This morning we started our day visiting the Bardwell Baptist Church before their Sunday morning service on Mother's Day.
Some of the members of the church were happy to share the Peace Torch and make a wish or prayer for peace and harmony.
Jimmie Webb is a former Pastor and at age 80 still preaches his faith with youthful energy.
Pastor Jason Burnett offers a beautiful prayer for our safe journey as we carry the Peace Torch around the U.S. and Canada.
We are very grateful to all those here at the Bardwell Baptist Church who took the time before their service to share the Peace Torch and offer their goodwill and prayers on our first stop as we run towards St. Louis today.
Harita is the first runner out as we continue our journey down the road.
Uugana, from Mongolia, and Rupasi from Seattle, getting ready to run together.
Sometimes the runners may run together depending on our schedule.
Most of the time we run solo.
Approaching the City of Wickliffe, Kentucky. Although the population is just 658, it has some wonderful sites to offer those who are visiting or just passing through.
A busy Kentuckian takes the time to share our Peace Torch.
A local couple stopped their car to share the Peace Torch with us as well.
As you reach the top of the highest point in Wickliffe you cannot miss the beautiful park marked with a giant cross and with a view of the Ohio River valley.
Another favorite tourist attraction is the Wickliffe Mounds State Historic Site. It is the site of an ancient village occupied from around 1100-1300 A.D. by the indigenous people in this area.
Some of the excavated areas are preserved to show how they lived their daily lives.
Clay pots and gourds were common items they made and used daily.
There is a beautiful and peaceful trail loop that offers the beauty and fragrance of the newly blossomed trees and flowers. This peaceful interlude for our runners was a wonderful respite from the busy roads we sometimes run on.
One of the oldest and largest trees in this historic location.
We are grateful to the staff here who were very kind to us as we enjoyed this historic site.
Our next stop was the unique and amazing City Museum in St. Louis.
From the very first steps inside we are surrounded by incredible artistic and architectural works of art and wonder.
We were warmly welcomed by Jessica Hentoff, affectionately known here as 'the Circus Lady'.Jessica created this circus for young people in 1988 and has established this wonderful one ring circus in the City Museum in St. Louis.
Our team enjoys a spectacular show of talented children offering their amazing skills.
Maple, the talented circus dog, performed some very clever tricks to start off the show.
Jessica, the enthusiastic and talented ringmaster, announces the incredible acts which her young students have been practicing for years and at an early age have seemed to have mastered many of the skillful feats they demonstrated to us.
The one wheel wonders.
Acrobatic ring stunts.
High flying gymnasts.
Balancing ball and hoops.
An incredible troupe of young circus talents.
Circus Harmony holding high the torch of peace and harmony.
Some of the audience also came up to share the Peace Torch.
We are extremely grateful to Jessica and all the circus performers not only for their wonderful talented performances but also for their enthusiastic and cheerful attitude towards us and the Peace Run efforts.
After the Circus Harmony we had some time to explore and enjoy the endless creations developed over the years in this multi-level wonderland of adventures. Some of us started on the roof top and made our way down to the other levels.
Some of our runners were daring enough to get on the highest ferris wheel ride
Even very young children, accompanied by their parents of course, were daring enough to explore the 'scary', but safe contraptions high up on the 11th floor rooftop. This young girl is 'driving' the yellow school bus that hangs halfway off of the rooftop of the museum, shown in one of the photos above.
This was a long and steep tunnel which had a very long slide below it. Getting up to the top was quite a chore, but sliding down made the whole experience more enjoyable.
Getting up to the giant 'praying mantis' was also a thrill from atop the highest point of the building.
These two Hungarian runners, Jozsef and Puroga, took the challenge of climbing down the giant domed roof from the outside to the inside.
Finally we got to enjoy the World's Largest Pencil which was created in 2007 to celebrate the 76th birthday of the Founder of the Peace Run, Sri Chinmoy. It was donated to the City Museum a few months after its creation in New York City.
The young and talented Circus Harmony performers joined in the fun to sit, walk and play on the World's Largest Pencil. It is 76 feet long, or around 15 meters, and weighs about 21,000 pounds or 9,525 Kilograms. .
After a long and exciting day on the Peace Run we welcomed two of our dear friends from New York, Ranjana and Nayana. We all enjoyed our wonderful meal of Nepali cuisine at the Everest Cafe and Bar in St. Louis, thanks to Nayana's kind offering. It was a great way to end the day and to prepare for another exciting day ahead in St Louis..
