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Saturday, August 9 – Washington, DC
Ian’s thoughts- We woke up way early (for being so tired at least), then got ready and left around 6:00. As we got started, it was kind of choppy because we had to keep stopping and crossing the road every time the trail or sidewalk ended. It was pretty hilly too, and our legs started feeling it a little by mile four. And that’s not that cool when you’re going for a half marathon (which we were). At mile five we stopped at 7eleven for a bathroom stop, and we grabbed a power bar and a Propel. (The whole stop lasted like five minutes, max.) Then we were running again, with a couple split-second stops for directions. Eventually, we concluded that we had taken a wrong turn at some point, so we were worried it would be too short. Continuing on our run, my muscles stopped really burning around mile eight. Unfortunately my joints started to hurt around mile twelve, supposedly close to the end. Not so.

After running about thirteen and still not seeing our turn we began to think…hmm. About mile 15 it was starting to feel pretty bad for my joints. I stopped after about another r3/4 mile, after picking out a parked car and sprinting to it. Mr. Williams had me stop because it was way beyond my longest run; but he continued on to get to the van. I started heading back to Jordan with a Gatorade, but Mr. Williams picked me up really quickly. I had been like 400 meters from the end… seriously…grrr…grr! When we met up with Jordan, we got Mr. Williams to let us finish, it was only like 1 ½ miles away. So we started poking along, little bouncing balls of pain. Mr. Williams dropped off the van and ran back to meet us. At the end I finished about as hard as I could…pretty fast…ish. Then I lay there in pain.

We had breakfast composed of the traditional dishes. But I even indulged in a donut to celebrate our victory.

We all showered and got ready. This was our final voting drive. Honestly, I feel my chest ache as I write this. It bears the finality of something great.

Heading off to the White House, we had a real time just trying to park, but we did. At that point I found I was really chafed, so walking was…fun. After lunch we got to the free speech area behind the White House. We filled up the D.C. box and unrolled the banner, allowing people to sign in the place of our choice. I can honestly say we gave it everything. It wasn’t our biggest day, but we had a ferocity that was bourn of the sight of the end. Over 240 people signed, as well as 4 registrations.

Completely exhausted, we took pics in front of the White House, packed up, and left.

At “home” we had burgers and hotdogs.
We watched the gymnastic and swimming (Michael Phelps, of course) in awe, relishing what we all had accomplished.

Thank you, so much.
This had been a dream for years. Your kindness and patriotism made this a mission. My life is different now. Believe me when I say my life is brighter. Because of you, voices will be heard. For the rest of our lives, we will “pay it forward.”

Again, thank you,

Ian King Morris


Friday, August 8 – Alexandria, VA

Itzy’s thoughts- Everyone slept in today and we ate breakfast when we woke up. All the kids played ping pong and video games while Mr. Williams and Mrs. Hineline got caught up on updates. Paula left for historic Williamsburg, VA to take the weekend off with some of her friends. We got ready and left shortly after her. Unfortunately, our battery was acting up once again—proof that it needed to be replaced. This time we had to walk over to the Rank’s neighbor’s house and get her to help us jump start our van. When we got to the Pacers Running Store in Alexandria, everyone except Mr. Williams hopped out to get set up. It turns out that we didn’t really have permission to set up on the sidewalk, but the ladies in the store said that it would be ok as long as we understood it was at our own risk (which wasn’t a huge risk because the most that would happen is we would have to move, which was really no big deal). So we got a table and set everything out while Mrs. Hineline worked on finding a local Sears so we could have the battery replaced. Mr. Williams kept the van running during this entire ordeal so that the battery wouldn’t die out. When he finally drove off towards Sears, Mrs. Hineline worked on getting lunch for us at a deli down the street. We all chose what we wanted from a menu she brought back for us. The food was really good. I had a chicken salad wrap (its deliciousness was magnified by the fact that I was starving).

During the voting drive (our last one in an actual state), we met some members of the local chapter of Obama’s campaign. Staying totally non-partisan, we spoke to them to see if they could pass along our project to Obama or atleast the people more closely associated with him. They said they would be sure to do what they could to help us out. They were all extremely nice and supportive of what we were doing.

When Mr. Williams came back, he brought a card for Mrs. Hineline to congratulate her on completing her graduate courses. We all secretively went behind the building to sign it (that is everyone except for Jordan who was not quite so discrete about things). She really liked it (it was one of those musical cards).

We looped around the George Washington Masonic Memorial and got an amazing view of Alexandria and part of Washington, D.C. Afterwards, it was a consensus that everyone was exhausted, so we went back to the Rank’s. We had dinner and watched the Olympic opening ceremonies. Once again everyone was just relaxed. As the trip was coming to a close, everyone was beginning to just chill out because the stress was being relieved. Going to bed was easy once again.


Thursday, August 7 – Annapolis, MD

Itzy’s thoughts- We awoke in a camper that Lisa and Randy kindly let us use in Delaware. They were an extremely nice couple. Their connection to us was Kelly—Stephanie’s great aunt with whom we stayed in Ohio. They both met online through a home decorating group [which was obviously a very effective one because both their homes looked amazing]. Unfortunately, we didn’t wake up in time to say farewell to Randy. He has a really cool job working for Comcast, but he had to leave for work early. When we did wake up, Lisa let us have a delicious breakfast. We ended up leaving at 9… or atleast attempting to leave… our car battery was dead. It took us a long time to find the jumper cables, but we eventually did. Lisa started up her car and our battery was soon ready to go. The Burgundy Beast was once again breaking down…

Our trip down to Annapolis went well and although we were slightly lost and delayed, we arrived at the Fleet Feet store there. We ate the sandwiches Lisa had let us pack and Scott, the owner of the store also bought us pizzas and drinks.

We were told that the Fleet Feet store got a lot of foot traffic from the bridge right down the raod, which was true. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to fill up the banner with pledges, so after the local newspaper came to interview us, we went out and did some renowned reggin’ and pledgin’ downtown. We all walked out together and after crossing the bridge, Ian, Stephanie, and the newspaper reporter continued on downtown while Jordan and I stopped at a park to get some signatures and registrations from the parents there. Afterwards we met up with Ian and Stephanie, who were heading back because it looked like some stormy weather was coming along and getting the banner wet would definitely not go over well with Mrs. Hineline, or anyone else for that matter. Jordan and I decided to keep going because we were carrying the legal pads and we felt that we could probably still get a lot more signatures…turns out we were right. Eventually, though, the weather did get in our way and so we headed back across the bridge to the Fleet Feet. We had to just chill out until the rain passed, and once it did, we went back downtown to continue reggin’ and pledgin’. Although not the best, it was certainly a good day. When we were finally allowed to pack up it was around 4 and we headed off towards Fairfax, VA where Jordan’s Aunt Paula and Uncle Joe live. It was the place we’d be calling home for 3, almost 4 days. Jordan’s uncle and cousins were actually spending some time in Europe, so we were unable to meet them. We were, however, fortunate enough to meet his aunt, who was amazingly hospitable. She pretty much gave us free range of the house. Upstairs they had a “museum” of artifacts and souvenirs from Mr. Rank’s Army travels. There were also some photo albums of the Rank family, which were fascinating to me. They had a nice basketball hoop outside and downstairs they had a pool table, ping pong table, and lots of video games. It was a lot of fun staying in their home. Mrs. Rank had left us dinner for a few nights and Mr. Williams did a wonderful job of grilling it all (although the meat was slightly undercooked for my taste the first night). I was exhausted by the end of the day and it didn’t take very long to fall asleep after going to bed.

Wednesday, August 6 – Newark, DE

Itzy’s thoughts- Today was a really good day. We woke up in Westchester, Pennsylvania at Mr. William’s sister’s house. Mary and Geoff were really nice. They let us use their guest house and provided us with dinner and breakfast—cheese cake, orange juice, and watermelon. We left around 8 to get our breaks checked out because they had been squeaking a lot during the trip. We ended up driving for a bit and stopping at a gas station that also had an auto repair shop. We got our oil changed and the mechanics let us know that nothing was wrong with the breaks, which was great news because anymore repairs could be deadly to our budget for the rest of trip—we’re running low on cash as it is. We continued driving on down to Newark, Delaware and set up our voting drive at the Eastern Mountain Sports there. It was pretty uneventful…we had to actually go out and regg’ and pledge because not many people came by our table. We still got a lot of signatures though. Our lunch was also quite uneventful…we had some leftover fried chicken from the night before. It wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be…it was actually really good. We packed up around 4:30 and headed an hour south to the home of Lisa and Randy. They were really cool. Stephanie’s great aunt, Kelly, became really good friends online with Lisa and asked if we could spend the night with her, which she kindly agreed to. When we got there, they had a cooler full of drinks for us along with two adorable little dogs—Maggie, a lab and Maddie, a fluffy chow mix. We all dropped off our stuff in the camper they graciously let us use and went out for a run. When we all got back we jumped into the pool for a swim. Lisa came after a while and told us that dinner was ready so we all headed inside. Dinner was so good: chili, salad, cornbread, and a really yummy pineapple cake dessert. When we were done we headed back out to the pool and then came back inside to take showers and watch TV. Randy and Lisa also let us do laundry and use her computer to do some updates. They were extremely nice and I slept really well listening to crickets because we had all the windows zipped open (they had screens of course).

