We are very grateful to the Hyatt Place in Memphis for offering two rooms for the women's team. THe hotel was clean and spacious and the service was friendly.
The Tennessee flag flies proudly beneath the U.S.A. flag as we run north through Tennessee today.
Our first destination of the day was the Montessori School of Memphis.
A very important motto of the school, similar to ours.
Peace in many languages.
Our team offered a presentation to this wonderful school.
The children finally figured out the word which started with a jumble of letters eventually spelling the word HARMONY.
The children sang some songs for us.
We sang some songs for them as well including the World Harmony Run song with the actions for the words.
Feeling peace in the heart.
Maria Cole, the Director and Founder of this wonderful school, accepts a Certificate of Appreciation and a painting by Sri Chinmoy, Founder of the Peace Run.
The school has its own chickens.
We were pleasantly surprised when we were offered a few dozen eggs from these healthy chickens.
In return we offered to Maria and her wonderful school here in Memphis one of the custom-made torches we received in Tampa from some students there.
The younger children proudly hold up their Peace Run cards.
The torch is passed to all the children on a nice warm day outside the school.
Meanwhile one of the men's teams made it to the Lauderdale Middle School in Ripley, Tennessee.
Our friends from the Imagine Cafe in Memphis. We are extremely grateful to them for their kind offering of delicious lunches for our whole team today.
Only four of us could be there on this busy day to offer the enthusiastic group of children our song and presentation.
Even at this age the children love to do the actions to our World Harmony Run song composed by Sri Chinmoy, Founder of the Peace Run.
James Barbee, one of the school counselors, accepts our gratitude for helping to organize this event.
Finally getting outside to run with the torch.
This is the best part of our visit as the children love to run with the torch.
Passing the torch to make wishes for peace and harmony.
We are grateful to Amanda from the local newspaper, Lauderdale Enterprise, who came out to cover the story and even shared the torch with us.
A happy group of students at Lauderdale School.
Our runner is off and running towards the next town.
We made our way to Covington to meet some runners and the Mayor there.
Not sure if this was the right way.
It was the right way as we met up with Robby Tidwell and Kristin Sallee along with a police escort through Covington.
The police were very cooperative and friendly. They did a great job escorting us through town.
Three dedicated officers share the torch.
We had a very warm welcome by Mayor Justin Hanson at Covington City Hall.
We are so grateful to Karen Griffin, Parks and Recreation Director, and Mayor Justin Hanson for helping to make this event happen today.
Theresa Bonds-Howard, the main secretary here at the Mayor's office, was so happy to share the torch. She even offered us a soulful blessing as she held the torch.
Everyone her at City Hall was very welcoming and kind to us.
They even offered us a huge basket of delicous 'goodies' and water as well.
The women's team prepares to run in another section of our Tennesse journey today.
Saranyu and Akbota share this section of the run.
Some friendly locals stop to share the torch with Saranyu from Australia.
The women's team had a wonderful welcome to the Dyersburg Intermediate School.
Making their presentation on a nice sunny day.
It was a great day outside with the children as they enthusiastically participated with our women's team.
Passing the torch around builds friendship and peace among the students.
Will Bird, Assistant Principal, Lenita Clark, Principal, and Bart Williams, Counselor at the Dyersburg Intermediate School share the torch. We are very grateful to them for their enthusiastic support of the Peace Run.
A thought to leave with.
Later in the afternoon our men's team ran with the Mayor of Ripley, Jon Pavletic.
Mayor Pavletic has kindly welcomed us to his wonderful city many times and has always carried the torch with us around the central square.
We even had the Chief of Police, Donnell Baltimore..
...and Fire Chief Tracy Worlds, escorting us on this mini Peace Run around the center of town.
Lewis, James and Jerry enjoy passing the torch as they watch us run with their mayor, who used to be the Principal of the school they attended in the past.
The Mayor presented us with this very nice letter of support.
It was a nice way to end a long day and we are grateful to the City of Ripley for being so welcoming to us.
For dinner we were offered a free buffet from this wonderful restaurant called 'Shogun' in Dyersburg.
They even had a Hibachi style grill they called the Mongolian Grille to cook our vegetables.
Sarankhuu, our Mongolian runner appropriately enjoyed the Mongolian Grille.
Si Feng Huang gladly accepts our appreciation for feeding us with a great variety of delicious food at Shogun tonight. We are so grateful to him and the owners of this wonderful restaurant in Dyersburg.
