This morning we stopped in Gualala to do some grocery shopping, and met quite a few friendly locals.

Mary Mobart, Susan Crutcher and Al Garcia were happy to meet the team and hold the torch. One of them went to the local newspaper office (the Independent Coast Observer), and so reporter Glen O'Hara came right along to interview us.

The beauty of this dramatic coastline is just spellbinding. Right from the start it felt that it was going to be a special day.

Waking up at the Salt Point State Park after camping in the forest was magical and it was a pristine day with blue skies and a glorious sun. We ran once again close to the rugged cliffs and through coastal forests of pine and eucalyptus. Just the scents were amazing, but running under the canopy of the over hanging trees was a wonderful and blissful experience with the sound of the waves crashing on the shore in the background.

Just outside Point Arena we met up with a local reporter from the Independent Coast Observer. He interviewed Mark, Vladimir, Jeromy and Drsalu and took photographs of us running.

Outside Manchester Arthur stopped his truck and asked to run with us. He was so enthusiastic and was full of energy. He was overjoyed that he could run with the torch and Drsalu drove his truck whilst Arthur ran two miles with Mark.

It is so great when you meet people who connect with the run right away. The first men’s team ended their running with Arthur in Manchester, but I think if we had to run more miles Arthur would have certainly continued with us.

He is traveling north up the coast, so it is possible he may meet up with us again. He commented that running with the torch made him feel like a famous person.

To unwind, relax and enjoy the coastline we popped into the Greenwood Pier Café in a small coastal town called Elk. There we met Barbara and Len and their beautiful Australian Shepherd dog called Heather. They are traveling down the coast after visiting friends in Oregon.

As we were leaving the café we met Fred who was celebrating his 10th wedding anniversary in Elk.

We also met him again and his wife later down the road in Albion where the RV was parked. We met him again with his wife later in the evening at Raven’s Restaurant in Mendocino. Three times in one day – that is quite something.

It was Fred that recommended to us Raven’s Restaurant at the Stanford Inn by the Sea, an Eco Resort on the Mendocino coast. The restaurant offers the very best in organic vegetarian and vegan cuisine, winning national acclaim for an outstanding dining experience.

Exuberant gardens, nestled between the coastal forest and the Pacific, create a natural enclave for the Stanford Inn by the Sea. With the Big River’s estuary on the north and forested ridges on the south and east, the Inn sits atop a meadow overlooking organic gardens, the ever-changing Pacific Ocean and Mendocino village.

Later in the afternoon we met Kyle Evans, the Head Chef at Raven’s Restaurant. He kindly and most generously cooked the whole team a delicious pasta meal. The homemade chocolate chip cookies were heaven – still warm after coming straight out the oven.

Many, many thanks have to go to the owners of the Stanford Inn – Joan and Jeff Stanford for hosting us and making our visit so special. They truly have created an idyllic and harmonious place. As the Sacramento Magazine stated, “ … owners Joan and Jeff Stanford have created the ultimate escape … an inn so peaceful and all-encompassing that there’s little reason to move from the premises”. We couldn’t agree more and the team enjoyed the company of the employees who ate their evening meal with us. They all made us feel so much at home and it was if we had known each other for years. There is a quote on the Stanford Inn’s brochure that really warms the heart and sums up our experience:

“Sometimes a man hits upon a place to which he mysteriously feels that he belongs. Here is the home he sought and he will settle amid scenes that he has never seen before, among men he has never known, as though they were familiar to him from his birth.”

- W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence, 1919.

Thank you so much to the Surf Motel for once again kindly supporting our women's team by offering them two lovely rooms amidst a beautiful garden.

We are also very grateful to the Travelodge in Fort Bragg for also supporting our team by taking in the boys for the night.

All for now...gotta run.

– Kokila and Mark

Distance: 95 miles

Team Members:
Atulya Lee Berube (San Diego), Mark Collinson (England), Kshetragna Ulanova (Russia), Surya Smolennikova (Russia), Vladimir Salnicov (Moldova), Kokila Chamberlain (England), Drsalu Gruenstaeudl (Austria), Maria Manecke (Germany), Jeromy Cheatham (San Diego), Abhejali Bernardova (Czech Republic), Salil Wilson (Australia), Sukhada Korshunova (Russia), Pujari Schaffer (San Francisco), Asadhari Burns (New Zealand)

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