It was forecast to rain heavily all day today. We had 97 miles to cover between us, that's potentially quite a lot of getting wet.

The morning running team started just after 7am and they did indeed get quite wet.

However the rain eased up and the teams running later had nice, cool easy running conditions.

At one point we seemed to have a problem with the battery of our RV - it seemed to be totally flat and wouldn't start, even though it had just driven 15 miles quite happily.

We tried jump-starting it with one of the other vehicles. In the end Salil figured out that it was just that the battery terminals needed a clean-up, and then everything was fine.

In the late afternoon two of our teams dropped in to visit Washington Elementary School in Sedalia.

The site director, James Cramer, was waiting for us and assembled the children from the after-school club outside just in time for the arrival of the runners with the torch.

They were nicely honoring the oft forgotten custodial and kitchen staff.

After our presentation, Mr Cramer carried the torch in a lap of the school yard with the children running behind.

Our last team out on the road in the early evening had a very inspiring meeting. Our van had stopped to wait for our runner, when another car stopped nearby and a woman came running over and presented us with a small American flag and a rose, and a big hug.

She said that when she saw the word "Harmony" on the side of our van she was so happy that she wanted to stop and tell us how happy she was that we are running for harmony. So of course we gave them the torch to hold and took a nice photo all together.

Simple acts of kindness can easily help to establish harmony here on earth. One small example of that which was quite unexpected happened this evening to me. I went to a nearby Auto Zone for an auto part we needed for one of our vehicles. After buying it I explained that I would need an expensive tool to install this belt. He said that I could borrow the tool and install the belt in the parking lot. No other store I have been too would have done that. Then he said if I needed help to let him know and he would come out to help. This is unheard of where I come from, so I did not quite believe it.

I was having trouble taking off the old belt and another employee who happened to be outside helped me with that. Then I could not get the new belt on, and even before I could go inside to get help, Mark, the original salesman, was coming out to help. After much struggle we finally got the belt on together and I was quite impressed with the offering, free of charge. After explaining about the World Harmony Run they were happy to hold the torch and pose for this photo. Harmony certainly comes in all forms and from the most unexpected places.

We came to rest today at the Super 8 of Sedalia, MO. They have kindly supported our efforts several times now. We are very grateful to be out of the cold and the rain!

– Kokila and Arpan

Distance: 97 miles

Team Members:
Arpan DeAngelo (New York), Atulya Lee Berube (San Diego), Mark Collinson (England), Kshetragna Ulanova (Russia), Surya Smolennikova (Russia), Vladimir Salnicov (Moldova), Kokila Chamberlin (England), Salil Wilson (Australia), Vajra Henderson (New York), Drsalu Gruenstaeudl (Austria), Becky Xerri (Wales), Maria Manecke (Germany)

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