Mahwah, NJ
August 5, 2008

We woke up at Mr. Williams friend Goon’s house, ate breakfast and left for the Fleet Feet store. I was truly excited for today because my aunt and grandma were coming to visit us. So we had a couple minutes to do a little stuff before we actually started and almost everyone went to go and do something so it was me and Mrs. Hineline there watching the table even though no one was coming. A little while later someone came but they weren’t old enough so it was a bummer. At about one o’clock my aunt and grandma showed up and brought us apples, oranges, and a fruit mix of strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, and mango. She also got me the most delicious, scrumptious, delicacy thing in the world and that it is Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal! She also brought me Funny Bones, chocolate rolls with peanut butter inside, and also butterscotch crumpets, I really don’t know if I like them or not. My grandma bought us lunch from a near by food store which was very nice of her to do and the team and I appreciated it very much.
As the day went by so did the time I got to spend with my aunt and my grandma, which made me happy and sad at the same time but not sad about that time was going by and they had to leave soon but happy about being able to talk to them. Anyways it was a really slow day but I did get a chance to finish some blogs which was good. We left earlier then expected because we did ok but it wasn’t the best day we could have done. I said my goodbyes to my family and then we headed out for Pennsylvania.
I really can’t think of anything happening on the way there so I guess I was asleep for the whole ride…I am going to skip to when we pulled into the driveway because I actually remember that part. When we pulled in, Mr. Williams sister Mary greeted us with her new son William. She showed us the guest house and where the possible sleep choices were. Mary and her husband Geoff also bought us chicken, salad, cookies, and drinks for dinner. After dinner we got our stuff and brought it inside and everything was ok until we found a problem, the laundry detergent that Itzy had brought exploded and made a huge mess in the trunk. We got both wet and dry paper towels and helped clean it up. When we were finally done with that Ian, Jordan, Itzy, and I went running but Itzy only ran a loop. After Itzy stopped running we ran one more loop then we ran off road. There was this huge hill that was so steep that if you ran to fast you would tip over and roll down it, it was so much fun to run down it. We went through a lot of grass, got to a pond and then we saw the fence to there driveway and we ran to that. I wanted to keep running without stopping so I went on but the boys raced back but before that happened I was already back at the house.
When we got back we went inside and changed into our bathing suits to go swimming. When we jumped In Itzy told us that the water tasted sweaty, we just got back running so I thought that it was our fault but actually there pool is a saltwater pool, there’s no chlorine in it. After being in the pool for awhile I got out to take a shower and get ready for bed. I was sleeping on the couch, and later I went to sleep.


New York City, NY
August 4, 2008
DAY OFF

So we woke up and ate breakfast, when we left the house we did some sight seeing of New York before the Broadway. Our intension was to go and see the Statue of Liberty, whether or not we were going in it was a totally up to the cost. So when we thought about what we were going to do we headed towards Battery Park to find out how much it would be in order to get on the ferry so when we got to Clinton’s Castle and there was a really long line for a ferry ride to the Statue of Liberty. At a point of talking we heard an announcement saying that Harbor Rides line go to the Pick-up window. So we went to go check it out to see the pricing for that, there were only two people in that line when we got there. When it was our turn and we asked about the prices, the lady who worked at the booth said that each ticket costs twelve dollars, so we decided not to do it. Instead we went into the gate and walked down a path that led to the other side of a ferry where we were able to see the Statue of Liberty from there. It was a side view but still it was there.
We went more site seeing in New York and we saw a bull statue on the way to Battery Park so we decided to go take a picture in front of it. Everyone got a picture near its face but only Ian, Itzy, and Mr. Williams took one by the rear. We also went to look at Ground Zero which wasn’t as sad as I thought it would be. It was a giant construction site; it was still sad but not as much. I know that they are making a couple more buildings in that spot. We were standing on a ledge and a guy that works at the building kind of kicked us off so we couldn’t see over the fence anymore. After ground Zero we decided to head on back to the subway so we can get ready for the Broadway. I really don’t like subways because they sound like horrible screaming and also like they are going to fall off the wires and tracks, I was so relived when we were off it.
We got back to Goon’s house and rested for about half an hour before getting ready for the Broadway. It wasn’t very fun to walk in heals but it was fun to dress up since I really liked my dress which is very odd because I don’t usually wear dresses. It was finally time to go and I was so ready before I found out that we weren’t driving but taking a public bus. So we walked down to the bus stop and waited about ten or twenty minutes before finally we saw the bus come. We got on and it wasn’t really full so that was really cool.
It was a couple stops before we finally were on our way to New York. There was a lot of traffic before finally we were let off the bus. We thought we were going to be late because we had to be there before eight o’clock. Walking fast in heels really isn’t fun especially in New York. When we turned the corner all we could see was lights and a big group of people. Mr. Williams kind of cut in line in order to get the tickets from the pick-up area. So when we went inside we went up the stairs to find our seats but before that we had to use the restroom. Of course the boys didn’t have a line and the girls did and a long one at that. It was a couple of minutes before we went to find our seats. I really won’t go into detail with the whole Broadway but I can tell you that it was good. I thought it would be good because the movie was great and I knew all of the songs that they had sung because of it.
After the Broadway we had to walk a couple more blocks back to the bus stop, it was really confusing because when we got into the building we weren’t sure which station was the right one in order to get onto the right bus. So we talked to a person at an information desk and she told us that we had to go in the line in station 315. We checked to make sure that bus 161 was at that station and it was so we just stood and waited in line until the bus came. When the bus did come we weren’t sure if all of us could fit because of all of the people in the line before us, but we did fit. We sat in the back where it was Ian and me in the back with the long row of seats, Mr. Williams and Mrs. Hineline in front of us and Itzy and Jordan in front of them. Ian had talked to a man sitting next to him who was going to college and was and did track. He was nice to talk to but it was time for him to go so then we played our game where we pick three random letters make a statement that makes sense out of it. By the time we got bored with that it was time to get off, I was so ready to take off the heals right then and there, my feet were killing me, as soon as I got inside the house I took them off and went into the bathroom to change. Goon came home and gave us free Yankee stuff which was really cool. I was really tired and went to sleep after that.

Saturday, August 2 - Hartford, CT

We woke up around 6 or 7am got ready to go, packed our stuff and left. I was really exited because Mr. Williams said that we could stop by the Coast Guard Academy. On our way out of Newport we went over some really cool bridges! It was really pretty there. About 15 min. later we got to Connecticut and ate breakfast at Dunkin’ Donuts. I had a poppy seed bagel with strawberry cream cheese.
It was another really short drive to New London. There as we were crossing the bridge over the Thames River was the Academy! It looked really cool and I wanted to go there even more! We then got off the Highway and drove up to one of the gates but it was the wrong one so we had to drive around to the other side. When we got to the right gate we talked to the guard and he gave us a map and told us a little bit about the Academy. We Drove around inside for a little and took a bunch of pictures. I also got the chance to talk to some of the cadets which was really cool and they gave us some really good advice too! By the time we left the Academy I wanted to go there even more!
The drive to Milford was only about an hour long. When we got there we set up at Arciuolo’s running store. He was the same person who gave us our running shoes at the beginning of the trip. We did some regn’ and pledgn’ until around noon and we had two TV stations come out. After saying goodbye we packed up our stuff and headed over to West Hartford where Mr. Williams grew up.
It was about a 45min drive to Mr. Williams’ dad’s house. After meeting Bill Williams we went over to the local Fleet Feet to do some more regn’ and plegin’ While we were at the store we got to meet a lot of Mr. Williams’ friends. For lunch Fleet Feet bought us some food from Moe’s and brownies. Red bull also dropped off two huge cases of…you guessed it…Red Bull. After saying our thank-yous and good-byes we packed up and left.
Once we got back to the house we all went for a run together at Mr. Williams’ (our teacher not his dad) old high school and his dad took pictures of us. After the run we headed over to Mike and Julia’s house. They were having a cookout for us since they are really good friends of Mr. Williams. When we got there we also got to meet Mike and Kelly who are also really good friends of Mr. Williams. Itzy, Ian, Stephanie and I all went swimming in their pool for a while. We even played 2 on 2 water volleyball! It was really fun. Shortly after we were done swimming supper was ready. So we all dried off really good and went inside to grab some food. It was really good! After desert which was also really good we said thank-you and good-bye to everyone and headed back to the house to get some sleep since it was pretty late at night. It had been a pretty sweet day! Definitely one of my favorites!

