We are very grateful for a restful night's sleep at the Shack Up Inn in Clarksdale, Mississippi. The accommodations and ambience were superb in this quaint old cotton plantation village.
Inside the lobby of this unique boarding complex.
One of the many shacks converted into living quarters in this complex.
Converted grain silos also served as lodging.
Lots of antiques were part of the landscape here including this old Ford truck.
Pierre enjoys a few musical moments among the many unique sculptures here.
We thought we might trade one of our minivans in for this old trusty, or rusty, tractor.
After checking out of our rustic accommodations we went into town to visit the Yazoo Pass Cafe. We are very grateful to the Yazoo Pass for providing our team with a delicious breakfast. John Cocke and Bubba O'Keefe hold the torch with our team in front of their beautiful and spacious eatery.
John Cocke, the owner, takes a few steps for peace. He is always very kind and generous to us when we pass through here.
After breakfast, Mark 'River' Peoples and John Ruskey share the torch in on one of their custom-made canoes at the Quapaw Canoe shop in Clarksdale.
John showed us some of their incredibly ornate carvings and colorful creations on the theme of nature and the Mississippi River.
One of John's beautiful paintings depicts a portion of the Mississippi River Delta which is so precious to the earth's survival in the U.S.
John, River and their staff offer educational and adventurous canoe tours of the Mississippi River.
Their canoes are all custom-made in their own wood shop at Quapaw, which is a native American word which means 'down river people'.
Just down the road from Quapaw is the Clarksdale City Hall where we met up with Amos Harper, a 92 year old resident of Clarksdale.
Amos has the youthful energy of a person half his age and exudes a sincere joy and friendliness which is contagious and uplifting.
Amos leads us in a short run in front of City Hall as we wait for the Mayor to come join us.
Mayor Bill Luckett accepts our Certificate of Appreciation as he has always supported and welcomed our team when we pass through Clarksdale.
Mayor Luckett and his good friend Amos share the torch on a short peace run.
We are very grateful to Mayor Luckett, Amos, and Carol Dixon for their warm welcome, openness and kindness at City Hall today.
On the way to Ground Zero Blues Club owned by Bill Luckett and Morgan Freeman, we found a really nice harmonica and saxophone shop. Arpan gets inspired to take out his harmonica and play a few bars of the World Harmony Run song in front of the shop, which unfortunately had not opened for the day yet.
At Ground Zero we met up with a group of French tourists who were touring the South on rented motorcycles.
Most of them took time to pass the torch and offer their goodwill.
Leaving Ground Zero the easy way.
Meanwhile the women's team was on the road running north towards Tennessee.
Zuzana is ready to go.
Along the way they met with Bill Knight from the Quitman County Democratic Newspaper. He just happened to see them running and kindly stopped to share the torch and cover the story for his paper. He kindly offered his wishes for peace and unity for Quitman County and the entire world.
Tavishi is in full stride.
Saranayu from Australia is all smiles as she enjoys her run today.
Akbota from Khazakstan also enjoys todays flat and scenic course.
Tavishi and Akbota finish together.
The men's team was also on the road enjoying their run in their own creative ways.
Puroga from Hungary takes time to stretch after a long run. He still has a long way to go as he is one of only three runners going the whole four months of this North American Peace Run.
Sarankhuu from Mongolia takes the torch for over 10 miles today.
Natabara from Seattle comes in after a hot run, his last one for this portion of the North American Peace Run.
Homagni, from Australia just joined the team a few days ago.
At the end of his run he passes the torch to this kind local woman who happened to be selling some health products in the same parking lot where we stopped for the next runner to go out.
When this kind Sheriff, Officer Romero, stopped me as I was running along the highway to Memphis, I thought he was going to ask me to leave the road. But what he actually wanted was to hold the torch and get a photo of it. He said,"Sir, can you take a photo of me with the Peace Torch." This kind of spontaneous experience, especially with an officer of the law, really gives us joy and llifts our spirits as we run the busy highways.
This local gentleman also stopped his truck to share the torch and get a photo.
By the end of the day we were not far from Graceland in Memphis, home of Elvis Presley who is sometimes referred to as the 'King of Rok and Roll'.
Arpan finishes his run in front of Graceland.
Sarankhuu and Arpan at the entrance gate of Graceland. There are tours every day here to see the mansion of the 'King' who passed away almost 40 years ago.
Even the women's team got into the spirit of Graceland as they visited one of the many shops on the theme of Elvis and his music. After a long hot day running in the sun and humid weather, a nice air-conditioned shop is a good break before retreating to our accommodations for the evening.
Finally making it to our evening accommodations, Pierre was the main cook for tonight's meal.
We offered a going away present to Natabara, a Shack Up Inn T-shirt, for his last day on this section of the Peace Run. We are grateful for his energy and enthusiasm during his time with us in the South. In a few weeks he will join the team again in the glorious Southwest.
