Day 112

Well I am finally on the road with my best friends! I really have been waiting a long time to get out here with the NationRun crew, and now that I am here it is like a dream come true. I have only been here for two days, and they have been some of the most exciting and adventurous days in a long time. When I flew out, the plane passed over the Rocky Mountains and Grand Canyon. Let me tell you that the birds eye view of both was breathtaking. It gave me a whole new perspective of what these three gentlemen had to endure to get this far. They are truly some of the toughest guys I know, and I am honored to be a part of their journey.

I am really happy to be back in the blogging seat! This is a very familiar place for me, and I feel right at home. Today we woke up around 5, sleeping in an extra hour with a shorter day ahead of us. The grand total from Seeley to Occotillo is 18.3 miles of mostly flat travel with some rolling hills. Knowing this, we decided to sleep an extra hour and get out by 6. We had breakfast, thanked the Captain and the Seeley Fire Department for all that they did for us in the last 24 hours. With the joggers packed and stocked with Gatorade and water we took off for the day.

Now, Andy had told me about the wind they had experienced on this trip. Believe me when I tell you, hearing about it is much different than experiencing it. We spent the entire 18.3 miles battling the wind to reach our destination. It truly was relentless, and never gave us any break of any kind. When we finished today, I wiped my forehead only to wipe off layers and layers of desert sand that had been blasted into my face the entire day. The wind made the weather significantly cooler, and we all were in shorts and long sleeve shirts throughout the entire morning. My brother Brian has been asking me to call him from the road while I am running, but with all of the wind the past two days I have not been able to! We are hoping that our fortune changes in the next couple days, so we might enjoy a nice sunny California morning.

We found a lot of junk this morning on the side of the road. Mostly various metal pieces from trucks. We also found a roof to a car, which seemed very out of place. The two biggest finds of the day were a licence plate from California and a boomerang! Matt quickly got the first throw in, and it was a good one. Andy followed with another good toss, and finally Ken took a turn. Ken's toss landed about 3 feet from where I was standing almost hitting me! It hit the pavement and shattered into a number of pieces.

The scenery today did not consist of much other than sand and desert vegetation. There is a trail that runs along the road that was first traveled by those who settled the west hundreds of years ago. It was mainly a dirt path until the state decided to put asphalt down and keep its memory alive many years ago. We all got a good run on what we called "The Oregon Trail" to make ourselves part of that history. We also ran through a place called Plaster City. This part of California consists of nothing more than a huge plaster plant. The city was probably about 4 miles in length, if not more. Tractor trailers carrying loads of drywall, or plasterboard, raced by us for most of the day. It was neat to see that an entire city exists and is named after the only structure in it!

We finished at about 10 this morning at the Old Highway Cafe. This may be breakfast time for most, but after traveling it was definitely time for lunch. Matt, Ken, and I went for the Double Cheeseburger with curly fries. Apparently Andy's go-to is either "the doub" (double cheeseburger) or the Club. Today he went for the Club, and it too was delicious. After lunch, we went over the the Occotillo Fire Department to meet the Firemen and set up for the night. Steve Kretzschmar, Ricky Viesca, Erik Cueto, and Enrique Robledo welcomed us warmly, all introducing themselves. They are great guys, and were extremely interested in the journey. They asked all about it, and then told us to make ourselves at home. We did so by taking showers and relaxing with some TV.

Now this is the part of the blog that they requested I include. Over the past couple weeks, the guys have caught two of the Back to the Future Trilogy - Back to the Future 1 and Back to the Future 3. Andy and I were watching the Steve, Ricky, and Erik practice some emergency scenarios, when Matt emerged from the living room with a movie. This was not just any movie, it was a movie that would make this journey complete. Matt had found a VHS copy of Back to the Future 2!! This is the thriller in which Marty goes into the future to change his family's destiny, but things go terribly wrong when Biff finds the Sports Almanac that Marty has purchased and steals the Delorean in order to change his own future. Marty and Doc Had to then go BACK in time to 1955 to retrieve and destroy the almanac and keep the Universe from going into a paradox that would destroy the entire Universe! If you have not seen this movie (as Matt previously had not) please go out, grab a bag of popcorn, rent this movie and sit back for an enjoyable 2 hours of thrills, and laughter!

After the movie, we took showers and went to the gas station to gather supplies for the next two days. We will be stopping at a camp ground tomorrow night and wait for Dan to arrive. This means we will have no real store to stop at, so extra food and water were needed for the travel. Erik was nice enough to drive us the half mile to the store as it was drizzling a bit. We all got some muffins, granola bars, a sub sandwich and Gatorade along with some other amenities. It was kind of expensive, but it needed to happen to make it through the mountains.

We then headed back to the Old Highway Cafe for some dinner. The Cafe is attached to a bar that you must walk though to get to the restaurant. This time we all split two 5 meat deep dish pizzas. This was some of the best pizza I have eaten in a long time, and Matt said it was the best of the trip. As we were leaving, this nice gentleman stopped us in the bar and asked us why we were not dancing. We said that we were on our way out, and he followed that with telling us we looked like the Backstreet Boys. This guy then threw down "The Robot" and the pointed to me. The dance-off had officially began. I was confused a little, but then got right into the swing of things throwing down some moves of my own. After some show-stopping dancing, I threw it back to my challenger who danced and threw it to Ken! This guy had no idea he was messing with the King of TERPS! Ken put down some great moves and threw it back to the gentleman for some more of the Robot. I then brought out the winning move - The Sprinkler! He LOVED it and said that he could not compete with the Sprinkler! We all shook hands after a great time, and returned to the fire station.

Today was such a great day - every time I think about being out here, I truly realize how lucky I am. I cannot wait to see what the next (and last) 4 days have in store for us. In the next two days, we will be climbing about 4,000 feet in elevation, overcoming the last major obstacle in the coast to coast voyage. And perhaps most of all, Dan is coming TOMORROW! I know that we are all pumped to see him, and will be ecstatic to enjoy the final 3 runs with another one of our best friends. Time for me to get back to my cot and enjoy the rest of the night with the Ocotillo Fire Department and the Nation Run Crew.

SEE YOU IN SAN DIEGO!

- Rick

P.S. - I would like to let everyone know that I have claimed first place for the Cameo Running List! I plan to hold on to, and extend my lead for the next 4 days! NATION!