Saturday, August 1 - Newport, RI
Ian’s thoughts- We woke up at Mrs. Maureen and Mr. David’s house. Breakfast of granola type cereal or honey bunches of oats, good stuff. I got packed really fast and finished eating my ton of food when everyone else did. It was kind of funny because I was like the first guy in the car, only to take a picture. So, we took a picture, said good-bye, and hit the road. When we got to Newport, Rhode Island we were a little early, so we got to go to the water to kill some time. That was pretty neat, but there was a ton of Red Tide (which is a type of algae). A foutain washed the sand off our feet, and I accidentally blasted Jordan by pushing the wrong button...rather funny. Having set up (which was on the bench that Mr. Williams finished his run across the country on in 2005 [RunWillyRun.com] we regg’ed and pledged (pretty sure that spelling keeps changing) till lunch. Being the second group to eat out of the team, we enjoyed our Subway and talked about random stuff. I found the day very productive, but was happy to get out of the sun when the drive ended. We spent hte night in the upper apartment of Mrs. Lynne, the lady Mr. Williams stayed with the night he finished his run. After getting our stuff situated, Jordan, Mr. Williams, and I went for a run along the cliff walk. What made this run awesome was that we had waves crashing against the rocks to our left, and mansions to our right, including The Breakers (look it up please). As if my new favorite run wasn’t enough, for dinner we had a whole pot of fresh lobster and hot butter. Mr. Williams’ yankee-ness was fully exposed. He said buttah...twice...and didn’t notice it. Mrs. Hineline finished a course she was taking to get her master’s, finishing with an "A!" We all got to sleep before she finished, but finish she did.
Hoy a sido un buen dia.
Buenas Noches.
-Ian

Boston, MA
July 31, 2008

So we woke up in Maine and weren’t really in a hurry so Ian, Jordan, Itzy, and myself went on the lake once more I took the kayak and Itzy, Ian, and Jordan took the canoe. We went to the island they went to yesterday and one that we hadn’t been to yet. It was a lot of fun but too many mosquitoes. Afterwards my arms were sore from paddling, I had a chance to try the kayak, sitting in the canoe, and being in the front of the canoe, it was a lot of fun.
By the time we got back breakfast was ready, it was so good! I also ate the pie I didn’t eat the night before and oh my gosh it was so delicious, so much chocolate, caramel, and much much more. So we set off soon after that, took a picture by the lake and were ready to go. We were going to the Cheers in Boston, MA. Cheers was also giving us free lunch! It was fries, a hamburger, and I got root beer as a drink. We were going to ride the subway there and I really didn’t like subways, they make too much noise that kind of sounds like it’s about to crash. Finally we got to Cheers but it wasn’t eleven yet so we had to wait a couple minutes before finally going in to eat. After lunch we set up on two benches in Faneuil Marketplace in front of Cheers.
We spent a lot of time there and got a lot of people registered and pledged to vote. We were there for about two or three hours before two security officers came and said that we needed permission to be there. We were told that we had permission and were able to be there. After talking to them, we stopped. The teachers gave us twenty minutes to shop even though I didn’t. We then had to ride the subway back so we could put the things into the van and go and “site see”. We actually went to Starbucks and I got a Chocolaty Mint Frappuccino. It was good, the best out of the two I got. We also went to see a very important statue at Harvard. It was interesting I guess, but we then finally went back to the van and finally left.
We were staying at one of Mr. Williams’s friend’s house, she was really cool but left as soon as we got there because of a soccer game. The boys went running without me because I didn’t drink that much water and I had a big headache. I just sat there and ate the pizza (dinner) when it came. When the boys came back we watched a diary of a mad black women. It was really funny but kind of hard to hear because Jordan kept asking questions about the movie. Later everyone showered and finally went to bed. Mrs. Hineline was on the coach, Itzy and Ian got an air mattress, I was on a chair with a foot rest, Mr. Williams and Jordan were on the floor. And that ended that day.

Wednesday, July 30 - Portland, Maine
Ian’s thoughts- We woke up at Mr. Mike and Mrs. Lorrie’s house and went kayaking, island hopping, and, just generally, adventuring. When we got back we had some great pancakes with blueberry sauce and maple syrup. Then we pretty much took off and we held our drive at the University of Southern Maine. Mobility was the key to this mission, and mobile we were. We hit basically all of the campus around us and were quite productive. Then we went to Ms. Jen’s house and ordered pizza before going on our run. Mr. Williams, Jordan, and I went for about seven miles through downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Getting back, we found that there was no hot water, amkign showers interesting. Eating pizza and watching the "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and "Jaws," we found the evening to be quite relaxing. We got to know Ms. Jen better after her soccer game, and I hope to enjoy her wonderful personality again soon. I even got to sleep on a nice, fluffy air mattress.
Good night.
-Ian


Tuesday, July 29- North Conway, NH

Itzy’s thoughts- We awoke in Vermont. After taking off around 9, we still didn’t really know where we were going to set up. Mr. Williams recalled there being an Eastern Mountain Sports store in the area where we wanted to set up, but because we hadn’t called ahead, we didn’t really know if setting up there was actually a possibility. As we were driving by the EMS, we discovered that they had moved down the road near some outlet stores. It didn’t seem to be too busy of a place because everything in that shopping center was still new, so we went across the street to the Nike Factory Store in hopes that they would let us set up our voting drive there. Turns out our hopes were well answered. In fact, they were kind enough to let us get free Nike shirts.
The voting drive in New Hampshire was somewhat disappointing only because of the fact that most of the people there were tourists from Canada, and therefore unable to register to vote. We still got a lot of pledges though.
After the voting drive, Mr. Williams and Mrs. Hineline let us go out shopping as long as we stayed with a partner. I needed a dress for the Broadway show in New York and Mrs. Hineline needed shoes for the occasion. Jordan helped me look for dresses and we finally found “the one” at the Banana Republic Outlet Store. Although surprising, Jordan was a really good shopping buddy.
Afterwards, we drove off towards Bridgeton, Maine, where we were going to spend the night. We stayed in Laurie and Mike’s house. They lived out on the lake and we got the chance to go canoeing and kayaking. It was quite an adventure. It was my first time doing either of the two and Jordan was an amazing instructor. Even though I failed miserably in the beginning (I actually crashed us into some rocks), I eventually got the hang of it. When we got back, Mike had made some burgers on the grill and Laurie made an amazing dinner. After relaxing for a bit, Jordan and I attempted a puzzle of the city of Boston, but were distracted from our task by an ice cream/brownie pie dessert. Unfortunately, we were never able to go back to the puzzle, so we just gave up and called it a night. It was a really good day and best of all, I got to go shopping and learned how to row a canoe and kayak! :)


Monday, July 28 - Burlington, Vermont
We woke up in the huge condo/Tower, and I got ready really quickly. Then, while everybody was cleaning the van (and I couldn’t help), I went for a little run in the grass. I was wearing my new spikes and thinking "Man, this does feel different. I oculd fly." When I got back to the van I took off my showes, and we finished pakcing. Once on the road, we had a breakfast of bagels, cream cheese, and oranje juice. I went to sleep, and we arrived in Burlington a few hours later. We got out and set up in front of the town hall. After reggin’ and pledgin’ for a while, and then being interviewed, I went with Mrs. Marylou. We got to the Red Cross where she works; and she gave me a really cool tour of the facility. Soon we got down to business and grabbed the tent we came for (in case of rain), wedging it expertly in the back seat. We set up the tent back at the drive, seeing only light sprinkles. Finishing up the drive, we took turns going out for a run. Mr. Williams, Jordan, and I got back after a thirty minute run; and we began to pack up. I carried the tent for 1,000,262,021 years before we got to the van, the girls laying it across their laps. Errands for the day included going to the post office (which closed too early) and making info sheet copies. Something really neat was a granite "Democracy" monument, and the letters were puzzle piece shaped. Everybody got took together, and we took pictures on it, mine was funky at first. Mr. Williams and I stayed behind as they went to amke copies in a store within walking distance. My short story was put on hold when they returned. Leaving for our home of the night, we were lost in a short time. Good thing Mr. Ed and Mrs. Marylous knew how to get us there! Within a few minutes we were enjoying really great Vermont cheese and crackers, as well as olive oil, balsmaic vinegar, and bread. The appetizers, delicious as they were, couldn’t touch dinner. We gad salad, grapes, Iced tea, shrimp pasta, and Lo mein noodles...good stuff. We saw our news story also, but they forgot to emphasize our need for donations, I don’t even think they mentioned our website. What wsa really odd was that I actually enjoyed trying on my dress clothes, for the first time in Ian history! I didn’t get to see Jordan or Itzy, but Steph looked great in her new dress. After I talked to the coolest little brother ever (who just happens to be mine) we pretty much chilled until it was time to go to sleep.
Good Night
-Ian

Albany, NY
July 27, 2008

So we woke up in Pittsburgh, PA kind of early because of the drive and possible traffic. As usual we ate breakfast, packed up, and said our goodbyes. On our way to Albany wasn’t that great, the storm clouds were really dark and I didn’t like them one bit. I was right, it started to lightning and rain really badly it was horrible, the wind also picked up and almost blew us into another car! Because of the bad rain and wind, a lot of cars stopped and were sitting on the shoulder while other cars were driving slowly on the road. Eventually the rain let up before our drive so we got lucky. We were going to set up at another Eastern Mountain Sports who provided us with a table and some chairs. By the time we got there, the rain was to a stop and we were ready to go.
We just got finished packing when a news lady came to interview us. Of course she started off with the teachers so it was up to us to keep the table running smoothly. I saw a lady coming so I went to go and ask her, I get to the point where I say “Excuse me, are you registered to vote?” the I had realized that she was from the newspaper Capital Union, So because of that I was the first to be interviewed by her. Right after I was done with her I was interviewed again by the news, she was really nice, but because she was going to interview everyone she was limited to the questions so it was a short interview, but I’m not complaining. So the lady from channel 9 was the only news person so far to do such a big story, we even saw how she restarted over and over to get the right words.
After a couple hours Mrs. Hineline and I went to the CVS to get a new blue maker cause ours kind of died. We got a pack of three which had Red, Black, and Blue. I didn’t take too much longer after that before we started to pack up. We had a really good day and we had hoped that one like this would come again. We drove the University of Albany and when everything was settled we went inside to sign a form saying that we were responsible for the two keys we were getting. As soon as that was done, we went to our dorms to put our stuff down, we each had our own rooms but only one bathroom, but it was ok. The boy’s room was across the hall from ours and they had separate keys which was a good thing. We were getting pizza that night thanks to one of Mr. Williams’s acquaintances.
Upon waiting for our pizza, everyone except Itzy went running around the campus. Mrs. Hineline and I only went for one lap which was about two or three miles, Jordan, Ian, and Mr. Williams went for a lot more. When we got back from running the pizza was almost here, I took a shower, Itzy went to get the pizza from the man downstairs and the boys were still of running. By the time that the boys got back the pizza was hard and a little cold which wasn’t very fun. We pretty much stayed there the rest of the night and finally went to bed and awaited the next day.

