12/29/2014
After watching the evening news, two local gentlemen befriended us. They commended us on what we were doing. Henry and David noticed that Crystal had no beverage and that my apple cider was just about empty. From that moment our cups never ran empty. It was a good thing too, I didn’t have any hydration before the report. We spent the time looking for somewhere that would allow us to watch it. Every few minutes, new people entered the establishment. Somehow the energy was buzzing.
I woke up in the morning with sore muscles. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to have gone to sleep right after the news report but, who goes to bed at 6PM? We had a great time meeting new friends so we had no regrets. My muscles loosened up when my blood began to flow. Even though my legs were a little stiff, they were excited to carry me into our seventh state.
I found Crystal parked a half mile before the Mississippi/Alabama state line. I entered the trailer and she said, “Hey, I’ve got some bad news. We lost our camera last night.” I believed it. She had exhausted herself looking for the thing and she even called the establishment. I told her not to worry. Luckily, I had exchanged numbers with several of the locals and I called a couple of them to see if we had left it behind. David had found it but didn’t have any way of contacting us. He told us to sit tight and he rushed the camera over to us.
We had our lunch right there then proceeded to cross the border. The clouds were still dark but there was no fog and no rain so I had few obstacles on the day. Just as I started toward the borderline, a car with pulled over to ask if I needed a lift. I had been running across this southern part of Mississippi for less than a week and so many people stopped to see if I needed help. Southern hospitality was awesome!
Large trees peppered my landscape for the final eleven miles of my run. The sun jumped out of the clouds after being missing in action for most of the day. The warmth gave my body a little boost. I found Crystal parked outside the Irvington post office. She was scribbling the addresses on a couple of letters and postcards. She needed to catch up on her antiquated form of correspondence. With plenty of solar rays beaming down, we called it a day. Perhaps the sun was just being kind because, as we approached our Joe’s RV park in Theodor, Alabama he decided to slip away again.
We were greeted by James and Christy Lynn at the park. They welcomed us with open arms and offered us brownies at the office. We chatted with the lovely owners for a while as we plugged in the trailer. It turned out that they had come from California and that James used to run the same route I used to train on. The tranquil park was surrounded by nature. It was the perfect spot to camp out and recharge for another day. Seven states down, tens of thousands of kids reached, thousands of books given away, and the beat goes on.
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