Riding as One: The Heartbeat of Run for the Wall with Ed Wehner

Feel the thunderous heartbeat of America as we're joined by the awe-inspiring Ed Wehner from Run for the Wall. This organization sees veterans and supporters thunder across the nation on an awesome motorcycle ride. They start in California and ride all the way to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C. in a moving tribute that extends beyond the asphalt. We're not just talking about a ride; it's a full-blown mission to heal, remember, and unite. This episode takes you behind the scenes of a 34-year tradition, where every rev and every mile stands for a story, a memory, and a promise kept to those who served.

Ed Wehner pulls back the curtain on the camaraderie and patriotism fueling this epic journey, providing a glimpse into the hearts of riders from all corners, including California, Colorado, and Texas. We explore the meticulous planning that goes into the ride, from the overnight stops in towns like Lewisburg, West Virginia, to the police-escorted finale into the nation's capital. The sense of community is palpable, with local towns like Marshall, Virginia, playing host to these heroes on wheels. As we chat about the collective excitement for the ride, it's clear that this is more than an event—it's a rolling testament to the bonds that form when the rubber meets the road in honor of those who’ve served.

Chapters

• 0:00 Run for the Wall
• 12:58 Run for the Wall Route Details
• 23:25 Exciting Discussion About Trikes and Events

Transcript

Larry Zilliox: 0:15

Good morning. I'm Larry Zilliox, Director of Culinary Services here at the Warrior Retreat, and today our guest is Ed Wainer. He is with Run for the Wall, which is a motorcycle run that stretches across the country, and it's a run that focuses on supporting veterans and veteran issues. And so welcome, Ed, thank you. I'd like to begin with just if you could give us a brief overview of the organization and what the run is all about.

Ed Wehner: 0:45

So Run for the Wall is basically a group of veterans and their supporters that ride their motorcycles from California, the Los Angeles area to the DC Vietnam Veterans Memorial every year and we get here every Memorial Day weekend. And then there's another route that leaves on the Sunday of Memorial Day that goes to the Middle East Conflicts Memorial in Marseilles, Illinois, so along the way, really, the main focus of it is on promoting healing among veterans and calling for a complete accounting of all the missing and action and killed in action in all wars and as well as supporting the families that have fallen and the military who are in service today.

Larry Zilliox: 1:27

And how many runs have there been.

Ed Wehner: 1:29

So this year is going to be the 34th year of doing it Whoa, okay. So in the Middle East there was a gentleman out in California, Gunny Gregory, who was in the Marine Corps. He was in Vietnam. There were several friends of his that were left behind and so he was kind of a lifelong motorcyclist and at about the time that Rolling Thunder was getting started in the DC area the following year they got together and decided that so Run for the Wall was born and he had scouted he'd kind of pre-scouted this whole route that went across the country, and I think the miracle of it at the time was that he was able to, in kind of one year's time, get all the support in place. Like there was many church groups and organizations that really got behind what he was trying to do and that is to call for an accounting of the missing action and killed in action POWs from all wars, and it's had great support for the last 34 years now. So it's been.

Ed Wehner: 2:33

It's really this amazing event to see Patriotism across the country. They show this is the welcome home that so many veterans never got. So it's really when you pull into towns and you just see this outpouring of love for vets. It's just there's a lot of not many dry eyes. We point to places like Junction City, kansas, and there's like a gauntlet of flags and well-wishers and it's a really it's a great event. It brings a lot of healing to people who've suffered and unborn the hardest effects of war. Mm-hmm.

Larry Zilliox: 3:14

And has it always been the same route. So are you ending up in the same towns year after year?

Ed Wehner: 3:21

Yeah, so what's happened is the routes have changed a little bit, but more or less we do end up in the same places every year. Yeah, so as things grew, they originally there was like the original route is what today is referred to as the central route.

Larry Zilliox: 3:36

Okay.

Ed Wehner: 3:38

And so then at some point like I think it was in like around the early 2000s they split off to the, they made a southern route and then they eventually split that off and there's now a midway route. So there's three routes. They all pretty much go to the same, you know, to the same towns that they went to every year, with minor adjustments depending on you know. Maybe if something doesn't work well one week, one year, they'll kind of adjust it and work and make some changes to it.