Saturday, July 26 – Pittsburgh, PA

Itzy’s thoughts- I woke up today slightly disoriented because we were in West Virginia and it felt weird waking up in a tent after a night of camping. Sarah and Mr. Williams had bought us breakfast the night before: bagels, bananas, and some bottles of berry punch and orange juice. We packed up and said our good-byes to Sarah and Jeff (awww). We ended up hitting the road around 8:30.

We drove to Pennsylvania and eventually reached a rest area. It was actually a memorial dedicated to men who had died in a local mining accident. It was really cool. We kept going until we reached downtown Pittsburgh…Market Square to be exact. We set up at an annual water balloon fight around 2:30. We stayed for about 2 hours but still got a lot of signatures and registrations. Because the water fight was free, we met people from all sorts of backgrounds. It was quite the experience. Unfortunately the smoking was not well welcomed by my lungs and I was having trouble breathing after a short half-hour. The boys had gone to Subway to get lunch and when they got back Stephanie and I went to Starbucks, struggling to get through the crowds of people already forming to see the water balloon fight. Mrs. Hineline went down to Brueggers for lunch. It was a nice relieft going into Starbucks away from the smoke that was seriously painful to my lungs. I ordered a mocha frappucino...which is pretty much what I always order. When we came out, Mr. Williams informed us that the news had come by and did some quick shots of our table. It wasn’t an actual story or anything because they were there to cover the water balloon fight, but they would be sure to mention us.The water balloon fight in itself was extremely amusing. It was interesting to see the difference between the children and adults. Let’s just say it looked like some of the adults were letting out some stress. It was madness. Everyone agreed that it would be best to pack up before everyone came back and dripped all over our banner. Smeary signatures would not look good...althought they would certainly trigger interesting stories. We drove to Beth and Ivan’s apartment complex, which was only about 15 minutes outside of Pittsburg. They were extremely hospitable and amazing people. They were devout Christians who believed that everything they possessed belonged to God and that, therefore, they had an obligation to share it with whoever was in need...and we were certainly in need. We weren’t however, the only ones they had taken in. During his run, Mr. Williams had also stayed with them. They had also housed many foreigners who were in the country for work or educational reasons. During that time they had a much larger house, but they moved out because of health problems. Nevertheless, they let us use their apartment as if it was our own—even allowing us to do laundry.
We helped shuck corn shortly after arriving in preparation for dinner. We drove over to their daughter Laurie’s house. Jordan and I rode in their car while everyone else followed in the Burgundy Beast. When we arrived we were greeted by Laurie and her husband, Bill’s youngest daughter. All the kids changed and went swimming for a while. Jordan, Ian, and I started making a whirlpool...it was a lot of fun. We got out after a while to eat dinner, which was delicious: fried chicken, corn on the cob, and for dessert...ice cream cake! After dinner, both of Laurie’s daughters and their friend came swimming with us. Unfortunately, we had to leave after a while because we were going to be getting up around 3 for an 8 hour drive to Albany the next morning. When we got back to Beth and Ivan’s house, Jordan and I played dominoes and Ian continued his research in military technologies and such. Mrs. Hineline continued working on her online classes and Mr. Williams worked on updates (Beth and Ivan let him use their laptop computer). Afterwards, we just hung out and chatted with the couple a little bit. Eventually everyone headed to bed, awaiting the early rising the next morning.

Sunday, August 3 – New York City
Ian’s thoughts- We woke up early, around 5:45-ish. Then, grabbing water and extra shirts, we headed for Mr. Williams’ old trails. Mr. Williams and I got there as the sun was just lighting up the trails. Starting out, it felt a little hard, but then we warmed up and everything felt smoother. Seeing a lot of beautiful scenery, it became one of my favorite runs. Having run about seven miles, I ate a ton of bagels and cream cheese for breakfast. Saying good-bye to Mr. Bill (Mr. Williams’ father), we headed for New York. Everybody went to sleep at one point or another; and before we knew it, we were in Manhattan. We did a lot of exploring. Times Square is pretty cool, even in the day. For a couple of us we had our first subway ride, I actually fell asleep. Then we met Mr. Goon and put away our stuff, settling on going to Broadway tomorrow. Then we unwound and watched some TV, which is nice because even our days off are busy.

Have a blessed evening
- Ian


Friday, July 25 – Huntington, WV

Itzy’s thoughts- We left Jim (Mrs. Hineline’s cousin) and Jen’s house and headed towards Marshall University, made famous by the movie “We Are Marshall” about the plane crash that claimed the lives of 75 members of the Marshall football team, coaches, university staff, community members, and crew members. The student body president came out to meet us and we ended up setting right in front of the memorial for those who died in the fatal accident. The voting drive went well…the news came out, we got lots of pledges, a lot of registrations, free lunch, and best of all, Sarah and Jeff (Mr. Williams’ and Mrs. Hineline’s loved ones) came out. They met up with us after the voting drive and we all went together to make more copies and then to the campground where we would be spending the night. Everyone went out for a run except Stephanie and I, who stayed in the playground area by the lake. When they came back, all the kids (with Jeff as our chaperone) went swimming in the lake. It was a lot of fun! The campground gave us a discount, let us use their grill to cook our food, and brought out supplies for us to make s’mores (wood, sticks, marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers). I had a lot of s’mores and was eventually told to stop eating them. It wasn’t long before I was exhausted enough to go to bed.

Louisville, KY
July 24, 2008

We woke up at my great aunt Kelly’s house at about six or seven. We mostly ate cereal for breakfast because it’s quick and easy. Basically doing the same thing in the morning, packing up, saying goodbye, taking a picture, ect, but something was different this time, Kelly offered to fill up our gas tank for the trip to Kentucky. She was really nice and I am glad to have met her.
Afterwards we took off for Louisville. I don’t believe anything exciting happened on the way there because I mostly slept in the van because I was bored and tired. When we entered Louisville we went to the house we were staying at to eat lunch. Mrs. Hineline’s cousin Jim wasn’t home but she knew where the spare key was so we were able to get in. Itzy, Ian, and Jordan played with the toys while I tried to play with the cat who didn’t like me very much. When Jim got home he fed us lunch and then we just waited until his wife got home for us to leave for the baseball game. They have two sons Seamus and Liam and they walked into the house with there mom Jen. Jordan and I were playing the Wii and the game was Lego Star Wars, it was very fun. After a couple of hours doing that we finally left to go and do our voting drive.
When we arrived we had to wait in line in order to get the tickets for us in the area of where we would be. We had our own table and it even had a card on it for us. We set up and started up the voting drive and it was going to be another one of those days where the people would be in a hurry and a lot of crowds. It was dollar beer day so a lot of drunk people would be going by. A person that worked for Jefferson county clerk. At one point Miss Louisville came by the table and Ian said he wanted to talk to her but it was to late and when she walked by the next time Ian didn’t see her but by the time that he did Mr. Williams said “Excuse me Miss Louisiana”, it was so hilarious. Nothing much had happened after that and we saw so many people who didn’t like what we were doing and a lot who like what we were doing. We stayed there until about seven o’clock and then we finally packed up to go back to the house. Our dinner was hot dogs and corn dogs that Jim and Jen bought us. When we got back to the house I was tired as always and we were going to have ice cream sundaes! I was so excited another voting drive to be over that I had Vanilla ice cream with caramel and chocolate syrup with sprinkles and strawberries. I later then took a shower, got ready for bed, and then finally tried to sleep but Ian was watching a cartoon movie on TV but not for too long cause Mrs. Hineline told him to turn it off. Then the day was over for me as I shut my eyes.


Wednesday, July 23 - Columbus, OH

Itzy’s thoughts- We drove last night from Detroit to Ohio because we had nowhere to stay. We ended up staying with Kelly, Stephanie’s soon to be great aunt. She was so cool! Last night she let us play pool and she had lots of games, as well. This morning we actually got to sleep in until about 9:00, which was great because Stephanie and I got to sleep in the basement and there were only 2 small windows – nice and dark and perfect for sleeping. When I finally did wake up, I went upstairs and Kelly was cooking us breakfast – a sausage, egg, hashbrown, and gravy casserole. Since everyone was just waking up, I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to take a shower. When I came back downstairs, we all ate breakfast, which was incredibly delicious.

