Giving veterans and first responders a free bus ride to Dubois, Wyoming, to tour the world’s largest private collection of military vehicles is about more than a cool weekend getaway.
The Patriot Express, a new effort organized by Casper resident and 23-year military veteran Tom Day, aims to connect veterans with something deeper and more lasting by visiting the National Museum of Military Vehicles.
The nonprofit Patriot Express Honor Trips will make its first excursion next month.
“It’s a way for a veteran to connect with another veteran who knows what that person has been going through, who can talk the same language and carry a dialog,” Day said. “And that’s my main goal that they connect.”
Day is a career military vet as well as a former Gulf Coast sheriff’s deputy who has made Wyoming his home.
A Persian Gulf war veteran who did a tour in Iraq, Day during his career served in the U.S. Marines, U.S. Army, and retired from the U.S. Air Force.
He said his service left him with post-traumatic stress syndrome and traumatic brain injury diagnoses.
A year ago, Day went through the Veterans Talking to Veterans program because he wanted to help prevent suicide among veterans and first responders.
The graduation ceremony was held at the National Museum of Military Vehicles created by Dan Starks.
It also inspired an idea of how to keep veterans talking to each other while surrounded by historic vehicles and hardware they used.
Over a cup of coffee in the museum’s Canteen Restaurant, he thought about the Honor Flights to Washington, D.C., that take veterans of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War to see their memorials there.
There’s a waiting list to go for many of them, and Day also considered some veterans are not able to fly.
“Dan’s museum is just phenomenal,” he said. "And so I thought, ‘Well why can’t we do honor rides to Dan’s museum?’
“Because there are probably thousands of vets who don’t know about it and (others) who can’t get there be it (for) physical or financial reasons.”
Tom Day during his 23-year military career. (Courtesy Tom Day) 
Tom Day speaks during a “Veterans Talking to Veterans” course at the National Museum of Military Vehicles. (Courtesy Tom Day) 
Tom Day served in law enforcement following his 23-year military career. (Courtesy Tom Day) 
Tom Day began his military career as a U.S. Marine. (Courtesy Tom Day) 
Tom Day served in three military branches during his 23-year career, which included a deployment to Iraq. (Courtesy Tom Day)
Creating A Nonprofit
Day said he returned to Casper, and over Memorial Day weekend and through mid-June last year worked on creating the nonprofit.
Fundraising efforts have resulted in enough money to launch this year with three trips scheduled from Casper using Dakota Bus Service buses.
The first trip is scheduled for May 9-10, with others on July 23-24 and Sept. 11-12.
Day said he focused on first responders as well as veterans because many veterans go into law enforcement or first responder roles after their service.
“They want to continue serving,” he said.
But even if a first responder is not a veteran, he or she is still exposed to traumatic events, such as when a Byron, Wyoming, motherin February 2025 took the lives of her four children and herself.
They often need to talk with people who have been through similar experiences, he said.
Plans for the May trip include launching from the Casper Elks Club, which is putting on a breakfast for participants and Gov. Mark Gordon, who has been invited.
Wyoming Veteran’s Commission Executive Director Tim Sheppard, a retired colonel, also is scheduled to attend.
Day said members of the Casper Corvette Club plan to escort the bus from Casper to Dubois. On future trips, the bus will be escorted by motorcycle groups.
Once in Dubois, participants and a guest or support person will be hosted for a lunch at the museum, then Starks will guide a personal tour for the group.
Gordon has donated steaks for a dinner, and the group will spend the night at a local hotel before going back to the museum for breakfast and more exploring, then a bus ride back to Casper.
Day hopes that the meals, museum tour, and other fellowship opportunities will result in veterans finding common ground and the ability to share with one another.
National Museum of Military Vehicles owner Dan Starks. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
(Cowboy State Daily Staff) 
Despite a number of mom-and-pop motels and 90-some Airbnbs in the area, Dubois is often out of rooms for tourists in the summer. It was impacting growth for the National Museum of Military Vehicles, so owner Dan Starks is building a new 70-bed motel. (National Museum of Military Vehicles via Facebook) 
This military tank was part of Dubois 2025 Fourth of July parade. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Dan Starks in front of a line of military tanks and vehicles going in the 2024 Dubois Fourth of July Parade. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
Emphasizing ‘Connection’
“I am going emphasize ‘connection,’” Day said.
For the steak dinner, Day has invitations out to members of Wyoming's congressional delegation.
Plans call for three or four trips a season, with a pause during the winter months, Day said.
He said he is not locked into starting trips from Casper, and future tours may include buses from Cheyenne or Evanston to the museum as the nonprofit grows and expands.
There may be trips to other destinations such as Mount Rushmore, he said.
Day said as he looks around at Veterans of Foreign Wars or American Legion posts, he sees veterans from World War II nearly gone, Korean War vets pushing their mid-80s to mid-90s, and Vietnam veterans in their 70s and 80s.
Veterans from the global war on terror don’t generally get involved in the veterans’ groups because they are still working, have families, or just don’t want to, he said.
“My biggest concern is that veterans' groups are going to die out. And I thought it doesn’t matter what campaign we served in, we’re all veterans,” he said. “They don’t teach the Vietnam War in schools anymore or the history of it and so when those guys are gone, their stories are gone.”
Day said he started going to a couple of veteran’s groups to hear their stories and sees the power of veterans talking to veterans.
He believes his nonprofit is another means to provide those conversations.
Living in an apartment complex where a veteran struggling in a relationship was shot by police more than a year ago, Day said there's a need for more understanding and teaching about how to talk to vets or first responders going through a crisis.
He views the Patriot Express Honor Trips as a way for vets and first responders to feel a sense of camaraderie again.
When they get together, one of the things they likely will talk about is boot camp and the fact they made friendships during that time that may have continued throughout their lives.
“It’s the people. It’s not anything I’ve achieved but it’s the person, the relationships,” he said. “‘Connection’ is my word.”
More information about nonprofit and its trips can be found at patriotexpresshonortrips.com.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
