KINGDOM CITY, Mo. - It matters not whom you ask, though there are hundreds assembled. Motorcyclists riding with Reed Hickam, senior ride captain of the Patriot Guard Riders, all have one goal in mind: honoring American veterans.
"When you see them get off the bus in Columbia, especially the World War II veterans, all bright-eyed and walking with pep in their step " Hickam said before choking up.
On Wednesday night, at least 353 motorcycles and dozens of law enforcement officers - and others without bikes but with willing hearts - gathered to celebrate veterans home from their daylong trip to Washington, D.C. It was the 40th Honor Flight from Central Missouri.
Motorcycles started assembling late Wednesday afternoon in the parking lot of the Firefighters Memorial in Kingdom City. Maybe it was the place, with a larger-than-life sculpture of a kneeling firefighter looming above, flags whipping in the breeze. Maybe it was the event, with two busloads of veterans leaving Columbia early Wednesday morning for the St. Louis airport, then on to the nation's capital. While there, they were taken to monuments dedicated to them and their unflinching service to our nation.
Since 2009, more than 2,300 veterans have been escorted, for free, to Washington and back. Hickam has been there for them since flight No. 2, he said.
"The first one - we didn't know about it. We didn't know until the second one," he said. "They were on a bus and got here (to Kingdom City), and it broke down. They got them another bus and got them reloaded, but the pilot (in St. Louis) heard they were running late. He sat in the waiting room and said he wouldn't fly until they got there."
Hickam said he felt he should start a movement to escort the veterans home.
"I put the call out, I put emails out, and got four other guys to join me," he said of that second Honor Flight. "They didn't know we were coming. We escorted them into Columbia."
Now motorcycle enthusiasts come from all over the Midwest to join in. He said the largest escort, in 2012, was close to 1,000 motorcycles.
The motorcycle riders escort the buses, and they in turn are escorted by law enforcement officers in patrol cars with lights on, herding everyday traffic on Interstate 70 away from the motorcycle escort. Communications are tight, so the Patriot Guard Riders know when the plane carrying the veterans arrives back in St. Louis.
Debbie LaRue, of the Callaway Bank in Fulton, drives up for many of the flights because she loves the patriotism and, frankly, the roar of the pipes.
"The (Missouri) Highway Patrol gets word the plane has landed and gives it to the Patriot Guard's leaders," she said. "Then they all get on their bikes and rev up."
Down the highway, a group of people with the Shryocks family at Callaway Farm built a bonfire and waited for the riders and veterans' buses to pass by. Children sang songs and ran around with sparklers while adults waited nearby with their hand-held American flags.
"You cannot get close enough to that fire to get ride of the goosebumps," LaRue said of the Honor Flight passing by.
A Tipton couple, David and Becka Bledsoe, said they come to these events regularly. But on Nov. 2, 2011, a terrible thing happened.
"We were on our way home after a ride when we hit a deer," Becka Bledsoe said. "My husband lost a leg, and I had a major brain injury."
David Bledsoe, a former U.S. Marine, said despite the accident, he's never missed participating in a ride.
"I've never missed one - maybe not on a bike, but in a wheel chair," he said. "It's a simple thing but it means a lot. I went as a guardian (escort to D.C.) last year on one of the flights."
The Bledsoes ride a Suzuki Boulevard motorcycle, he added.
"I got a new leg, and three weeks later I got a new bike," he said, laughing.
Chuck Sherman, of Ashland, said he rides for the same reason as the others.
"Showing honor to our veterans," he said. "There's not enough people that do that."
He came alone Wednesday night, missing his wife, Brenda.
"My wife is in the hospital, but she told me I had to come," he said. "She's been a guardian on several flights. I've done every one of these (rides) except the first three."
Sgt. Matt Broniec, a Missouri state trooper posted in Boone County, coordinated much of the law enforcement detail Wednesday night.
"I'm at the back," he said of the long line of motorcycles.
The bikes travel west on I-70 two-by-two, each bike getting to pass the veterans' buses on the way home to Columbia.
"A lot of our guys will block the intersections, a temporary shutdown," Broniec said. "We've never had a complaint, and this is our 40th flight.
Rick Williams, a veteran who spent nine years on the USS Stonewall Jackson submarine, volunteered information at the Firefighters Memorial. He said he doesn't ride a motorcycle.
"I have faith that God gave me four wheels for a reason," he said, laughing. "I have a great deal of respect for these guys who ride."
Korean War veteran Bill McMahan, 73, and his wife, Rosemary, drove up in their Stallion motor trike, made by Thoroughbred Motor Sports. It's a bike that has a steering wheel, automatic transmission and even climate control.
"It'll get up and move," Rosemary McMahon said.
Bill McMahon said he went on an honor flight once as an honored veteran.
"They rode for me, so I ride for them," he said.
His wife said he doesn't always drive, however.
"Sometimes he rides behind me," she said. "Its a thrill when you get in there around those bikes. There's no better feeling."
Central Missouri Honor Flight has a website with information including how to donate, centralmissourihonorflight.com. People also may call 573-256-1930 to leave a message.