Running through Allegheny National Forest this morning was a boon for our team as we enjoyed the shade and the green rolling hills. But the humidity was very high still and it soon became quite uncomfortable running at any pace, even in the shade. As I was running up a rather long hill into the town of Kane, I spotted a curiously friendly man working across the street on some utility lines in the ground. He asked why I was running with a lit torch in this heat and I took the opportunity to stop and walk to him and explain briefly about what we were doing and why. I then told him I was on my way to the Kane Community Center up ahead and he smiled as he told me that he is the founder and the President of the Center. It was quite serendipitous that I would meet Dave Carlson on my way to the center that he was so dearly connected with. He was glad to know that we were going there but he had to work and could not make it for the ceremony.

As we approached the Kane Community Center we were enthusiastically welcomed by the children and staff. Pam, the Director of the Center, organized some of the children to greet us with handmade signs as well as preparing food and drinks for us. The large air conditioned space was a great respite from the hot and humid weather outside. Pam, and Ann, the assistant director, and other staff members along with about 12 children and some parents offered us a wonderful time as we shared our experiences with them. They even took us to a very well equipped computer lab downstairs where we showed them this website and some of the photos and stories from the past few months. We explained that soon they would be reading this story and seeing photos of themselves here.

They were very kind and friendly and offered us much in the way of hospitality and harmony here in Kane.

As we finished our run for the day, we were welcomed into the town of Ellicottville in rural southwestern New York State. As we finally entered New York State for the first time since we left in April, we began to feel that our trip was coming to an end. We still have almost two weeks of running left though, as we have to traverse this big state and run through New England before returning home.

Mayor Charlie Coolidge of Ellicottville welcomed us to the center of town along with our good friend Annie Widger. Janine Zimmer, publisher of the Villager Newspaper in town, also came to cover our story. She stayed through the whole event along with Scott Winoker, a local dentist here who came to greet us after reading about it in the last copy of the Villager. We are very grateful to them all for such a warm and enthusiastic welcome to this small and rural town in the rolling countryside.

Annie had arranged for us to have a picnic dinner at her farm home by a small pond nearby. She also arranged that we stay overnight there in their guest cabin in the woods. We were quite thrilled that she would do this for us again, as she has hosted us many times in the past as we ran through this area. We had a wonderful time at the pond with her family, Mike, her husband, Travis , her son, and her sister Kate and her two children Kyle and Margaret. These two young children were the life of the party as we swam with them in pond and sang songs by the campfire after dinner. Joel and Chris, Art and Marilyn, friends of the Widger family, also came to share some of these precious moments with us. We went to sleep that night in the simple accommodations of the cabin in the woods. No electricity or running water made for an adventure that took us away from the hectic pace of the city life we are getting accustomed to again as we get deeper into the urban and suburban populations.

Arpan and the Team

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