Video of the first month in USA

In Yankton this morning we were waiting for our first running team to run in from their early start around Tyndall where we ended yesterday. That gave some of us time to make lunch and work on other chores such as our daily stories, photos, and media related calls.

Meeting the runners at the Activities Center at Yankton College, we were greeted by about 60 children and ten adults in the summer program. The children had just come from the pool and were playing dodge ball in the gym when we entered with the Torch.

There was a bit of excitement along with a little confusion with the children who could not figure out why a group of runners were coming into the gym with a flaming Torch. After our introductions from each runner, a short skit on harmony, and singing of our theme song, the children and staff alike were warmed up, enthusiastic and ready to run around the gym with the Torch.

Presenting the run as a train, a harmony train, with my harmonica as the train sound effects, we chose Brittnee Powell as the ‘engine’ and Travis Miller as the ‘caboose’. All the children were the ‘train cars’ as they ran around the gym twice, each time speeding up a bit. This is usually the most popular part of the visit as the children and the adults as well can experience firsthand the excitement of running with the Torch. Radio station KVHT was there to cover the event and Edi, our Romanian runner was interviewed for the occasion.

After our exciting event with the children, we went to another part of the Activities Center where there was a group of twenty adults meeting in a group called ‘Peak Performance’. Bob Winter was leading the class of adults with a motivation related theme.

They invited us to share with them our motivation for running around the country with a Torch. It was a very different experience for as we usually do not meet adults groups like this.

They seemed genuinely interested in our presentation and ask very intelligent questions afterwards. Many of them had sports related subjects and experiences they were pursuing, so they easily seemed to relate to our athletic efforts for harmony.

We were very happy to have two such different and very fulfilling experiences here at the Activities Center in Yankton and we offer our gratitude to Nancy for making this possible for us.

The rest of the day was overcast, so the sun was not as hot as yesterday. But the humidity was high and made it very difficult to run too fast. At one point in the day some of our runners were drenched by short downpours of rain which helped to cool us down a bit. We had to make it all the way to Sioux City by 4:00 for another ceremony at the Boys’ Club with about 70 miles of running ahead of us.

Two of the teams made it on time as our team arrived about 15 minutes late to catch the end of what seemed like a highly charged, exciting ceremony. Maryanne had kindly organized about 40 children and many staff members to share our Torch and ideas about Harmony. In the end they carried the Torch around the gym as Kristen Johnson from KTIV Newschannel 4 filmed the event.

We are very grateful to Kristen for sharing our experiences here with the general public and to the staff of the Boys’ Club for having us.

We had dinner at two restaurants next to each other. Michelle from Chili’s offered five very delicious meals to us and

Keith at Perkins Family Restaurant offered the other six meals to our runners. This was very helpful to us as we had a long day on the road and it saved us time and money.

This was complemented by our accommodations at the Quality Inn which offered us two complementary rooms. We were also discounted a room at the Holiday Inn Express as well by Lisa Echols. Again we owe a debt of gratitude for all those who offer us these helpful and needful accommodations.

Arpan and Team Harmony

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