After breakfast, I started typing up some of the blogs. Jordan worked on trying to finish up his Wisconsin blogs. We’ve all been slacking a bit in the blogging department. I kept typing up until it was time to go. Jordan and Mr. Williams made sandwiches for the group with some sandwiches for the group with some stuff Kelly let us have. She also gave us a cooler, cookies, strawberries, and kettle corn (she let us keep the Ohio State cooler).

When we got to the Ohio State University campus, we met up with the president of their Undergraduate Student Body. He was really nice and showed us where to set up. Overall, it was our best combination of pledges and registrations. We also learned that John McCain would be coming to the campus tomorrow to do some sort of benefit with Lance Armstrong, but we wouldn’t be able to stay that long…it was quite disappointing. However, the youth outreach person for McCain’s campaign said he would try to work with our schedule to see if McCain could come out and meet us at some point.

When we got back, I finished working on blogs while Ian, Jordan, and Mr. Williams went out for a run. When everyone got back, we ate dinner (which included an amazing strawberry dessert). After that, Kelly took us to see some cement corn and bunny statues that she thought were quite “interesting”…they did not disappoint. We also got to splash around a bit in some falls that ran off the side of the hill where the bunnies were located. We had a great time. Unfortunately, the fun did not last long and when we got back, we all had to focus and get some work done. We caught up on our blogs and I cleaned out the van and prepared the envelopes to mail off the registrations for the week. By the time I was ready to go to bed, it was around 11:00. Jordan and Ian stayed up longer playing pool. It was quite a day!

Tuesday, July 22 - Detroit, MI

Ian’s thoughts- It’s a bird! IT’S A PLANE! It’s Me! (Ian) (ultimate cheesiness) We woke up in Indiana and had breakfast, being composed of cereal, donuts, fruit, and orange juice. Then we took pictures, said goodbye to Mr. Randy and Mrs. Evan, and were on the road again! We drove about four hours till we arrived in Detroit. We set up at the student center of way Wayne State University. They told us that the campus was dead…there were at least 1,000 students there. Itzy, Mr. Williams, and I ate first in the little cafeteria area, Itzy from KFC, Mr. Williams from Subway, and I had four soft shell tacos…I should have had eight. Then we brought everybody waters from the car. After everybody ate we regged and pledged some more, until Mr. Williams had us change into our running clothes. However (comma) we didn’t get a chance to run because we usually run for some of the registrations in front of the camera crew of the local news, then finish running later When we came back from changing into our running clothes, Mr. JJ from the local newspaper was there. He interviewed me, as well as Itzy and Mr. Williams, and I felt that it went well. As the day came to a close, we had pledged over 200 people and had about a dozen registered. However, we didn’t get to run, because we had to go to Mrs. Kelly’s house in Ohio. So, we packed up and found ourselves in the warm hospitality of Mrs. Kelly four hours later. We had root beer floats and played pool and LIFE, going to sleep after the unanimous decision that it was getting late. It’s been a good day.
GOODNIGHT
-Ian

Monday, July 21 - South Bend, IN

Ian’s thoughts- We woke up in Chicago at like 4:30, and made our sleepy way around for a few minutes before we finally started moving, I did at least. Actually, I was uncharacteristically late, because I was the only one that wanted to fill the void in their stomach. The NBC building was our target, in order that we might compete for a spot at the morning show that Mrs. Jenny told us about. What actually happened is that we went to the wrong building to start off with, then the right one, but an hour early. So we stood there with the banners, shaking them out of sync whenever the camera angle showed us. I actually did a little peek-a-boo from behind the lady newscaster, on the other side of the window of course. And did I mention, we were competing with hundreds and hundreds of…Nobody. We were alone out there. GO figure. Anyway, we were interviewed around 6:15 AM by the guy newscaster; and then were on our way. Four hours later, we arrived at a university in South Bend, Indiana; and that’s a cool thing, because we were wayyy early. In fact, after a breakfast of bagles, we got to play pool and foosball. It was my first time playing pool, but I actually held my own against Steph…”whoah!” I know. Soon enough we were set up in the sports facility, doing our thing. The news came out, and we got to run around the indoor track. Then, because we had recently had Chinese food, supplied by Ms. Sam and Lizzie, we waited before running around an outdoor track for a few miles. We registered like 4 people and had 66 signatures. After that, we packed up and went to Mr. Randy and Mrs. Eva’s house where we went swimming and had Ice cream. And we were complete strangers; they are fantastic people. We all turned in, and I actually had gotten to do some research.

Another day of democracy closes
-Ian


Sunday, July 20 – Chicago, IL (Day 2)
It all started when Mr. Williams woke me and Ian up to go running around 8:00. Once I got out of bed I grabbed my running clothes and got dressed in the bathroom. I then walked out to the living room to see if there were any other people awake. When I got there I found Itzy so I said good morning and gave her a hug! Jenny and Mark were also awake and they were talking to Mr. Williams about where we should run. Jenny then gave me, Mr. Williams, and Ian an energy bar and a pack of Gu for each one of us. We ate the energy bar right then and there since it isn’t the best idea to eat breakfast right before a big run. We planed on eating the Gu halfway so that we would have enough energy to get us back. So Mr. Williams, Ian and I said goodbye to everyone and assured them that we would be back in a few hours.
Once we got outside we stretched to loosen our muscles. It was about three miles to the Lake Michigan coastline. When we got there we found a running trail and a whole bunch of runners, walkers, and bikers. It was a really nice trial with the beautiful lake Michigan on one side and downtown Chicago on the other. We ended up running along there for about two more miles. We were a bout a mile away from Navy Pier when we stopped to eat our Gu before heading back. Towards the end of the run we began to pick up the pace and my breathing began to get really heavy! About two miles later we had finally made it back! Ian and I were exhausted but to Mr. Williams it was just a walk in the park.
When we got back in the apartment Jenny and Mark welcomed us back with a delicious breakfast. They had made pancakes and turkey bacon! Once we ate breakfast and took a shower Mr. Williams, Ian, Stephanie and I all went to go pick up Itzy and Mrs. Hineline. They went to church while we were out running. We found them right away.
After picking up Itzy and Mrs. Hineline we drove over to Millennium Park. We walked around there for a little bit and we got to see a really cool concert facility and a really cool metallic sculpture thing! We also got to go through a really cool corn maze and we made it out in 5 minutes.
After leaving the park, we went back to Jenny and Mark’s house for lunch. They had made us really good pork sandwiches.
After lunch, we went over to a running store called Universal Sole to reg and pledge some more. While we were there Jenny, Mark, and their friend all stopped by to say hi and told us that they had bought tickets to see Batman that night. We were all really excited!
Once we packed up we all headed back over to the apartment to eat dinner and get ready for the movie. When we got there, we found out that Mark and Jenny had made us this chicken pasta stuff for dinner. It was really good! We then split up and took two separate vehicles to the movie theater, which wasn’t that far away. Once we got there we had to wait in a really long line just to get to the room in the theater that it was playing in! In the end, however, it was all worth it. That movie was really good! It had a few parts in it that were really sad but it was still one of my favorite movies.
After the movie we went back to the apartment and went straight to bed since we had to wake up early tomorrow to get on the Chicago Early Show. It had been a really cool day.


Saturday, July 19 - Chicago, IL

Stephanie’s thoughts-
We woke up to leave for Chicago from Jordan’s aunt and uncle’s house. They gave us great hospitality and I had a really good tie. After breakfast we loaded up the van but to find that it was raining! It hasn’t rained too much…ok it rained a lot recently but still in the beginning of the trip it never rained so it was nice.
Onward to the windy state and you don’t want to know what Itzy said why it was called the windy state. There was a lot of traffic especially since there were a ton of toll roads along the way. When we finally got to the museum, the hard part was to find a parking spot…dun dun dun. All of the parking cost about $12 and up. The cheapes t one was of course filled up. Some was reserved and the one we were supposed to park in, our van was too tall for the 6’5 limit. A man told us to back out and we couldn’t park there. We ended up parking in a $24 parking area.
We were going to view the museum before setting up, but that didn’t happen. We ate McDonald’s before we set up. Before everyone finished eating Mr. Williams and I were already finished, so we went back to the museum and set up. Not much really happened during our drive we got on a good amount of people registered and a good amount pledged. We took turns holding a sign outside. It was fun but yet sometimes depressing. When you talk to people all they do is either talk to you, walk away, laugh, question us, or ignore us.
After we packed up we toured the museum and it was so cool. Mr. Williams was showing me things for some EOC questions. I really learned a lot from the museum. The Stinsons, a couple we met in Shreveport, LA who we were staying with the next two nights, came by to say hi and all that. Mark and Jenny had a wonderful home and a dog named Friedmont. They fed us, allowed us to do laundry, sleep there, etc. They had dinner plans so they told us about a pizza place called Geodoris. We went there and it was really expensive but Ian talked to the manager and he gave us free drinks, if we bought two small pizzas he would make them into larges! The pizza was really filling,I only ate a half a slice. Afterwards we went back to their place and hung out, then finally went to sleep…for most. I stayed up due to lightning and watched Space Cowboys. Then later went to sleep.