Larry Zilliox: 4:05

Sure.

Ed Wehner: 4:06

The just before the pandemic they had started the process of scouting the route that takes them from DC back out to Illinois and then. So the first year back after the pandemic was the first year that they ran the Sandbox route to the Memorial there.

Larry Zilliox: 4:24

And how long does it take? If you start the ride in California and you end up here in Virginia, how long is the ride?

Ed Wehner: 4:32

So the rides are either 10 or 11 days, and so it takes a while. And to a person like myself, when I first became aware of the run, it seemed like well, you know, gosh, when I go across country on a motorcycle, I'm like three days I'm in California. So this is a lot different, but these are 10 very intense days, or emotional days. They're not. It's not an easy ride. It's difficult, but it's also extremely rewarding to do it.

Larry Zilliox: 5:02

Yeah, about how many people participate.

Ed Wehner: 5:05

So when we leave California. So I would say that leaving California is probably around eight or 900 bikes, but they so. The route, that's the central route, is probably around 300 motorcycles. So and then I think another 300 probably the DC area, headed to Illinois.

Larry Zilliox: 5:27

And so the route is divided up into segments and it's basically day one goes from LA to this town and then day two to that town, and do you get folks to join you along the way or just ride for one segment one day?

Ed Wehner: 5:44

Yeah, so the rule is that you can. We allow people to join at the overnight stops, and so the only requirement is that you have to be present at the morning meeting. So there's a safety briefing in the morning before we get going. Sure, talk about any hazards out there, talk about kind of what we're up against and whatnot. So then, as long as you can join in, for instance, corridon, indiana, you can join there and then ride with us the rest of way, or just ride for a day or two, whatever you're comfortable with.

Larry Zilliox: 6:16

Mm-hmm, and how does weather affect what you do?

Ed Wehner: 6:21

It can affect things a lot, so you have to be ready for everything. But they have a definitely a tendency to take safety into account. So first year I ran it. I think day one you're going through the Mojave Desert and you have lunch at a little town called Needles, california, and it was, I think, 107 degrees. So two days later we were in snow, or we were waiting out snow in Riton, new Mexico, and so they just they held a tendency to we. Basically they have to make decisions based on the safety of the rider. So there's a mountain pass they had to go over after you left Riton, so we just had to wait until that cleared and then we can continue to run. So it affects you, you're in it. We don't. Typically, once you get going, you don't stop for putting on your rain gear. So when we stop at a fuel stop, the people will tell the new people like, just watch what everyone's doing and if you see everyone putting your rain gear on, probably a good idea to put your rain gear on.

Larry Zilliox: 7:29

So yeah, and Each night. Where is everybody staying? Are they camping? Are they in a hotel?

Ed Wehner: 7:37

Yeah. So there's most of the people these days stay in hotels and there's state coordinators all along the way that do this marvelous job of organizing the hotels and making sure that they're available and getting good rates and discounts. But then there are a group of people that prefer to camp out, so usually they'll have some maybe municipal campground or some, you know, to help something worked out where people can camp along the way. So there are some people that that's what they, that's the way they prefer to travel and it's great. I think in the beginning of it it was probably mostly camping Right and now it's probably mostly hotels.

Larry Zilliox: 8:15

After 34 years, the riders aren't as young as they used to. That's right, that's true. And there's a big difference between sleeping in a bed and sleeping on the ground.

Ed Wehner: 8:24

Well, that is true.

Larry Zilliox: 8:26

So and I'm guessing that your lovely wife rides with you on this- no, she won't.

Ed Wehner: 8:32

She doesn't, really, she won't go on a run. She's not a highway person. So there's a bit of it that's highway and there's a lot of it that's highway, and so that's really not her thing. Wow, that's a surprise. Supports me from afar and she's a big cheerleader. So we come into Virginia and wherever the closest place is, you'll see her up on a bridge waving a flag. So which is a great thing to the riders, they love that, that support that you get just from going on her bridge.

Larry Zilliox: 8:59

Yeah, yeah, that's really good. And, to your recollection, what's the place that you've landed over the years where you get the most turnout for people cheering you on?

