So we set our alarm for a nice and early 4am this morning...but it was 4:35 and we had hit the snooze button 4 times until we actually started to show signs of life. All of us packed up all of our gear in less than a half an hour and were on the road by 5:00am even. The sky had barely begun to light itself as we were already on the road. We have been doing this the last couple of days to escape the heat during the early afternoon hours...we have been quite successful as we have been finishing our days before noon. Today we were looking at an "easy" 26 miles from Bouse, AZ to Parker, AZ.
Our night sleep last night was a bit on the windy side...and that wind seemed to remain a constant throughout our day. The wind is something we have kind of gotten away from since we left the high elevations about a week ago, but nonetheless it returned in full force today and all day. The wind, however, eased the heat wave that we have been experiencing the last couple of days. The temperature was warm, but very bearable all day. All of us felt pretty good all day. We were also in high spirits as today marked our last full day in Arizona...our longest state. I am personally ecstatic that we are finally out of this state. Not to down talk our experiences...because Arizona might have topped all other states in that regard, but I am pretty much ready for the next and final leg of our trip...which is the much awaited state of California. But I will talk about that later.
We ran the 26 miles relatively without any struggle (besides the wind at times) or any real happenings. The road that we ran on today, was in our opinions, one of the most treacherous of the trip so far. I told Andy and Matt at one point that it wasn't really the fact that we were in danger or anything, it was just the number of cars and trucks going by us on both sides was very high and we didn't have much of a shoulder. At this point we have become pros at reading cars and trucks to see if they are paying attention to us. Please don't ever get worried about us out here on the open road because we recognize that our lives are much more important than the lives of our two joggers. If we were ever in any danger, you know I would be ditching that jogger faster than you can even imagine! Well, anyway...we all made it to Parker in one piece.
Parker is our last stop in Arizona...where we spent 24 nights, about 500 miles, 2 pairs of shoes each, and countless flat tires. We came into town and stopped at a local 24 hour diner to eat because we were starving! We sat down inside and we all asked for a Dr. Pepper...but they sadly told us that they didn't have Dr. Pepper...but they had the KING of all cherry flavored sodas.... "MR. PIBB!!" I was so happy to hear that name for the first time since probably before Texas. I quickly ordered up the Pibb, and so did Durkin. Andy did not since he has an agreement not to ever drink Mr. Pibb. Upon review of the menu, I spotted yet another item that I have not seen in some time...and that was the Triple Cheeseburger. I ordered that right up...Andy told me that I would not finish it...but a mere 5 minutes after it arrived on an oval plate in front of me, I had proved him wrong.
After lunch, we made our way to the Post Office in town. Andy had been expecting a package from his parents there, and he got it...with his new shoes (his last pair of the trip.) We also took our time at the post office and got rid of unnecessary gear and weight in our joggers. The main goal was to clear room for when our dear friends Rick Decarr and Dan Verdi come and run the final 6 days of our trip with us. They will be bringing a sleeping bag each and a tent and some clothes to wear, so clear room we did! I sent home about 9.5 pounds of gear, Durkin sent home a whopping 11.5 pound, and Andy sent home a clean 4.5 pounds. Our joggers are much lighter to the push now, and there is much more wiggling room inside of them nowadays. One could argue that we could still fit a small to a medium sized baby in there if we wanted to...but we don't want to...that wouldn't be safe, or fun...or correct in any shape or form. Some gear sent home included: much of our cool weather clothes, license plates, a big sign I found telling people not to throw their cigarettes out the window, Durkin's prized sweatshirt, our raincoats (Durkin kept his), Andy's cereal mug and some other extraneous things. Durkin's clothes bag before his big shipment was by far the largest and bulkiest and heaviest. Since the shipment, however, he had moved to become the lightest clothes bearer of all of us. The pile he sent home was enormous. I am proud of him for letting go of these material goods that have no meaning out here on the open road. Notable things we did keep however...include the following: a nalgene filled with sand from the Atlantic Ocean (which I weighed and was almost 3 lbs alone, A teddy bear I found on the open road, Durkin's Texas belt buckle, our frisbee (a must), a giant bag of cereal, my Pie Town shirt, and some other things some would say is "unnecessary" but we beg to differ.
We came out of the Post office with much lighter joggers and a skip to our step since we were pushing about 25 pounds lighter! We made our way over to the Fire Department and one of the guys who worked at the Department came over and asked us what we were doing. We told him and he quickly made some phone calls to figure out how to accomodate us for the night. He got a hold of Captain Hiatt who came and let us in to the upstairs part of their facility. He told us we could spend the night there and we would have showers and everything. We are very grateful to have been given yet another place to stay to energize us for the night as we get closer and closer to our goal.
Now we are at the local Library uploading pictures to our webshots (CHECK THEM OUT!!!) and I am typing up the blog. After this we will be getting some food as my stomach is currently yelling at me in the form of grumbling. Hopefully I get the largest item on the menu once again!!
Tomorrow we enter California...our 8th and final state of our long journey. I am so excited to enter our last phase of the trip. My feelings are a bit mixed. I know I must savor each last moment of this Nation Run because before I know it it will be over and all I will be left with are my memories. On the other hand, I cannot wait to tell others and even myself that I have accomplished the biggest dream I ever had for myself...that I actually did it with my own feet. I really can't wait for all the hard work to be done...and for us to be able to see our familes...for me to see Claire and finally get to spend time with her and not just hear her voice on my cell phone receiver, to tell myself that I don't need to run tomorrow...unless I wanted to. I joked with Andy today that May 27th, the day after we finish we should go out for a nice 3 mile run...something that seems so easy but so enjoyable to me.
I say all of this...but we always must remind ourselves that we are not done yet. That we still have more to go...we still have 13 more horizons to reach until that last and most beautiful one appears before us. But hey...I can still dream.
...and so can you
Ken
note: we are at 417 feet above sea level...which is a whole lot lower than what we're used to!!
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