Our last day started with a 2 mile race on the shores of beautiful Lake Washington. The race, organized by our Seattle Coordinator takes place on the first Saturday of each month and is on a flat and fast course. After the race we invited the competitor to hold the torch and make a wish for world harmony

Olympia is the capital city of the Evergreen State of Washington. Olympia has over 700 acres of parklands that consist of neighborhood, community, open space and special use parks, as well as recreational facilities. Running in Olympia is almost like being out in the countryside of other major cities. Our first run of the day started in downtown Olympia not too far from the State Capitol building. We met up with a group of about 10 runners from the nearby Evergreen University and their coach, Craig Dickson, who had run in the U.S. Olympic Marathon trials in 2000.

Two of our runners, Francesco from Italy and Blazej from the Czech Republic, were planning to run with them as I drove our minivan with our photographer, Banshidhar from Hawaii and our videographer, Salil from Australia. Scott, who had graduated from the university last year and organized this part of the run, drove his car as a service vehicle with the help of Asthaloy, our Finnish teammate. It was truly an international team effort with much enthusiasm and energy as we followed closely to the young and very fit runners. Even though we ourselves are runners running with the Torch almost everywhere we go, very rarely do we get other long distance runners to carry the Torch through their cities.

The course to the University was very hilly and scenic as well being mostly tree-lined with fresh spring foliage and flowers growing everywhere. We had views of lakes and mountains in the distance as the air was clear and sunny. After almost six miles of running, we reached the campus, and the runners were inspired to run inside the campus grounds around most of the buildings.

By the end the runners were so excited that some of them started singing the World Harmony Run song as they took their lap around the campus. It was very inspiring to hear them singing in the distance with their voices resonating throughout the buildings as I parked the car nearby. After a short ceremony and some interviews with the runners, we left this beautiful campus which felt more like a scholastic campground in harmony with nature than just a standard learning institution.

Our next and unfortunately our final stop on this one month whirlwind tour of about 25 cities was the city of Winlock, Washington. This small city of 1,337 people is the first incorporated city in Lewis County. On a grassy median running through the center of town is an egg that is twelve feet long and weighs 1,200 lbs. It sits on a pedestal on a ten-foot steel pole. On the pedestal is written "World's Largest EGG, WINLOCK."

Winlock used to be one of the largest egg producing towns in the country. Early in its history it attracted many immigrants from Finland, Sweden and Germany. The World Harmony Run has been welcomed here many times in the past. Today they welcomed us with many gifts including a special street for the founder of the Run, Sri Chinmoy, and a wonderful pot luck dinner. Some of the children made paper torches which they brought to the ceremony at the park by the world's largest egg.

Mary Garrison, President of the south Lewis County Chamber of Commerce, introduced us as well as Pat Anderson, member of the City Council and Mayor Pro-Tem for Mayor Myers who was out of town. We are very grateful to Pat, Mary and other members of the Chamber of Commerce and City Council for all their work and kind offerings. Dick Conley, the Superintendent of Schools, also graced us with his presence as well as many members of the P.T.S.A., (Parent Teachers Student Association). Dave Kellam, from the Lewis County News, came to cover the story after he had already written a story to announce this event a week earlier. We are very happy and grateful when the media takes this type of event to heart and works hard to share it with the whole community.

After the wonderful meal at the Winlock-Miller Elementary School, we ran to the nearby Bluegrass Music Festival in Winolequa Park. General Cothren, the Director of the park and the Festival, was so kind to allow us to run into the park and share our event with the people there. There were over a hundred people listening to some very sweet and upbeat bluegrass musicians as we ran in. Between performances we went on the stage and introduced our Run. Some of the children from the previous school ceremony joined us again with their colorful paper torches.

To end our presentation we sang the World Harmony Run song for everyone as usual but to the surprise and delight of everyone, we then had three young teenage musicians join us to play the song bluegrass style. Nikki, Daniel and Courtney Wright, of the Wright Family Band, played along with their banjo, guitar and upright bass as I played on the harmonica. I taught them the song only moments before we performed and they picked it up immediately. They played it so well it was as if they had already performed it many times. They kept perfect time and were upbeat and lively, offering the best rendition of our theme song we have performed so far.

We are very grateful to the Wright family for offering us their musical talents as well as all the people of Winlock for opening their festival and their hearts for us. We spent a few hours there enjoying the music and getting to know some of the locals as well. Winlock truly offered us much to make this last program of ours a memorable and harmonious one.

We cannot thank enough all those who have made this trip possible for us including recently our friends in Seattle. They gave us everything we needed to stay here and helped us to share with many harmony lovers the hopes and dreams that we have carried since we started in Connecticut over one month ago.

Although our travels and events in the U.S.A. have ended temporarily, we can never stop trying to bring harmony into our everyday lives by the way we live, talk, act and share the goodness that we all have inside us to spread everywhere we can. From time to time we may see negative events taking place around us, but we still have faith that the positive and harmonious realities we carry inside us shall overcome all the negatives. With a faithful and positive approach to life, as we try to bring to the fore the peace and harmony within us all, we believe that humanity will eventually manifest 'the oneness and fullness of tomorrow's sun', as our theme song says.

Harmoniously, World Harmony Runners in the U.S.A.

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