Ed Wehner: 9:12

Boy, that's a good. That's a hard question Because some of these towns they just it's like the entire town comes out. So In particular for us on a central route, I think and I think each route probably has their has their own Towns that really come out for them. There's a, there's a little town in West Virginia called Raynell, and the route ended up going there the first year because the, as the story goes, they were trying to go down 64 and there's there's it's tolls, right. So so they had, I think, around 200 motorcycles that year and they get to the toll booths and what they were trying to do is to have the, to have essentially the last bike pay the tolls for everybody. And so the West Virginia toll operator said no, you had, each bike has to pay individually, and so you decided they couldn't do that.

Ed Wehner: 10:00

So so what they did is they got off near Charleston and came on in us 60 and there was a town where they're kind of trying to figure out which way to go and how to get there, and and there was a sheriff that comes up and just asked them who they were and what they were doing, because you got these 200 motorcycles on the side of the road. So so what they did is they? They leave this sheriff and they go up over this mountain pass and come down into this little town of Raynell and there's a parade there and the riders are asking, well, who's who's a parade for? And they said, well, praise for you guys. And so so what happened is the sheriff had had toll, hadn't ready with a head, and, and the fire department came out, these came out and they set up this little parade. So Ever since then they've been coming to this town, and so what they do is that there's an elementary school there that empties out.

Ed Wehner: 10:50

The children Come out with these little books that they've made up, and the riders, they, the whole thing is they're trying to get autographs from the riders and and then the, the kids are just so sweet and they come to come out and they'll, they'll ask you about your time in service and what the rides been like, and they're, and they're just lovely children and you're what you're, the people.

Ed Wehner: 11:10

The children in the school Are the children of parents who were in that school the first year that the ride came through. Oh, yeah, yeah, right, there's four pictures, yeah, and, and so it's just a great thing and they're the run. One of the things that we do is we contribute to charities that are that are kind of supportive of our cause, and so there's every year we've given a, a sizable donation to the school nice, and they've they've used it to build playgrounds by the kids, computers like, like this has benefited this, this community, so much. And it's kind of a hard scrabble community, sure, but they really that town, when you go, when you come to run out on, run for the wall, yeah, it is powerful, wow, it is a powerful thing.

Larry Zilliox: 11:55

Yeah, and so this year, how many riders do you think you're gonna have?

Ed Wehner: 12:01

We're doing pretty good so far, so Probably some initial last year, I think. We're right now. We have registered at least on the central route, I think, around 300 and change riders, so we're seemingly pretty good. Yeah so that's a big number. Yeah it's a good. That's a good, it's a good number. So it's a lot of coordination has to fix that, has to like happen to make sure that all this works evenly.

Larry Zilliox: 12:25

Yeah, now did you see an increase in ridership when rolling thunder went away, or?

Ed Wehner: 12:31

not really. I think it's been. It's been fairly even. You know that. I think what was what's, what's unique in the DC area is that rolling thunder was such an oversized presence in the area in on a more of a weekend, and so now with they, they have an unkind of a replacement ride called rolling to remember, and it's, but it doesn't have the same presence that rolling thunder had. So and it hasn't really affected our. You know what we get here in the DC area. You know we get a lot of people from coming from California, california, colorado, texas, southwest. It's very run for the wall is very popular out there, yeah, so so it doesn't really affect us that much and how do?

Larry Zilliox: 13:16

if I wanted to ride, I'm assuming I have to register, and is that through?

Ed Wehner: 13:20

your web page. Yeah, so there's a website, rftwus, and you can sign up there. There's I think it's this time I think it's $60 to register and that and that covers you for the run. It's really, it's a, it's a great, it's a super bargain because we, most of the meals are covered, so they're donated by the communities, right? I think last year I may have paid, I may have bought two meals like a breakfast and a dinner or something like that, and then about half your fuel is typically donated by by communities. So so the state coordinators again there, and their real heroes of this is that they, they work to get donations and Community support to keep up cost low for the riders.

Larry Zilliox: 14:02

Sure, you guys are landing in West Virginia To start that final leg. I forget the date.

