The Spirit of Mother Earth

Run-

She cries, not with the Blues,

But with Rain of Joy.

‘Cause of the people like you

Who care and share,

The World is Smiling this Day…

May the Creator Bless you all

This Spiritual, glorious Day.

(A poem written for the World Harmony Runners by Audrey Frost of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe in southern Colorado)

The small town of Pagosa Springs, nestled in the foothills of the San Juan range of the southern Rockies, was a bit of a haven for us for the few hours we were able to spend there yesterday evening and last night.

In the morning, when the women’s team ran through town, we were all greeted by some of the wonderful folks from the Chamber of Commerce by the raging San Juan River overflowing from the quickly melting snow off the surrounding mountain peaks. Mary Jo Coulehan, the Director of the Chamber of Commerce, as well as Mercy Korsgren from the Community Center arranged a wonderful reception complete with food and drinks.

George and Judy Esterly who live there, also greeted us warmly, remembering that they had met us in St. Louis a few weeks earlier by chance. It was so heartwarming to see people you meet somewhere along the route and then run into them again later. Dale Trefethen and his two lovely daughters, Amanda and LeAndra also greeted us very enthusiastically.

The two young girls were so excited as they carried the torch and held the banner high during our ceremony. A few others who happened to be walking through the lovely park by the river also offered their goodwill for our journey. The Pagosa Sun newspaper also came out to cover the event.

Moving on, most of the team was fortunate enough to run to Ignacio, a town on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation. Everett Burch, the Executive Officer of the Tribe as well as many others, including Larry Tucker, Marge Borst, Judy Lansing, Arthur Reigel, Vida Peabody and other council members offered their warm and sincere wishes of harmony and goodwill.

Mr. Burch referred to the flame as the ‘grandfather’. Fire is one of the four elements along with earth, air and water. It is an ancient symbol embodying the life giving qualities of heat for warming, cooking and the light and aspiration which resides in the heart of each individual. The respect that the Native Americans have for the four elements and living in harmony with them is something so valuable to us as well as we try to share these ideals with others along the way. The southern Ute have taught us a great lesson and have shared and offered us something very valuable. We are so grateful to them for their wisdom and self-offering. We also want to thank Dave Brown from Public Relations who helped organized this wonderful event. We are extremely grateful of Audrey Frost for her deeply inspiring poem (see above) that she composed for us on the spot. It brought tears to our eyes and joy to our hearts and will keep us running on with the joy and faith that were so strongly felt in her poem and by her people.

One of our other teams ran into Bayfield, a small town south of Durango. They were very warmly greeted by Mayor Jim Harrmann and his lovely wife Patti Snow Melody from the Marshall’s Office and other wonderful local friends and their children. Their understanding of our journey and our goals were very encouraging and we are very grateful for their kindness and goodwill.

Our heartfelt thanks to Chris Edwards and the Super 8 Motel of Pagosa Springs for their hospitality and accommodations. Cheryl Otis of Pizza Hut and all the employees there were also so generous and kind to us.

Tequila’s Mexican Restaurant in Pagosa Springs and in Durango the next evening kindly offered us delicious meals for which we are also extremely grateful (and full). Their friendly competition to determine which one has the best food was impossible to judge for us because they were both incredibly delicious.

We were also offered some great muffins and pastries, for ‘carbo loading’, by Michael Hurst and the Carver Brewing Co. in Durango.

Finally, our very peaceful rest for the night was possible by the generosity of the KOA-East of Durango, which has also won some awards for its service and cleanliness.

I personally want to greet Randy Begay, a full-blooded Navajo Native American who I met as I was running and he was hitchhiking along highway 160. We shared stories for a few moments and wished each other well on our separate journeys. He has to travel 150 miles to New Mexico every weekend to go home after a long week of work in Colorado building log homes. We wish him and his family a wonderful and restful long Memorial Day weekend.

Arpan and Team Harmony

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