Luckily I had another early morning start today. Once you can get past the task of waking up and feeling ready for early exercise, it is worth the effort when you know that the temperature will be soaring before noontime.

Running into Ponca, a local horse rancher, Mr. Stewart, stopped in his truck to ask me about the World Harmony Run. He seemed quite impressed and inspired by the short conversation that we had. About twenty minutes later while I was running through Ponca, I was greeted by three women on a four wheel dune buggy. It turns out that it was the rancher’s wife, child and friend who were informed by Mr. Stewart that I was running through their town. They own 45 horses on a big ranch which I would have loved to visit if I did not have to rush to get Kaspars to Sioux City. It was very nice of them to stop and greet me and even offer to inform the local newspaper. Next time we reach Ponca I hope to visit the Stewart Ranch.

The deep green and hilly corn fields continued from yesterday and were very inviting for photos and just feeling in harmony with nature. But Kapsars and I had to get our 10 mile runs over with early so we could have time to get him to Sioux City to catch a bus to another bus in Sioux Falls to eventually end up in Minneapolis to catch a flight home to Latvia, in Eastern Europe. It will be a two day ordeal for him, which was made a bit more complicated when we arrived at the bus terminal in Sioux City.

It turns out that the bus he was to take to Sioux Falls had broken down and would arrive too late for him to catch the second bus. He had to be in Minneapolis by early morning or else he would miss his flight home. The only thing to do was for me to drive him up to Sioux Falls, 90 miles away, before his second bus left for Minneapolis. I had been looking forward to finally having a few hours free in the afternoon before the other runners arrived in Sioux City. I had stories to write and photos to go over as we were two days behind on our web page. I would have liked a bit of a swim also, as the heat was still building outside. But life on the road is not always so kind or comforting. We rushed up to Sioux Falls where the location of the bus terminal was changed and none of the locals we asked directions from knew that the building was even torn down recently. It seemed like a wild goose chase as we followed three different sets of directions to a building that was not even there.

After finally calling the new bus terminal, we drove further north to finally get him there on time. Kaspars was quite happy and relieved to catch his bus and at the same time very grateful for his two weeks on the U.S. Team of the World Harmony Run. We are very happy that Kaspars came and offered us not only his miles and smiles, but his good humor and very sweet and cheerful demeanor. We hope he can come for a longer section next time.

I had another 90 mile drive to rush back to Sioux City and try to make it back in time for a ceremony at a girls’ club called Girls, Inc. I made it there just as our women’s team was running in and Atulya was having interviews with three local T.V. stations and a newspaper.

Girls, Inc. was founded as a national organization in 1945 and has expressed its values through a Girls’ Bill of Rights. The document has changed over time but has always expressed girls’ rights to develop skills for their own success and the community’s benefit. Their mission is to inspire all girls to be strong, smart and bold.

This seems very similar to the World Harmony Run and its attitude towards the important contributions of its women. Our female runners surely fit into this description of inspired, strong, smart and bold runners who offer their time and efforts to promote harmony worldwide.

We are very grateful to Mandy Engel-Cartie, the Executive Director of Girls, Inc. and her whole staff and the children who made our visit there a very inspiring and energizing one.

The girls were very courteous and inquisitive, asking some very deep and meaningful questions of our runners.

As we left there, we felt more enriched and hopeful in knowing that many of these young girls will grow up to become strong and thoughtful citizens and leaders in a more harmonious world.

Cooling down a bit, some of us stopped at a nearby Dairy queen Ice Cream parlor where we were treated to some very delicious ‘Blizzards’. Atulya and I then visited a local radio station, WMNS, where Paul Guggenheimer interviewed us live. He was quite sincere and smart in asking penetrating questions concerning world harmony and how it relates to our World Harmony Run. He seemed to have a real understanding of long distance running, as he himself has run twenty marathons in the past. He said that we inspired him to get back into shape again so he can run with us through his town next year.

Later, we had a complimentary dinner at the local Perkins Family Restaurant. Keith Comstock, the generous general manager, and Brandon, our friendly waiter, really made our day complete as they made us feel right at home with great food and a welcoming and harmonious attitude.

We are also grateful to the Quality Inn of Sioux City and the Days Inn who offered us complimentary rooms tonight. The service was very friendly and the pool was cool, big and clean…just what we needed at the end of another long and hot day on the road.

Arpan and Team Harmony

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