The Highground's Heroes Ride Makes a Stop in Loyal
Wednesday, July 31st, 2019 -- 1:23 PM
-Veteran Tom Kingsbury made a stop in Loyal yesterday, his 11th stop of the 1,700 mile journey known as The Highground’s Heroes Ride.I spoke with John Weiler, Executive Director at The Highground, and he explained the Heroes Ride in more detail.
"The Heroes Ride is the 35th Anniversary of the ride that started The Highground in 1984. Like I said, this is the 35th Anniversary. Originally, the first ride was 1,244 miles and that was to raise awareness that a Vietnam Veterans needed to be built in Wisconsin and also to honor the 1,244 KIA and MIA from Wisconsin in Vietnam."
"So, that is how that ride started. Fast forward 35 years and that's where we are right now. Tom is going around the state 1,700 miles. The number is actually 1,691. That's the number of KIA and MIA from Wisconsin from Vietnam to present day. Our mission on this trip is to actually make sure everyone in the state is aware of the veteran rate of suicide, which is 21 veterans a day commit suicide. Of those 21 veterans, 14 of them have never known that there's resources and help available to them. Our job is to make sure everyone around the state is aware of that. And that's what we're doing."
"Tom is on this mission right now. He will be completing the 1,700 miles. He will not be completing them on Sunday like we hoped, because it has been an emotionally draining and physically draining week and a half. So, he will be completing it at Elkheart Lake next weekend. So, that'll be awesome. So, he'll be getting in his last 250 miles at Elkheart Lake next weekend. I believe that's how short he is as of now. So, the quest and the van will be down there at Elkheart Lake, which will be great for our Heroes Ride in the future."
John said that this trip has been amazing, but it has also been challenging.
"There have been a lot of challenges. And I don't want to discourage it, but the challenges have been is that we....there are so many things honoring veterans, which is awesome. As a veteran, I really appreciate that. But what I'm seeing from a lot of people and what I'm hearing from a lot of people is 'we love what you're doing. Thank you. We support you. BUT, we have our own thing that we do for our own veterans.' And everybody is doing something for veterans, which is incredibly and we, as veterans, appreciate that."
"But it has been a challenge for us. It's been very mentally draining on Tom because he rides into a place expecting some people there and we just don't have anything. So, it's been tough. And Henry Smith, who's driving the van, came in here and said, 'this is what we've been looking for all of the last week and a half.' And there's not a lot of people here. But the people that are here, really, really support what he is doing. And that's absolutely awesome and Henry was very emotional and said, 'thank you so much for including me.' We didn't have to pick him, but he wanted to do it and it's an honor to have him. Henry Smith was on the very first ride for The Highground, the 1,244 miles in 1984. So, he's been a part of it for many, many years. And he drives the side vehicle. It's been a challenge. It's been really good. We've learned so much on this ride. It's been a great trip, but a challenging trip."
John also encouraged people to come to The Highground this Sunday to welcome Tom home and to welcome all the riders of The Highground’s Annual Bike Tour home.
"Our bike tour, which begins this Friday, August 2nd-4th. It's always the first weekend of August every year. They will be riding into The Highground on Sunday. If you're going to come, 11am is probably the best time to be there because they could come in at anytime between 11am-12:30pm. We're going to try and gather as many of the routes as we can together and have them all ride in together. But, I don't ,now how that's going to work out. And if you're interested in doing the ride, just call The Highground. If you're interested in joining the ride at any point, where ever you're at, we'll take people from everywhere."
"But, we're trying to honor all veterans and we want to make sure that everybody understands that. Our veterans, they've sacrificed so much and we need to honor them in any way, shape or form we can. And people do. I'm not saying they don't by saying we're discouraged, but we're learning a lot. We're learning a whole lot on this trip."
"So, yes, The Highground's Annual Bike Tour is coming into The Highground on Sunday. But the ride is actually Friday, Saturday and Sunday."
I spoke with Tom as well and he talked about his journey so far.
"My travels have been exciting. It's been challenging and I have a phenomenal crew to help me out. We left last Saturday, July 20th, and we left when that weather was bad. Really bad. And we rode through that stuff to get to Merrill on a timely basis. And then after that, we ran into a lot of storm damage throughout the northern part of Wisconsin. And we encountered a lot of what I call "road angels" that helped us out because we had so many detours along the way that they helped us because a local person knows the area better than we could. And the most notable one is when we were going into King, Wisconsin and we were just a few miles from the end and the road was closed and we had no idea where we were going to go. It just so happened that a guy on his bicycle came peddling by and helped us out with directions. And that was a lifesaver.
This isn’t the first time Tom has done this ride and he explained why he decided to do it again.
"Part of the reason for doing this is suicide awareness. 21 vets a day are committing suicide from PTSD and to just make people aware The Highground exists. Surprisingly, when one gets away from this area and into different parts of the state, they don't even realize that it's here. And just making that known to them is important. For example, there was a situation in Hillsboro at an event there. And we learned there was a gentleman there, a veteran, that was contemplating committing suicide. So, he called The Highground and got service. So, hopefully, things work out for him."
Again, Tom and the riders of The Highground’s Bike Tour will be coming into The Highground this Sunday around 11am and you’re encouraged to come and welcome them home.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.