Ed Wehner: 14:10

It's so we so we stay in Lewisburg, we overnight in Lewisburg, west Virginia, right on May 23rd, okay, and that's the central route. So, and then, so that last leg is from Lewisburg up into DC, okay.

Larry Zilliox: 14:24

Well, we're excited because I'm gonna be there, my wife's gonna be there. I booked our hotel. Oh, that's fantastic. Diane and Sarah are gonna be there as well. That's great. I am curious, too, because I I when we travel, I like to find the best restaurant I can in where we're staying right, and I found it, and it was very interesting that all the way into May, the one night that we're staying in town, this restaurant is completely full. You couldn't get a reservation, so I'm thinking your ride, or that's us, yeah, are like ooh, I'm gonna get a good meal here. He's true, and that's true, so I found a different one that's, I think, like the second.

Ed Wehner: 15:05

So Well, you stick with me. I've got an inside track here and I'll. Okay, you can have dinner with us.

Larry Zilliox: 15:11

Yeah, awesome. So Well, that's really exciting. So now you're gonna stay overnight on May 23rd in Lewisburg, West Virginia, which is right off of 64. And that puts you about three and a half hours out from Marshall, where I think everything lands.

Ed Wehner: 15:33

Yeah. So what we're doing this year is a little different on the center route is we are Our lunch stop on Friday is gonna be here at Northern Frockere Community Park, and so what there is there's two fuel stops that get us there. So we stop in Raffine, Virginia, which has been our stop for many years, and then there's a stop that is at Tom's Brook, Virginia. There's also there's a breakout. There's a little breakout group that'll go to New Market Battlefield and pay their respects there and then join back up with us for the ride into Marshall. So then from Marshall, after lunch we'll have a police escort that'll take us from Marshall into Arlington to the hotels there.

Larry Zilliox: 16:18

And both of those fuel stops are along 81. I mean, if you guys come over 66 and then up 81 or 64 to 81, we'll see.

Ed Wehner: 16:28

Yeah, it's a very simple. Virginia's driving lease is very it's a very simple affair, and then we'll get off at exit 27 on 66 and come through Marshall and on into the park.

Larry Zilliox: 16:40

Well, I really don't understand why your wife doesn't like to ride with you on route 81 and see all the truck drivers, which are a fun bunch, and I don't know if you're aware of this, but pretty soon, right out that way, there's a Bucky's going in, so you might want to make that a stop. That's gonna be quite the show.

Ed Wehner: 17:02

But it's really, it's interesting that, and no matter how many times I tell her the story, she still says well, you're on 81, so you're on the highway, but the run has a group of road guards that ride with them. And these road guards, they're the best motorcyclists in the world and they escort you, protect you from traffic. They have a whole system that they work out with, with drivers on the highway, so that they can you know, because drivers and truckers I'm sure they're confused by what they see Is this a long line of motorcycles? Well, how do I get through that If I want to get to my exit? The road guards understand how to operate with that and they'll tend to get people in, you know, get trucks and cars in and out of the pack without causing accidents, and so it's much safer than when Laurie and I are just, you know, bombing along at 81, you know, just by fending for ourselves.

Larry Zilliox: 17:56

Yeah right, well, that's good, you need that. I've seen that in work. One time I just happened to be getting on 66 one day when Rolling Thunder was coming in, and it was quite a sight. I mean, as far back as I could see in my rearview mirror were motorcycles, and then there were the riders out in the other lane with the road guard vests on that were not messing around. It's a good time to use your turn signal if you're in the middle of all this. Let people know what you want to do and they'll help you out, that's for sure. So talk about Marshall. We need to get folks out to Marshall, right? What time are you? Yeah, so the next director.

Ed Wehner: 18:37

The current plan is we would exit at exit 27 on 66 at, I think, 1.05 pm on Friday May 24th. And so what is what typically happens in a community like Marshall is they'll have, you know, people get the word out beforehand and a lot of the shopkeepers and and patrons down in the village would have flags and just cheer the riders on. That is a. It's a tremendous lift for the riders, yeah, and then once you get to, if people were so inclined, they could also come to the park to welcome us. We're probably going to have, we're hopefully we'll have the fire department out at the park. At the park we also have a. We have a souvenir trailer, so that'll be with us as well, and so people can buy t-shirts and whatnot from the run Nice, and they have great t-shirts, by the way.

