Day 97

Before I talk about today's events, I want to talk briefly about last night. I woke up at around 2am. I came out of the tent, looked up into the sky and saw probably the greatest night sky of my life. The moon was practically new which allowed the universe to just open up and I felt the embrace of the entire galaxy. I was glad that I woke up and went outside on this praticular night...I felt amazingly small in the big scheme of everything...but I thought about the nation that we are dominating right now...and I felt just a tad bit bigger.

So onto today. We had set our alarm for 5:40, but on this particular day, we hit the snooze button about 3 times until we finally got up and rolling. Our tent was pretty damp from the rain last night and the dew (yes, I think we're back in dew country.) We packed up all of our stuff and we each had a pop-tart for breakfast...some of them were pretty crumbled from the traveling, but it sufficed for this morning. Especially this morning, because we knew that 15 miles down the road was a McDonalds! I talked this over with Durkin on our first 15 mile segment of the day, and I don't think any of us has ever been excited to see a McDonalds, but on this day, we did feel the excitement. Andy and I have been feeling pretty sore lately, Andy definaly more than me, so the running today was a little difficult, but it wasn't anywhere near the point of excrusiating...so we beared it and grinned our way through the day.

At around 15 miles, we hit those golden arches in the town of Chino Valley! Durkin went for 2 egg mcmuffins, Andy went with an egg mcmuffin meal with an orange juice...I went for the Mcskillet meal, which I took total advantage of the free refills. I had 3 powerades, which hydrated me good enough for a while after we started running again!

We knew we had about 17 miles to go until the finish, so we pushed forward. We were going at a pretty good pace for the tightness that I was feeling, and definately that Andy was feeling! At one point we saw a driving range on the side of the road and Durkin and I looked at each other and said "YES WE ARE DOING THIS!!" We looked to Andy for approval, and after a little convincing, he agreed to do it as well. But alas, the driving range was closed. It told us that it was closed after 12:00pm on Wednesdays, well wouldn't you know the exact time was 11:40am. We were livid to say the least. We really wanted to crush some golf balls. Durkin told us that they will be "hearing from my lawyer." Well...we were disappointed..but we continued our march towards Prescott. That very march did not continue for long, because soon after we saw a golf course on our left, and if I know anything, I know the laws of golf courses. Golf Course Binary Law 17.6A.1678 clearly states that "For every golf course, there is an equal and opposite driving range." I kept an eye out as we ran by it, and sure enough, a driving range appeared through the bushes. We went in not knowing if it was a public or a private course. We looked around for a place to buy some balls, and we eventually were directed to the pro shop. We bought 2 buckets of balls! The guy hooked us up with a bag of clubs and we were on our way! We teed off next to the Bridgestone professional with his own tent and gear. I felt a tad intimidated at first...that is until I started destroying the snot out of my balls. I was probably hitting them a good 700 yards ;) It took a little while until Andy got his groove...but he found it and he started dominating the driving range. Durkin, however, unfortunately did not get a good smack the whole time. We were there for so long, the balls took forever to get through, but it was a very amazing mid-run stop if you ask any of us. As we were getting ready to leave, some guy stopped me by asking me if I was pushing babies in our joggers. I told him "Not yet!" We got to a-talkin' and he was really interested in our run. He ended the conversation by asking us if we had protection with us...but his exact words were "are you packing any heat in there?!" We politely told him that we have a bottle of mase, that luckily we have not had to use at all! He told us good luck and that we are almost there as we left.

In general, when we tell people what were doing and where were going, the answer we always get nowadays is "You're almost there!!" It makes me feel good about our progress throughout the trip and how much we've accomplished so far.

After the driving range getaway, we came did the last 5 or so miles to Prescott,AZ. We finished at the Holiday Inn Express. Our good friend Mae back in Oneonta works with marketing at the Holiday Inn located in Oneonta. She called ahead to this particular Holiday Inn and hooked us up with a free hotel room! We are super pumped as it has a Pool, Spa, and a HOT TUB! We are really excited about that and we are very grateful for your help Mae! THANKS!

Durkin, was expecting a package today from his parents and another package from our good friends Marty and Josh back in Oneonta. We have had to forward the package from Keams Canyon, which was about 2 weeks ago towards the beginning of Arizona, but we did not make it to the post office that day, so we have had it forwarded twice since that day. We've been super excited to open Josh and Marty's package, and Durkin has been excited to get new shoes from his parents. Today Durkin had to take a 30 dollar taxi ride from the hotel to the post office. His packages from his parents were not there...but the package from Marty and Josh were...and they had sent Durkin a BBQC calzone from Zonies (est 2006.) Since it has been so long since they sent it, the zonie was a bit moldy...despite their best efforts to curb such a happening. They had packaged the zonie with an ice pack and an insulator bag. 2 weeks of hot weather would be the victor however. But thanks Josh and Marty, we loved it, Durkin almost ate it too, until he saw the mold.

Well people are waiting to use the computer right now, so I gotta go. We ate dinner at the Olive Garden. I took full advantage of the breadsticks and endless soup bowls! It was awesome and I love you all.

Maybe I'll get on a little later and finish the last parts of the day.

Ken!