Friday, July 18 - Madison, WI
I woke up, got out of bed, and realized that today was going to be different from the rest. Today we were going to Wisconsin!
So I brushed my teeth, washed my hair, and organized my things before going to the kitchen for breakfast. When I got to the kitchen the smell of eggs and bacon was lingering in the air. I sat down with the rest of the gang minus Ian since he was still doing workouts or something. I felt kind of bad because when I sat down I found out that Itzy had waited for me to start eating even though she was one of the first people to get her food and I was one of the last people. The food was delicious!
After breakfast I finished packing and brought my bags out to the van where Mr. Williams squeezed them into the back of the van. Once we were prepped for take off, we took a few pictures and said goodbye and thank you to Andria and Dale.
It was about a four hour and 45 minute drive. About half way through we crossed over the Mississippi to the land of milk and honey, I mean milk and cheese. We all hopped out of the car and climbed up the steep hill with the sign on it. The sign looked really cool. It was my favorite sign so far. After the picture we all scurried down the hill and climbed back into the van. I was so happy I started to sing the Wisconsin theme song! For the next hour or so we saw a lot of farms and cows. Mr. Williams, Mrs. Hineline, and Ian were all saying that the cows didn’t look happy, but I’m sure deep down inside they know that those were the happiest cows that they had ever seen. They were just trying to bother me.
A little while later we arrived at the Movin’ Shoes in Madison where we held our voting drive for the day. We got to meet Shalon who was one of the managers there. She was really cool and we were able to register her. After Reggin’ and pledgin’ for a while Mr. Williams ordered some pizza and we met Tom who was a manager too! He was really cool too. When our pizza came he gave us free tea and sodas.
We started packing up around 4:00. I bought this really cool water bottle real quick before we left. And we said goodbye to Tom.
After we left Movin’ Shoes we went to downtown Madison to check out the lake there. When we got there we found a parking deck and parked. The lakefront was beautiful! The water was calm but there was still a guy out there trying to windsurf. iI don’t think he was having much luck. I soon found out that we were on part of the Wisconsin campus and I really wanted to buy a souvenir before we left. The only problem was that I iddn’t know where the bookstore was. Itzy had told me about a Duke vs. Wisconsin basketball game where some of the Wisconsin fans were wearing badger heads (most of htem were wearing a cheesehead but I already have one of those). I was so excited about the possibility of getting a badger head that when I asked someone for directions to the store I forgot to specify which store. This mad e the guy I was talking to really confused and in turn made me confused too. This made for a very confusing conversation, but I finally got the directions and I thanked the guy. Now that I knew where the store was I was even more excited than before!
It was only a short ways away so we got there pretty quickly. The store was really big! Itzy and I looked around for a while but we couldn‘t find the badger hat that she saw on TV. I ended up buying a cheese carabineer and a red Bucky the Badger shirt for Itzy and she said that she would buy me a badger hat online.
After the store, we all walked back to the Burgundy Beast and drove down the street to see Wisconsin’s capitol building. It was really pretty. When we got there we circled around the capitol and took a bunch of pictures. After circling the capitol we left for my great aunt’s and uncle’s house. As we were driving away from the capitol I turned around to see Ian sleeping so I woke him up and asked him if he saw the capitol building. I found out he had slept through it all and that he thought that we were getting out there so someone would wake him up. He was disappointed in the fact that he missed it.
I hadn’t seen my great aunt and uncle in a long time. It was really good to see them again. They welcomed us in and showed us around the house. My great Aunt Lyn made us some really good lasagna stuff. It tasted great! After dining, my aunt Lyn took Ian, Itzy, and I to go swimming at a fitness center. When we got there we sadly found out that you had to be 18 or have a parent’s signature to go there. On the way back to the car Lyn decided to take us on a tour of Madison! She first brought us to this really cool building that overlooked the lake. It was a really cool building. Then she drove us by the capitol so I an got another chance and this time he was awake! She then gave us a tour of the Wisconsin campus and it was definitely one of my favorite universities! She told us a ton about the city and the university. Now Itzy wants to be a badger! After the tour she drove us back to her house and she let me make root beer floats for everyone! We all love root beer floats! It was the perfect way to end an already super cool day!


Thursday, July 17 - Des Moines, IA

Des Moines, IA Jordan
I woke up, packed my stuff and went upstairs to eat breakfast. Sindy and Gary had gotten us cereal, bagels, donuts, and bananas for breakfast. It was a really good meal! After breakfast we brought all of our stuff out to the van, so Mr. Williams could pack it all in there. We then took a picture with everyone, said goodbye, and left.
On our way to Iowa we saw a lightning storm in the distance. Mr. Williams told us that he would give a few bucks to anyone who could get a picture of a lightning bolt. Hearing that Itzy and I used her digital camera to record the storm. Ian did the same thing but with the run to vote recorder!
It was a little while later when we stopped to eat subway for lunch and right after that we arrived at Iowa State. It was a really nice campus. We parked the van in a parking garage, grabbed our stuff and headed over to the Freedom of Speech area. We were there for a few hours and we got to talk to a whole bunch of people but once the storm clouds rolled in we thought it would get a good idea to go so Mr. Williams ran to the van and picked us all up before the rain could get us or our stuff.
It was another 45min until we reached Andria and Dale’s house. Once there we got a tour of the house and we also got to meet their little daughter Abby. After that Mr. Williams, Mrs. Hineline, Ian, and I all went for a run. Mrs. Hineline ran about 3miles while Mr. Williams, Ian, and I ran about 6 or 7. Once we got back the burgers were ready and we all sat down at the dinner table to eat. It was really good! After dinner I showered up and called my family. While I was doing that Mr. Williams was updating the website, Mrs. Hineline was working on her class work, and Itzy was watching Curious George! By the time I finished talking to my family Curious George was over so Itzy and I both went outside on the porch to watch the lightning storm that had just rolled in. I’m pretty sure it was the same storm from before but this time it was cooler, since it was night you could see the lightning a whole lot better. After about half-an-hour of watching lightning and listening to thunder we had to go inside and go to sleep. It had been a really cool day!

Wednesday, July 16 - St. Paul, MN

Itzy’s thoughts-

I was one of the first people up today. I woke up around 5:40 because Larry and Kathy, the photographer we were staying with and his wife, were up and about setting up breakfast for us. I went upstairs and got dressed and ready. Like I’ve mentioned in other blogs, I’m really slow when it comes to getting ready. It ended up taking me about 10 minutes to come back downstairs. I finished packing and then headed into the dining room for breakfast. It was just as delicious as dinner had been the night before. They had set out English muffins, bagels, Cheerios, fruit (bananas, apples, oranges, and cantaloupe), juice, and milk. It was really nice being able to eat fruits (we can’t really afford buying them on our budget). At around 6:40, the radio station 105.1 FM came out to interview us. The guy who came out was extremely friendly. We took a group picture with him afterwards. There was rainy weather on its way, so we rushed to get everything packed into the Burgundy Beast. Once again, we were just waiting on Ian. He’s a REALLY cool guy, but it takes him the longest time to get ready. After he was all packed, we took a group picture with the Harringtons. They were an extremely nice couple. We said our goodbyes and started driving towards St. Paul/ Minneapolis. We actually had to cross back into North Dakota, which was ok because there was no sign when we went into Minnesota to get to the Harrington’s house. It was extremely rainy and there were gorgeous sparks of lightning. Overall, it was a really amazingly scenic drive, especially after it all cleared up.
We did our voting drive at Concordia University. We were lost when we first got there, but we eventually found the mysterious “tunnel” where our table was set up. Jordan and I walked around the library, the bookstore, and some of the administrative offices collecting registrations and pledges. It was my best day overall! I would leave for like 3 minutes and come back with 2 registrations and 5 or 6 pledges. At some point during the voting drive, Ian, Jordan, and I had to go back to the van to get water for everyone and to get Jordan’s wallet. On our way out, there was a speed tracker that Ian was dying to use to see how fast he could sprint. Unfortunately, he never found the laser that actually measured the speed, so he gave up and went to the van.
After the voting drive we stopped by the post office to mail off the week’s registration forms. We drove for a while until we got to a church where we were supposed to meet Cindy, the lady with whom we were staying. She was driving a really nice black convertible. We followed her to her house, which was just around the corner from the church. When we got there, the first thing I noticed was a Volkswagen buggy that looked like a baseball. Inside, the seats were leather and resembled baseball gloves, the shifter was capped with a baseball, and the emergency brake was a Cracker Barrel baseball bat. Cindy’s family was extremely nice and they had a really cool dog named Christian. I think this trip has helped me a lot in the dog-phobia department. I like dogs so much better now! There was another couple that offered to house us, but since we all wanted to stick together, we ended up just staying at Cindy’s house. They did, however, come over for dinner and bring dessert for us. They were extremely nice and Jordan, Ian, and I ended up going over to their house to see the Mississippi River, which was right in their backyard. The view was amazing! On our way back, we walked by a place where Ian stopped to fish. It was getting really late, and I was kind of impatient because I don’t really enjoy fishing all that much. We finally walked back to their house and we all had some strawberries and water. The strawberries were delicious. When we were all getting ready to go to bed, Ian began explaining an invention he’s working on. It was actually extremely interesting, and I would’ve been happy to listen to him all night, if it weren’t for the fact that I was EXTREMELY tired. So he ended up moving off the bed so I could finally go to sleep. And that’s where my story ends.


