After a restful sleep in the country guest cabin of the Widger family, we woke early in the morning to go for a sunrise horseback ride with Annie and her daughter Quincy. Nine of us along with Annie, Quincy and their dog, Yabeet, went on a leisurely trail ride around their property.

We spent about 45 minutes in a long single caravan of beautiful horses and tired runners passing by the cornfields, wooded trails and small ponds as the sun rose and the temperature began to steadily climb. We reluctantly left Ellicottville and the wonderful Widgers and her sister and family.

We were very grateful for the brief respite they provided leaving the hectic pace of running on the busy highways to spend a quiet night and morning in the peace of these idyllic surroundings.

Joan Kelly, one of the many people who stop on the road to encourage and inspire us.

The road to Buffalo was a relatively short one, about fifty miles. This shorter than usual day was planned so that some of the runners would have time in the afternoon to visit Niagara Falls which were only about 15 miles from where we were staying. The weather was very humid and unusually hot for this area. We survived this heat wave by running in the morning and having much fewer miles than usual. After running our miles to Buffalo, we ended our run into this beautiful city at the Buffalo United Charter School. We met with the Boys and Girls Club there inside a large, air-conditioned gym.

Jason and his staff had gathered up over 100 children who cheered with delight as we ran into the gym with torch aflame. CBS television was there along with a reporter from the Buffalo News to cover the story. The children were wonderful as they listened to our introductions and had them guessing which countries we were from. There were quite a few children and some staff members who volunteered to learn the ‘dance of harmony’, Hawiian style, as Banshidhar taught them the Hula. This warmed them up for singing our theme song and then forming a Harmony Train. Jason, holding the Torch, was the engine and all the children followed as the cars in the train with our chosen ‘caboose’ carrying our flag.

After a photo session with everyone taking turns holding the Torch as they made wishes for harmony or other positive things for us to pass along to the next community, we ran out of this ‘harmony charged’ school into the heat of the day once more. But this particular day we were finished with our run as we had our shortened schedule. It was a nice feeling of not having to run as the heat and humidity soared in the afternoon. Most of the runners took an excursion to Niagara Falls as three of us took a well needed rest. With only 11 days to go on this four month journey, some of us are quite road weary.

We are grateful to those who make it a bit easier for us like the Vafai family who invited us to dinner in the evening. Elise, daughter of a good friend of ours in New York City, Snehashila, and her husband Jam prepared a great meal for us.

Elise, Jam, and their two children, Ana and Evan, were wonderful hosts as we spent the whole evening there sharing a delicious meal and great music. Anna performed some inspired piano pieces for us followed by her and her brother Evan performing a duet on violins for us. We also were privileged to watch a very creative video made by Evan for a film festival. Although he is just starting high school, this young artist has quite a bit of talent both musically and in the field of film which his father, Jam, teaches at a local high school. We are grateful to the whole Vafia family for their tremendous hospitality and oneness with our team as they offered us harmony in many forms tonight.

We then checked into the beautiful Adam’s Mark Hotel that kindly offered us four wonderful rooms in downtown Buffalo.

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