Today I joined the team in Winona and we ran through the inspiring river valley of the Mississippi River. I am happy to be back on the team for a couple of days and as soon as I arrived I could feel the tremendous positive energy that surrounds the team. The hotel that the team was stationed in was situated at the base of a bluff and on the top of the bluff was a landmark that has been dubbed the “Sugarloaf”. The Sugarloaf was a landmark that early explorers and Native Americans used to help them navigate the Mississippi River indicating their position. I have actually climbed up to the loaf some years ago when I was living in Winona (I attended college here), and was delighted to hear that Jowan took the opportunity early in the morning to climb this monolithic landmark.

Sunabin from Siberia enjoys some of his first miles on the US relay.

We ran through Dresbach and LaCrescent and made our way towards LaCrosse Wisconsin receiving some waves from interested passersby who lived in these small and quaint river towns. At LaCrescent I ran over a blue bridge that brought us over the river and out of Minnesota and into Wisconsin. This was really a nice run for me because of the impressive bluffs covered with trees that jutted out from the edge of the road creating such a sense of beauty and power. I was running through (or at least nearby) an old stomping ground, and it was my first day back on the team. I was running leap-frog style with a new friend named Sunabin from Siberia, Russia and an old friend, Salil, our driver. The weather was hot and humid but still forgiving in the after effects of an early morning rainstorm that had just brushed through the countryside.

Sevati expresses her patriotic spirit yesterday in Richland Centre.

So I crossed the bridge not exerting myself too much on the steep incline because I didn’t want to look out of breath on the other side where there were perhaps some news crews awaiting our arrival. Well, they weren’t there so I ran the rest of the way to our destination which was the Children’s Museum of LaCrosse.

This was a pinscreen where whatever you pushed on one side made an impression on the other. Hours of fun for the world Harmony Team!

We had a ceremony here entertaining a class of Hogwarts students (Harry Potter fans) who were currently in session at the museum. We told them about ourselves a bit and taught them a few new words in the native tongues of the runners from our international team. The kids asked some nice questions and we joyfully gave them some answers and then we sang the World Harmony Run song with clapping and whistling. After this each child held the Harmony Torch and made some positive wishes.

Eric trades horizontal movement along a road with vertical movement up a wall.

We finished our ceremony and the children went back to their classroom to learn more about making potions and casting magic spells while the World Harmony Run Team proceeded to the 40 foot indoor climbing wall.

Climbing the Wall at the Children’s Museam of La Crosse.

We all had a chance to test our skills and many of us made it to the top of the wall. Jowan was in his element and had no problem scaling the wall three times with his eyes closed , no, not really, but almost.

We had a very restful night at the Prairie House Motel.

Another harmonious day goes down in the books. Gratitude to everybody who took part in our Harmony Play today.

Eric and the team

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