yet to ride to complete this marathon journey.
Toward the end of the day Tom and Alvon were able to catch up with friends and family, for me it was interesting to see the amazing people that have come from the class of '73.
Well here they are, at least some of them
and jumping for joy.....
Photographer's note, its a proven fact that friends cannot jump in the air together and not laugh!
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