When we left Tallahassee this morning and were heading off to the first ceremony which was an elementary school we did not know what was waiting for us in Chatahoochee.

Anja shares a nice moment.

The kids and the teachers expected us and a special atmosphere already filled the lunch room where everybody came together. All the preparation they did to present some songs and poetry to us seemed to be one of the reasons for the excitement.

It was one of those wonderful moments when people do not have to say too much to understand one another right from the first sight.

So much joy and openness overcame all of us. After the children performed their songs and dance, the teachers recited some original poetry about various colors and how each one is as important as the other. None of the runners could escape the happiness and thrill of these performances. We got our ‘batteries’ recharged!!

Urdagati from Bulgaria carries the torch on.

Full of energy, we left Chatahoochee Elementary School to get back on the road, running with the Harmony Torch.

Entering the town of Marianna and having some college students and teachers joining us gave us so much more energy. It means so much, not only to the runners, but to the city, the country and the world when people make the effort to meet us, run with us and, of course, carry the torch some steps further to share the inspiration of creating harmony in the world.

The other teams ran to Bonifay Elementary School while we were running a different part of the course today. Mr. Rodney Jones, the principal, and many teachers and hundreds of children were in the schoolyard waiting for our runners to arrive.

After the initial excitement, we had a wonderful ceremony. The teachers and Principal Jones ended the ceremony by running around the group of cheering and screaming children.

Kharasrota takes a soulful breath.

We are very happy to welcome our newest runners who now are my new teammates, Karashrota from Tampa and Urdagati from Bulgaria.

Also, Norma and Tilvilla who came up for the day to help us run and feed us as well.

Thank you Tilvilla!

We are very grateful to Tilvilla for all of her hard work to arrange some of the events today and for taking care of us when our car, Kiwi, needed some repair work.

Our hotel for the night is the Best Western Ft.Walton Beachfront Hotel. We are extremely grateful to Ellen Bragg and Peggy Mahone for their kind offering to world Harmony through their generous donation of rooms for the night, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico.

They have hosted us many times now and it is looked forward to from day one.

The boys enjoy the water. (Sure, rub it in guys. - webmaster)

A refreshing swim in the ‘ocean’ after our run today was just what was needed to rejuvenate our weary legs.

As satisfied expression courtesy of the Black Pearl.

For dinner we were treated to generous portions of Italian pasta and salad at the Black Pearl Restaurant. We are very grateful to the managers for offering this gift and getting our energy up again.

And it kept getting better!

Guido from the Italian gelato shop next to the Black Pearl was extremely kind to us this evening as well. He came to the shop from his home many miles away just to meet us and feed us some of his fantastic Italian ice cream, called ‘gelato’. It really was a full day which ended up being a very beautiful day and a great stay by the ‘Ocean’, or the Gulf of Mexico.

Anja and Team Harmony

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