Mahasatya running his first few miles on this peaceful morning
Salil heading towards our first ceremony
Amburoha was intervewed by the local media in Winona
After the interview she was joined in a short run with the torch.
Meanwhile we had a very enthusiastic welcome at the Rochester Boys and Girls Club
High fives all around.
Arpan introduces the Peace Run to the children
It was a very diverse group of children here.
The children join us in our song and actions.
Another exercise. This time we try to feel peace in our hearts
Jennifer, the Coordinator for Academic Success, kindly received our Certificate of Appreciation which is signed by many of our runners from all parts of the world.
The children made country flags for us. Salil, from Australia, found his flag make by this very artistic young peace lover.
Jennifer leads us all for a short run
The children happily ran all around the club.
Lydia wears her peace heart. She has the same first name as Arpan's mom which he was happy about. There aren't too many Lydias in America.
Another great country flag. Can you guess which country it is?
It's a LOVE thing.
Red seems to suit this young man well, like the flame of our torch.
Thank you Boys and Girls Club of Rochester.
Yuyudhan, originally from Rochester, is being interviewed by Kimberly Davies from KTTC FOX47
Dennis answers some questions
Pavaka speaks with an interested future peace runner.
In Rochester we had lunch at Yuyudhan's parents' house, Edythe and Chuck Hoppe. This was a real feast. They were very generous...
and Happy. We felt like we were right at home
Edythe made many delicious pies for us as well.
Happy Birthday Arpan!!! 62 years young charging his batteries for his 62 mile run tomorrow to celebrate his Birthday which is actually on Wednesday.
Edythe was like a kind mother to us all.
Arpan with Edythe and her friend "Killer" McCoy (as she sweetly calls herself). We are grateful to her for helping Edythe prepare all the delicious food.
Our next visit was at Boys and Girls Club in La Crosse. This time Dennis explained to the children why peace is so important in our lives
Time for the guessing game. Mahasatya explains the game
Finally we agreed that if they all guessed where we were from we would sing them a song.
They guessed and we sang one of our songs together with some actions.
The counselors were all enthusiastically participating as well.
Marilyn, Site Coordinator for the Boys and Girls Club, cheerfully takes part with the others.
Our acting... Who is going to pick up the fallen runner now? OK,I will grab the legs this time
Everyone judges whether each skit demonstrated peace and harmony or not.
Two TV stations came to cover our event.
Many smiles during our presentation
Cameras all over the place
Marilyn gets the torch to lead the staff members around the gym on a peace run while the kids cheered loudly.
Passing the torch to each other is an important element in our Peace Run.
Imani received our Certificate of Appreciation with a big smile.
Imani leads the children on a Peace Run outside.
Some kids had some help during the run.
Passing the torch and making a wish for peace.
I got it
I got it too
Some of the children got our official Peace Run T-shirts.
Thank you Boys and Girls Club of La Crosse for your enthusiastic participation.
Our next stop was at The Children's Museum in La Crosse.
We gave a presentation to a small group of children and their parents who were visiting the museum at that time.
Time for a geography lesson.
Leanne Pellinger, Marketing Director, kindly helped to arrange for our visit here as she has done in the past as well. We are very grateful to her and her staff.
Christina Knudsen, Project Director, looks on as Leanne accepts our Certificate of Appreciation on behalf of the Children's Museum
We are very grateful to the Children's Museum and the children and their parents for a sweet ceremony at this exciting place.
Now its time for a little exploration. Do you know this one, Run,run,run,run,run,run...?
This Canadian fireman was checking to see if our torch was safely lit or not.
Better bring out the fire engine to make sure the runners don't start a fire.
Sandro beat us all badly in this interested and unusual reaction game. Is that peacefull?
Arpan is interviewed by the youngest news anchorwoman.
The Hoppes (Yuyudhan and his parents,Chuck and Edythe) kindly came to our hotel with some food to join us in dinner. We are so grateful to the Hoppe family for all the kindness and generosity.
