Day 7

Today began oddly enough where yesterday ended, Eastman, GA. We woke up around 7am and packed up our gear, which as always found a way to explode around the room we stayed in. We got everything together and headed off to the continental breakfast. The spread was impressive consisting of waffles, french toast, muffins, fruit and much much more. We then set off towards Hawkinsville, our projected destination for the day. The day had originally called for about 24 miles, but since we ran extra yesterday it was a mere 20 miles. It's incredable that 20 miles is an easy, joke of a day for us now. There were no places to stop to eat on the way, so we decided to man up and get the day done in one shot without a mid-day break like we've been doing. Dewey picked up some supplies at a Wal-Mart and Ken, Andy and I trekked down the road singing our battle song "I don't care... that this really hurts". We made it about 8 or 9 miles before getting stopped by Vicki, a women who writes for a paper in Eastman. After taking some lovely mid-run photos and talking about the run we got back on our way.

Shortly after we recieved a phone call from our new friend Chuck who asked us when we would be getting into town, and if we'd mind talking to a group of middle school XC runners. Needless to say we were very excited about this opportunity. We continued to run on until we made it to Hawkinsville. We arrived in town at noon, we were all very happy with this accomplishment. We met up with Chuck and his wife Sherry who brought us on a tour of the town. He showed us around The Hawkinsville Dispatch and News, an office supply store/newspaper headquarters. He then took us to lunch at A.B.'s Barbacue, hands down the greatest meal of the trip so far. The crew at A.B.'s told us we could get whatever we wanted free of charge, big mistake. Andy, Ken and I got "Durkin's Meal" which consisted of a half bbq chicken, fries, potatoe salad, and a delicious cheeseburger. Words can't describe how good this meal was, it's gonna be a tough one to beat. To top the meal off after we sat down a waitress came over and gave Ken his own personal pitcher of Pibb!

After lunch we hopped in Chuck's truck and took a tour of the town. Hawkinsville is the Harness Horse Capital of Georgia and we got an up-close look at the training facility. We then made our way to the Hawkinsville Middle School. We rolled in and an announcment went over the PA "Will the Cross Country team please come down to the main office" . The kids had no idea what was going on, all they knew was they were getting out of class. We then made our way to a classroom where Chuck and the XC coach introduced us and we told the team about the run so far. The kids asked all sorts of questions and we had all sorts of answers, overall I think it went pretty well. One girl asked if we'd remember Hawkinsville when we were famous, we told her we'd definetly remember Hawkinsville but we can't make any guarantee about becoming famous. After handing out some cards, high fives we were on our way. Our next stop was The Hawkinsville Opera House. The Opera House had an amazing history and had recently undergone a renovation costing over a million dollars.

After the Opera House we made our way back to Chuck's house. They gave us beds to sleep in, warm showeres for the night, two home cooked meals, and even washed our clothes for us. Chuck and Sherry have been gracious enough to take us into their home for the night and we couldn't be more greatful. We've encountered so much generosity on this trip and we couldn't be happier.
-Durkin