Charley Barnes Leaves On His ‘Honor Flight Endurance Ride’ in 8 Short Days

Memorial Day is a perfect day to sponsor miles in Memoriam of your fallen hero for the Honor Flight Northern Colorado Endurance Ride, in just 8 short days.

Today is Memorial Day, a day to honor our fallen heroes, and a time to reflect on our freedom and those who have paid the ultimate price to help keep it that way.

It also gives me a good chance to make one last plea to you, to everyone who supports our Veterans and are appreciative of what they have done for our great country, living or not.

I am doing my part by getting off the couch and riding 10,000 miles in 10 days as a fundraiser for Honor Flight Northern Colorado to help send Veterans to Washington D.C. to see their memorials this coming Fall. Every single dollar raised through this effort goes directly to Honor Flight Northern Colorado so here is your chance to sponsor some miles in Memoriam of your fallen hero and actually support our local Veterans.

Liking a page on Facebook or leaving a nice comment somewhere is awesome, but it doesn't actually support the cause; your donations do. Each mile is only $1 and you can sponsor as many as you like. Hundreds of the miles that have already been sponsored have been done so to honor those who are no longer here.

There is also one active soldier, the son of a very good friend of mine, who has already donated about $300 and is also donating $2 for every donation that is military related. He made a good point when he said it's not everyday you get to just freely spend someone else's money, but he's hoping you meet his challenge:

I hope they spend all my money. It's worth every dollar so start spending my money - Erik Klinger/U.S. Army-75th Ranger Regiment

We are close to $15,000 (each sheet I can fill is worth $10K and I am on sheet #2) but would be even happier to see $20,000 by the time I leave on 4 June. If would like to donate, please visit our Facebook Page and click on the "about" section for all the easy instructions on how to go about sponsoring some miles and getting your donation to Honor Flight.

The ride is a monster ride by anyone's definition but I am making it even more difficult by throwing in the Border to Border run (Canada to Mexico in 24 hours) and that will be followed by the Coast to Coast run (San Diego to Jacksonville in 48 hours).

The ride will officially leave from the Weld County Veterans Memorial in Greeley on Wednesday, 4 June at 0800 and will return to Greeley, 240 hours later, on 14 June - Flag Day.

• Leg 1  Weld County Veterans Memorial to Sweet Grass, MT 858.2 Miles
• Leg 2  Canadian Border to Mexico Border (Border to Border) 1446.2 Miles
• Leg 3  San Diego CA to Junction TX (CC50) 1168.4 Miles
• Leg 4  Junction TX to Jacksonville FL (CC50) 1176.3 Miles
• Leg 5  Jacksonville FL to Florence SC (Via Miami/Tampa) 965.8 Miles
• Leg 6  Florence SC to Portland ME 938.4 Miles
• Leg 7  Portland ME to Hagerstown MD (Via Bangor ME) 998.5 Miles
• Leg 8  Hagerstown MD to Green Bay WI (Via Lexington KY) 1116.0 Miles
• Leg 9  Green Bay WI to Greeley CO 1153.3 Miles

If you want to see pics and daily updates please visit, like and bookmark the official Honor Flight Northern Colorado Endurance Ride Facebook page (link above). There will be a GPS tracker active anytime I'm awake so you can always track the ride anytime you want by clicking the link below.