The annual Run For The Wall motorcycle trip from California to Washington, DC, made its stop in Rainelle Thursday, with roughly 500 motorcycles rolling through the town at noon, then parking and spending two-and-a-half hours socializing on the grounds of Rainelle Elementary School. They ate a good lunch in the school cafeteria before moving on to Lewisburg to spend the night.
The ride begins in Ontario, California, and proceeds across the country, taking 10 days to travel the approximately 3,000 miles. The bikers arrive in DC in time for Memorial Day, when they join the group Rolling Thunder, which consists of motorcycles that circle the DC metropolitan area before arriving at the famous Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Many of those who ride served in Vietnam, and are quick to list the names of friends who died there.
The Run For The Wall began in 1989, when 38 motorcycles made the trip. Rainelle was not one of the scheduled stops in the beginning, but made itself noticed by letting kids out of school, and by showering the riders with appreciation and hospitality. It quickly became a favorite stop, and according to some of the riders now, it is the most-mentioned location by the riders as they cross the nation. It is a special sight to see the kids asking questions and getting autographs, and to see the riders, usually gray haired and often grizzled and a little motley, some of them reflecting the styles of the 1960s, when they were serving in the military and when American culture was pulled toward hippiedom.
Much of the ride is done on interstates, but Route 60 has become part of the itinerary because the West Virginia authorities wanted the motorcyclists to all stop at every toll booth on the turnpike and pay the toll individually. Leaders realized that was both a danger and an inconvenience, preferring to let the motorcycles roll on through the tolls, be counted, and for the bill to paid in one lump sum. When that didn’t happen, they switched to Route 60 for their journey from Charleston to Lewisburg. That is how Rainelle made it on to the bikers’ map.
Inside the school are posters featuring photos from past years’ events in Rainelle. Students do assignments on patriotic themes. There are drawings of U.S. flags. Everywhere there are people talking, laughing, meeting new faces.
Doug Estep, a captain with the Rainelle Fire Deptartment, said “We try to make it better every year.”
“This one of our favorites,” says Patti Gregory, the wife of founder James Gregory. “This is middle America. They are all patriotic. This community teaches their kids about veterans. They know what a POW is. Rainelle is one of our favorite places.”
Her husband, James Gregory, talked about the trip. “Rainelle is special. In 1989, we came off the hill there and I see all these people standing in the road. I didn’t know that the chief of police was a veteran and he had heard on his radio about these veterans coming over the mountain on the way to DC. He went and got a bunch of small flags, got the kids out of school, and met us in the streets of Rainelle. I was not expecting this at all. They surrounded us. We stopped in the middle of the road. Rainelle was not a town on our list. We’re doing Route 60, it was a beautiful day, people said, “Please come back … Rainelle is our home … Back when we started this, we could give kids rides on the backs of our motorcycles. Can’t do that anymore, liability and all that. Now the kids we’re seeing are the kids of the kids who we were seeing back in the nineties.”
“This is the town everybody talks about. All the way across the country,” says Greg Badle, from Colorado. He brought his daughter, who is 21. “The Run For the Wall changes your life,” he said. “I wish everyone could do it.”
