Today we ran into Texas, one of the largest States. The wind was as strong as ever as we entered the panhandle, or northern section of this very vast and beautiful state.

Near the beginning of our run early in the morning we were visited by Casey, a reporter from the nearby Mangum Star News. He came to take a photo after hearing about us from someone passing by us on the road.

It was a nice way to start the day in an otherwise very sparsely populated area of the country.

Just before entering Texas we stopped in Vinson, Oklahoma. The only buildings on this main highway were a post office and small house. Sylvia Shields was in the Post Office as she had been nine years ago when I last met her there on another Run.

She remembered us and was quite thrilled to hold the torch with us again after all these years. We feel the same, especially with those whom we connect with once again after many years.

We ended the day in the town of Clarendon where we were also scheduled to stay at a nearby ‘Dude Ranch’. Before going there to settle in for the evening, I drove our R.V.[recreational vehicle] to the Panhandle Truck Repair shop in town, hoping that they could do an electrical repair we needed.

Almost immediately one of their top mechanics, Chris, was on the case diagnosing our latest problem of our non-functioning hot water heater.

While he was working we had the opportunity to meet some of the other very friendly people there. Arliegh, a truck driver who stopped to get a repair also, and Javier, were very inspired by our event and even held the torch with us.

Before we left with our much improved R.V., we met Cal, the owner, and Cherry who worked there as well. We are so grateful for their help and for their enthusiastic friendliness.

Finally checking into the Bar H Dude Ranch, we were welcomed by Frank Hommel and Dee Dee, the owners of this very comfortable and beautiful place.

Before dinner we had a little time to enjoy the natural surroundings and even play a few games of horseshoes.

Some of us even took a crack at lassoing a ‘fake cow’, with very little success. Frank and Dee Dee made a delicious dinner for everyone.

Betsy, a visitor with her husband Stan from San Diego, also joined us for dinner. By the end of the evening we had many children join us as well as they enjoyed our torch and our company, just as we enjoyed them being here as well.

The night ended with a very powerful rain, hail, thunder and lightning storm which we are in the middle of as I write this.

Luckily, the internet modem and the electricity are still working as I try to send this story to our website coordinator.

Team B

My team ran from Oklahoma into Texas today, crossing the state line with our second runner out. Texas welcomed us immediately with her big skies, wide open vistas, and banks of multicoloured flowers waving merrily in the blustery wind under the bright sunshine.

This was our third day of hilly hills, but the winds in Texas were blowing more from the side than in front so it wasn't as hard to make headway, and Surya even had the wind behind her for one run.

Of course we have all seen Texas many times in the movies, and so far it has definitely lived up to our expectations with the rugged scenery. We saw a couple of sandstorms and we even had a genuine coyote dash across the road in front of our car.

We had one very kind man who stopped initially out of curiosity to see how we would keep the torch alight in the high wind, and ended up giving us cold sodas from the back of his car.

The answer to his question? Actually it's not really possible to stop the flame blowing out in such high winds so we run with a small lighter and just keep relighting it as we go.

We ran mostly on the 203 West today.

It's a really beautiful road and with only light traffic it gave us a great day's running.

– Arpan and Kokila

Distance: 96 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), Vajra Henderson (New York), Drsalu Gruenstaeudl (Austria), Becky Xerri (Wales), Maria Manecke (Germany), Jeromy Cheatham (San Diego)

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