Flag Cycled Hundreds of Miles to Marine Bases

By Angela Monroe

CREATED Nov. 9, 2012

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  • In honor of our veterans, a dozen active military servicemen are bicycling to deliver a flag to Twentynine Palms Marine Base, and then onto Camp Pendleton in a 200 mile, three day trip. Video by kmir6.com

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In honor of our veterans, a dozen active military servicemen are bicycling to deliver a flag to Twentynine Palms Marine Base, and then onto Camp Pendleton in a 200 mile, three day trip.

Cathedral City High School Choir provided voices of inspiration to fuel a long, arduous trek up and over the mountains.
"Uphill is going to be hard, it's going to be fun, been wanting to do it for a long time, the wind's going to be a factor, going to make it a little tougher but we'll make it," said Marine Corps veteran, Russ Evans.
And uphill they go, climbing thousands of feet in elevation.
Residents and community leaders showing their support.
"It's for our servicemen, for our active servicemen, for our veterans, combined with the sponsorship of the Tour de Palm Springs, which is a fabulous event every year in our Coachella valley," said baseball legend, Steve Garvey.
Boxing champion, Timothy Bradley, is impressed by their long journey.
"I could run about ten miles, but man, bike cycling over 200 miles, that's unbelievable, that takes a lot of courage, a lot of determination and you know you definitely have to have a purpose for doing it," said Bradley.
And that purpose is to honor veterans, deliver flags to the bases and the ride is also in memory of Gunnery Sergeant Daniel Price who was killed in Afghanistan this July.
Helping to lead this ride, is Tour de Palm Springs charity founder, Tim Esser.
"We're asking people if you can call any of the local non-profit organizations, make a donation, but if you can't make a donation, it's important that they at least call a veteran, call a serviceman that is serving currently and just thank them for their services, that's very important that they do that," said Esser.
As they biked across the desert and into the Morongo Valley, cars honked and people cheered.
"I just think it's real important to support the troops still, we're still over both Iraq and Afghanistan, and it's going to be a while until we leave so, we need all the support we can get, it feels good knowing the people back home still support us," said Evans.
So Marine, Navy, Army and Air Force servicemen are cycling through our mountains with an important flag to deliver.