Larry Zilliox: 19:32

Okay.

Ed Wehner: 19:33

There you go, so, and also there's also you know ways if you wanted to donate or whatever, you could do that too. So it's really, even though we have lunch provided for the riders at the park, we don't, we don't, we're not providing food and food services for for, let's say, regular people that come to cheer us on, but it's, it's just great to have have the support of people at the park and also in the community and the rail through.

Larry Zilliox: 19:59

So I guess we want people either in Marshall by 1245 or at the park around that time so you all can videotape the riders coming in with your phones and put it up on Facebook and take a talk in every other internet place there is. That's right 12, okay 1230, 1240.

Ed Wehner: 20:21

Yeah, and so there's also just to kind of explain what happens is there'll be a pack of there's a staging crew that, and the staging crew's job is to get the bikes into position for the next part of the run.

Ed Wehner: 20:36

So the staging crew comes through probably about 15 minutes before the main pack and they'll get to the park and get set up so that they know how to get the bikes in and out. There's also a team of ambassadors that come through and they'll interact with the people who are in the community, maybe give out pins and just thank them for their support. And then there's also a fueling crew that comes through that there's no fuel stuff in front of us, but they come through in front of the pack. And then there's a road guard. So there's a lot of activity that happens, let's say, about 10 or 15 minutes before the pack comes through. So don't be confused when you see just a few people. There's more, yeah, there's more coming, okay, and then when we exit 66, falkier County will be escorting us through Marshall. So you'll see the Sheriff's Department and whatnot will be all set up.

Larry Zilliox: 21:26

So yeah, and that park there, that Falkier County Park it hits Northern Falkier County is really nice. Oh, it's a beautiful park. Yeah, it's really nice. I'm really excited about you all coming and supporting us. We highly appreciate it.

Ed Wehner: 21:45

And we appreciate the support of willing warriors. I mean, it's just a great organization and you're right in the kind of the sweet spot of what we're supporting, and so it's a great relationship.

Larry Zilliox: 21:56

Yeah, so tell us the webpage again.

Larry Zilliox: 22:04

It's wwwrftwus us On the page. You can click on the central route and get all the information about the stops and the times, the dates, everything. So even if you're not writing, you wanna come out and support everyone. Please go to the website, make sure you got the right date and times and everything. But Marshall is the big stop in our area and that's gonna be around 1230, 1245,. Be in place so you don't miss anything. That's right, and it's gonna be a great time. The weather is gonna be phenomenal Beautiful and it's just gonna be a lot of fun, especially if you like motorcycles Exactly, I bet you. There's a whole bunch of different kind of motorcycles. There are a whole lot of different kinds.

Ed Wehner: 22:49

Do you have any of those three wheel jobs? There's a whole platoon. In fact, I think there's two platoons of trikes. There's trikes with trailers, motorcycle with trailers, there's motorcycles. So there's a platoon for everybody. When you say trailers.

Larry Zilliox: 23:04

Are there people who tow their bike on a trailer? I don't know.

Ed Wehner: 23:08

These are people that have a trailer they towed with the motorcycle, oh, and so they'll put us in it, like particularly in a camping world. So if you put your tent, your bag, your prom dress, whatever you need, you can put it in your trailer.

Larry Zilliox: 23:25

I like it. Okay, well, that's good. I'm very excited about that. I've been trying to get my wife to buy one of these trike things to ride around on so I can get a big leather jacket and stuff, but so far we haven't had much luck.

Ed Wehner: 23:38

Well, bring her out to the run for a while. Oh, excuse me, she'll see how rewarding this is. It'll be there in West Virginia and we'll be there in Mark Elizabeth.

Larry Zilliox: 23:45

That's so exciting. Well, great Listen. I really appreciate you coming by today, thank you and telling us all about this, and we're gonna get the word out and get as many people as we can there. It'll be very exciting. Appreciate it, and for our listeners, we will have another episode on Monday morning at 5 am. If you're an early riser who likes to get up and listen to podcasts, then there's one gonna be waiting for you. Until then, thanks for listening.