Tuesday, July 15 - Fargo, ND

Itzy’s thoughts- We awoke just outside of Sioux Falls on the farm where Michelle and James live. I had slept outside on their back patio and loved it! I got an amazing view of the stars. Because it was further out in the country, there was no light pollution, accentuating nature’s beauty. When I got up in the morning to take a shower, Michelle and James were already awake and making breakfast. When I came out, the kitchen was set up wonderfully. They had orange juice, eggs, biscuits with some really good caramel gravy, and yogurt (with one of my favorite flavors—strawberry kiwi). It was all delicious!
We left their house headed towards North Dakota…but not after I got the chance to ask if I could go see their horse. Michelle’s sister actually has a camp/farm in Pennsylvania where she teaches horse training and Michelle herself had a horse. Stephanie and Jordan came along as well. When we arrived at the Dick Beardsley Running Company, where we were going to set up, we were starving. We walked across the road to Wendy’s. On our way back we met some reporters heading towards lunch. After talking to them they agreed to do a story on us. Three news stations came out in total. The mayor of Fargo also came out. The owners of the running store even offered to buy us lunch, but since we had already eaten, they brought us Mexican Food to snack on. This voting drive was definitely unique from the rest because in North Dakota people don’t have to register to vote, they just show up with ID and proof of residence. We ended up running for pledges on our banner, although we did get one person from Minnesota registered. We later left for Larry Harrington’s house in Minnesota (which was actually just outside of Fargo). Dinner there was amazing: sloppy joes and lots of fruit choices! They were extremely hospitable. Larry is also an extremely talented photographer, which was apparent from the photographs throughout his home and studio. The Harringtons also let us use their computers to do updates. Not only that, they also let us do some laundry before going to bed. I’d have to say that today was definitely one of our better days.




Monday, July 14 - Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Ian’s thoughts- I’m here, again, blogging, again. (It’s Ian)
Well, we woke up in Nebraska, on the farm with Mr. Lyle and Mrs. Diane. And the really cool thing about this morning was that they fed us eggs and bacon...good stuff. Then we took off on a drive of a few hours to get to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. There we set up at Kilian Community College, a name I don’t really like. The news showed up in time to see a fourty-year-old man register. Apparently, he had found a zeal for this election, the first he’s ever wanted to vote in. That was cool. We did a bit of running, during which my ankle felt kinda funky. The highlight of the day, however, was seeing one of the lost boys of Sudan. He said that there were about three hundred in Sioux Falls alone. In case you didn’t know, there is a genocide that has been happening over the years in Darfur, Sudan. He was one of those affected by it, losing his mother to it. As a boy he had to leave his father in Sudan. After traveling to different countries, he ended up in America. Currently, he is taking courses at the community college, and plans to find his father after more than twenty years. He was a pleasure to meet. Mr. Williams went runn9ing with Jordan, but I had to take the day off to prevent injury. They came back earlier than usual, telling us that we had to see Sioux Falls (the waterfall). So we finished the drive and left for the falls. We looked at the actual falls for a few minutes before heading to the really col tower. I actually didn’t hang out in the tower because I was registering a very nice girl I met in the gift shop. But that’s okay, because we had a nice conversation. Then we left for Mr. James and Mrs. Michelle’s house, our wonderful hosts for the evening. After arriving and unloading our stuff, we left for Burger King. At Burger King, I discovered that my spicy chicken sandwiches were greasy...tear....tear...snot in a rag...tear.
When we got back we played catch for probably close to an hour and 45 minutes. During that period, my feet became completely black with dirt (Iwas wearing flip-flops). So I had to wash them before I could play the board game called "worst case scenario." Come to think of it, Itzy and Jordan did too, so I wasn’t the only dirty one! What was really fun about the game was that Mr. Williams couldn’t say a correct answer. In fact, when he decided to say anything, he knew the right one! It was pretty funny.
After a failed attempt to see our news story, we went to sleep. Kinda, because Itzy and I slept on the patio...with the blood suckers.
It’s been a pretty cool day...Bzzzzt...Bzzzzt....Bzzzzt...Ow!... Smack!
-Ian

Sunday, July 13 – Lincoln, NE

Stephanie’s thoughts- We started off the day with breakfast, most of us ate cereal. A farmer’s market was where we were going to hold our drive. We had to hurry because it started at 10:00 AM and it was about 9:00 AM and Ian decided to get in the shower, he takes long showers. So now it’s about 9:20ish and now there is another dilemma….Ian has to eat, he takes forever at that too because he eats a lot more than we do.
Finally leaving the far at about 9:50AM, we got to the market a little after ten. We had a tent right next to Shadow Brooke Farms. It was funny, everyone had food except for us. I didn’t really know who popular Shadow Brooke Farms was until that day they had a long line that reached out to our table, which was good because they were waiting and we could talk to them.

Saturday, July 12 – Denver, CO to Lincoln, NE

Stephanie’s thoughts- We woke up to get ready to go at about 6:30 or 7:00 AM. We either ate cereal or bagels. After breakfast we packed up, said our goodbyes, and left. We had an eight hour drive ahead of us! Mrs. Hineline wanted coffee so we went to Starbucks as usually to get it. Not a lot happened in the car on our way to Nebraska so I will skip ahead to when we actually get there.
So we pulled up into their driveway and were greeted by Graydon. He showed us around the house and we decided where we were going to sleep. We went into the store to see Graydon’s mom Shruth, she helps run Shadow Brooke Farms. Soon after we met, Shruth got a phone call from her neighbor saying her goats were out and close to the road. We ran and sure enough, the goats were about to get in the road, but we stopped them before it happened.
After the run we were shown around the farm and met Jerry who helps on the farm. Jerry showed us how to milk a goat! It was really cool. I wasn’t as good at it though. Then I feed a baby goat named Luna, feisty little one she was. We also met Dolly, sort of like a pet goat to them. She followed us everywhere.
Later we washed up and went to a Mexican restaurant. They had really big burritos! I had a steak burrito which was really good. Not much really happened until we got the phone call before we ate. I rather not talk about it because its pretty sad.
We just hung out afterwards and then later went to sleep.

Friday, July 11 - Cheyenne, WY & Boulder, CO

Ian’s thoughts
Hiya! (that’s sp/atish for “hello”)
We woke up today in Wyoming, had a continental breakfast, which took me forever to get to. I accidentally went the wrong way, ending up walking all the way around the hotel in sock feet (couldn’t find my flip flops). When I did get there I had a bagel, three waffles, yogurt, two bowls of Cheerios, and some orange juice. What’s kind of wacked is that I’ve been eating a ton, in fact I weighed 165 before I ate and 173.5 in the afternoon. I thought I’d gained a lot of weight, it was just food.

After breakfast, we packed up and headed to Colorado. We got to the drive and all felt kinda drained, especially Itzy, whose stomach felt bad. As Jordan, Itzy, and I went reggin’ and pledgin’ (that’s fun to write), we met a lady named Melody Fairchild. She was very nice, and only after she left did I find out that she was one of the fastest women ever. In fact, I bought a massage book for athletes; and she was on the cover of it. So that was pretty cool. After the drive, we went from Boulder to Denver, Colorado, to Miss Cassey and Mr. Chris’s place. Then Mr. Williams, Jordan, Steph, and I went out for a run on a trail, at like a nine minute pace. Jordan and Steph turned around at the point where they would have a 30 minute run. Mr. Williams and I continued on for a few more miles and did some talking about getting realistic and attainable goals. We stopped running outward at a stop light, and on the way back we ran about an 8:30 pace. The ending time was one hour and 5 minutes, my longest run to date. Actually, I was planning to go to the pool afterwards, but the moment I finished stretching out, everybody returned from the pool. That was annoying. Jordan did, however, agree to go with me to the pool so I could swim from one side to the other to refresh myself. Because of the thunderstorm clouds, I had to minimize my water time. And, of course, when I jumped in my shorts were pulled down by the water, brightening up the sky. As I swam, I pulled them up, and was met with chilly blasts of wind as I got out. Once dry and wearing a shirt, they actually became quite pleasant. Mr. Chris and Ms. Cassy fed us a meal of burgers, beans, and chips. After 3 burgers, Mr. Chirs and I went on the balcony and had a great series of conversations, ranging from trees to the substance of life; both pretty worthwile topics by themselves. After that, we all pretty much just hit the hay (went to sleep)

It’s been a good day

—Ian
I love you Mommy, Daddy, Josh, Jessica, Kassey, Mom, Tia Nancy, Tia Vicky, Tia Eva, Basically, I love everybody and I miss you!
(Boe, Dilly, and Tigger included)


Thursday, July 10 - Salt Lake City, UT

Stephanie’s thoughts-
We woke up at about 3:45 AM to leave early for Utah. It was pretty warm in the morning, so the breeze was nice. We ate bagels again this morning but they were blueberry so it was ok.

Nothing really happened that was great on the way to the college. When we saw the great salt lake it was really big. It was like a normal lake though. At about noon-ish, there was a table in the shade with two chairs. A lot of people here walking by and that’s great.

After setting up we started to register and pledge people. Mr. Williams, Itzy, and Jordan went to get lunch from the cafeteria while Mrs. Hineline, Ian, and myself stayed at the table. We switched off later. I had a cheeseburger with fries and water. They had fry sauce which I thought it was ketchup, but it wasn’t. I am still unsure if I like it or not.

Meeting people from other countries is really fun for example Belgium, Africa, Canada, etc. We registered 10 people today and had people pledge which is pretty good. As we were packing up a news man came out so we laid out some things to help the scene. Mr. Williams and Mrs. HIneline ran today so it was kind of a break for us.

