Leaving our friends Randy and Joanne was difficult this morning.

After a great evening with them and some of their friends and Native dancing by Allan Retasket, we were offered a healthy and delicious breakfast. Randy even called into work to be late so he could spend more time with us. After one more swim in the cool, clean water of the Roosevelt Lake section of the Columbia River, my team was on the road again.

Joanne invited us to come and meet the Wild Cats—a softball team made up of seven sweet teenage girls—whom she is coaching for the summer. The girls did a Harmony Run around the bases with the Torch. They were all good catchers of harmony.

Running out towards eastern Washington, the scenery becomes quite green with spring wheat and rolling hills. Some of those hills we had to run up even when the legs do not want to cooperate properly. I had a tough day running after having been tossed around in the water on a ‘jet propelled’ water tube yesterday. My whole body was a bit sore and tired from the challenges of water sports as I ran the hills towards Spokane.

Along the way Bob Pachosa and Paul Nachtigal from the Coulee Dam area stopped to meet the runners and find out what was going on.

They were so inspired by the event that they offered to put us up in the B&B—The Gold House Inn—next year. We are always amazed by the generosity of such a newly made friend. Thank you for the inspiration. Knowing that people like you are out there keeps the hope for harmony alive.

We were offered some rooms in Spokane in the Motel 6 by Mrs. Terry Torrey. She was very kind and understanding of our situation. The women’s teams found two nice rooms at the 7 West Winn Motel in another part of Spokane. We are very grateful to them for their friendly service as well.

After finding rooms we went to eat at the Red Dragon Restaurant. We are grateful to the manager, Namva, Chong, our waitress and Jamie, the chef and a singer-songwriter as well. The food that they offered us was delicious. We have not had Chinese food too much on this trip so we really appreciated and enjoyed this excellent food.

Gratefully,

Arpan and Team Harmony

Hanging about

My team had the very difficult task of preparing lunch for the team, which of course was leftovers from Joanne’s excellent lasagna the night before and then we had to hang around the house all morning into the early afternoon. Of course the house was on this amazing desert lake in a quiet, peaceful area with gorgeous weather and cool water temperatures. Wheew, life is ruff sometimes!

After existing this haven, the whole team was completely uplifted and ready to face the miles that lie ahead. We are very grateful to Joanne and Randy for being such self-giving and wonderful human beings. We will miss them terribly and anticipate next year’s visit right from the start.

The rest of the day was spent on the road. Fortunately for us, we had the opportunity to run with our incredible hostess through her hometown—Wilbur, WA. She, her close friend Kerry—an Olympic trials participant for the marathon in 2000 (oh my legs)—and her student and friend Kelsey all came out for a nice run from Wilbur to the next town, Creston with Kerry running solo with us for the last 4 miles.

This is when the running becomes easy—although a little faster than usual. Having locals run with us makes the experience even more fulfilling. Thank you so much for joining us.

Atulya

San Diego

The Ride

In two short days we had left behind a cool and overcast Seattle morning, to run through a breath taking mountain pass along side forests and rivers to enter rolling fields of wheat. The cool weather of the past three weeks had evaporated and once again summer made its presence felt.

After such a journey and now again in bright sunshine, we were in desperate need of rest and recouperation.

Enter Joanne and Randy Sherwood and their generous invitation to room the team on the shore of Lake Roosevelt. Enter Randy in a 350 horsepower boat to which a rubber “tube” has been attached with a length of rope. Instructions on use: lie on top of the tube and grasp handles for dear life as Randy tries his best to dislodge you. For extra fun try with a friend!

So it was that I found myself sprawled out atop said craft, careening wildly inches from Atulya(were not pictured above, but you get the idea). The boat cut a series of powerful curves, each turn sharper and faster. The wake growing as the momentum increased at such speeds the water became more like ice and we skimmed over the calm water before being whipped across the foaming trough and launched into the sky—the best course when planning to stay on deck at this point is to adjust your body weight counter to the direction the tube is traveling in and brace yourself for the landing. Face down this close to the lake waves rear up and we bounce again before repeating the cycle in the opposite direction. Each repetition becomes faster and more forceful while we can only laugh and whoop between impacts. We reach a sort of “terminal velocity H20” or the maximum speed that two humans can cling to a disc of rubber being slingshot behind a boat. The final turn send us skimming at unbelievable speed in a huge arc until we meet our doom—a wake wave from a previous pass connects broadside with the two Harmony Runners. Un gracefully ejected from our ride we display incredible gymnastics before plunging to a halt. It seems we have found a cure for the abundant stresses of life on the road.

Damon

New Zealand

Ya.

Atulya

San Diego

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