Later we left for Wyoming. It would be about 11:00 PM before we get there. Before leaving Utah, we stopped by the 2002 Winter Olympic Stadium and took pictures. For dinner it was pizza, really good pizza. I slept for a couple more hours in the van until Mrs. Hineline asked for help from everyone. We were stranded in the wilderness with 12 items and had to choose which were most important.

First we had to make our own list without discussing with anyone. Then we had to talk about it to make one list. I tried several times to put my input in but couldn’t really get a word in when Ian started to use his scientific theories that really convinced everyone. I only agreed with everyone and kind of withdrew form talking. Everytime I tried to put some input in I heard no so I stopped trying because I really hate being criticized by anyone. During the activity, Mrs. Hineline interrupted us asking us questions and then appointed me as the leader to finish the list up.

Afterwards she told us about what she examined and questioned us on our actions. I was really tired and just wanted to go to sleep. Later that night we got to the hotel, La Quinta. We had room 321 and after getting out of the elevator on the 3rd floor, everyone except Mrs. Hineline and myself went the wrong way, the room was the first door on the left. After getting settled and taking showers, it was finally time to sleep! Again!


Wednesday, July 9 - Helena, MT

Ian’s thoughts-
Today was pretty whoa. Mrs. Blair was again so cool as to feed us breakfast, I had a very satisfying sausage burrito. Honestly, I was satisfied for about thirty minutes. Then Mrs. Hineline, Stephanie, and I went to Walmart for information sheet copies, a snack for me, a pouf for Itzy, a post card for Jordan, a laptop bag for Steph, some napkins and some chips. When we got back I used the bathroom, but the toilet flushed properly about ½ the time, the other half it overflowed massively. So, I tried to flush a tissue down the toilet after I blew my nose, and it started to overflow for the third time. I didn’t want the people downstairs to suffer the unspeakable horror of toilet overflow water raining down on them, not again (insert heroic: DUM DUM DAH-DUM)! Knowing that I had to act, and act quickly, I assessed the situation and made an executive decision to take the lid off the toilet and instantly took in the inner workings of this complex contraption, knowing exactly what I was doing; I pulled up on one of the parts, thus flushing the toilet, saving Mrs. Blair a call to the plumber, and sparing the downstairs another bout of terror! That was really fun to write; and I know that it was punctuation nightmare, but that build suspense. My control of the situation was possibly…umm…embellished…just a smidgeon…maybe.

Anyway, then I joined everybody else in the voting drive with my new and improved enthusiasm. A grand total of 334 pledges and 15 registrations made this contestant for our most productive day yet! Having run about two and a half miles (except for the bathroom break in the capitol building, which has marble stalls, by the way) I was hoping for my highest mileage yet. As we ran to get to the trail that went up the mountain (that sounds so cool!) I noticed that my breathing was more rapid than usual, and that made the rest a lot harder. We originally started on a trail that went up at a moderate incline, before abandoning it for a path that attacked the peak directly. By the first 100 meters, IU had realized that this was going to be pretty painful. The general feelings that I had were breathing in air that wasn’t thick enough, and that, in conjunction with the feelings of burning and emptiness in my legs, conspired to make me walk every minute and thirty seconds or so. I could have pushed harder, but I wasn’t sure if I should, and not being able to see the top made it feel impossible. The thought occurred to me that I had been eating conservatively the last few days; and I think that was my undoing. There was even a point at which I useed Jordan’s shoulder for a few yards, and it means a lot that he offered it. After finally reaching the pinnacle, somewhat dizzy and wacked feeling, we saw the rewards of our efforts. What we saw was the beauty of Montana on display for the eyes that earned it. We spent a while with our thoughts and shared in a conversation developing and discussing our philosophies of seeing things with our own eyes. As we walked back down we talked about the importance of consistency in training, as well as other things. At the bottom we found that we had started at four-thousand-something feet, and climbed to five-thousand-something, having increased over a thousand feet in elevation. Well, that explained the breathing. (Wish I knew that about thirty seconds before we started out all gung-ho on Mt. Everest ( Mountains are a lot taller when you scale them!))

After we got back we went to something called Alive at Five where everybody just rocks out to fiddles, guitars, drums, and stuff. Not everybody rocks, but a good ball of people were just jamming; and the people that don’t dance are laid back. Jordan bought ice cream for Itzy and himself, but I didn’t want any. Then we caught the last horse and carriage rid (Jordan’s treat) with five other people. One man in particular was very supportive of us, a cool guy to talk to. Around nine o’clock we went back to the condo.


Tuesday, July 8 - Coeur d’Alene, ID

Ian’s thoughts−
Man, today was busy. Actually, I’ve been feeling drained, or allowing myself to feel drained, rather. That was wrong of me, because I prayed for favor, and we’ve been receiving it, and there has been incredible generosity from tons of people we’ve met. As I write this, I feel defiance rising in me, a blatant refusal to betray the belief of all the people that have been giving to and praying for us. I’m thinking of all the heroes that died to defend the rights that we are striving to get people to utilize. I have been so selfish. From this point on, I resolve to be a beast of patriotism with claws and jaws of enthusiasm to annihilate this spirit of apathy, apathy of the use of the rights that our warriors bled for. It is not the purpose of my writing to shock anyone, but as my pencil moves over this paper, I’m receiving new revelation of the glorious opportunity that I have, moving unnoticed through my fingers. Now, as I smile at a potential registrant, I will also be baring my teeth against the idea of tyranny; as my hands offer them the pledge to vote, I will be enlisting them as soldiers into the overly clichéd war between god and evil, freedom and oppression. This trip has given us the opportunity to pull our weight or be disappointing. I personally refuse to have anything to do with the latter.

Now I move forward.

We woke up around six and started packing our things. Really, it was mainly me that was milling around, but Itzy was semi-awake. I tried to be quiet, but the door roared (technically, it just kinda scraped, but it was in the same room) everytime I opened it. Breakfast for me consisted of four small bowls of Cheerios, two bagels with cream cheese, and three or four cups of orange juice.

Apparently, I take a lot of food, because then I was hungry like 2 hours later. I decided that I need to consistently train my core, so I started on that before I ate, but after I dedicated the day to Christ. The hours that we had to wait until the van was ready left us watching reruns of Stargate. We all came to the conclusion that it was a pretty cool show. Around noon-ish the van pulled up, ready to go. Mr. Dale and his family were very generous to us, securing a hotel room for us, feeding us, and iving of their effort and time. I thank them for that. Before we took off, we went to eat at Wendy’s Wendy’s has this really great salad with a grilled chicken fillet on top. It was my second time having it for lunch in a row, but it doesn’t get old. What does get old, however, is the experience of being painfully hungry an hour or two later. Everyone hopped in the van, and we drove to Idaho; but we couldn’t take a good picture at the border because the sign was hung from the overpass, brilliant. Idaho was full of beautiful country, and the park that we stopped at was incredible. The people there were supportive as a general rule, and that helps to keep us going. Approximately a hundred people pledged, with about 10 people registered. Because we had to make up for time lost in Washington, we then drove on to Montana. As we drove through Montana they saw a baby moose in a clearing and a group of wild horses in a river. What I love about this state is that it is full of clear rivers, abundant wildlife, and mountains clothed in green forests that challenge me to explore and scale them.

Jordan and I were playing picture wars, where one of us draws a picture, explains it, then the other draws a picture, explains how it is about to annihilate the other, then the other person draws a picture that defends and explains how his picture is about to annihilate the other person’s, etc. This has gone on for over an hour at a time. It was my turn that caused me to miss the horses and the baby moose. That night we slept in a condo owned by Mrs. Blair and her husband, who are both awesome, ultra-generous people.

Ian, signing off
(I think that sounds really cool)


Sunday, July 6 & Monday, July 7 - Richland, WA

Itzy’s thoughts−
We left Portland, Oregon from Tod and Riley’s house. Everyone slept in sleeping bags on the living room floor (on top of nice cushie Therma Rests), except Mrs. HIneline and I. We were able to sleep in a sofa bed they had set out in one of the rooms. We woke up and had bagles and orange juice we had bought the night before. I chose not to eat a bagel because they were plain− the only kind of bagel I won’t eat. For some reason plain bagels don’t go very well in my stomach. I was ok with not eating a bagle because there were plenty of other foods in the van.

We packed up and got in the car. We ended up driving for about 2 hours before pulling over to a Pilot rest stop because Ian really had to pee… we all really had to pee. We went into the restroom and on our way out Jordan and Mr. Williams noticed that the van was leaking, which was a huge set back because we had just had the radiator replaced in Vegas. We all hopped in so we could drive the van over to the garage across the street, only to discover that we couldn’t go in reverse. Mrs. Hineline, Ian, and Jordan got out and pushed the Burgundy Beast while Mr. Williams steered. They managed to push it up a small incline to the point where Mr. Williams could put it in forward. We drove it across the road, but the guy there couldn’t really help us much. We waited around for a little bit trying to figure out what to do. A nice man we talked to said that when the reverse goes, it usually indicates a problem with the transmission. Stephanie and I ran down to a grocery mart to get 2 gallons of water for the radiator. We then took a gamble and started driving towards Washington.

On the way we ended up calling Dale, who runs a 24-hour towing business called Advantage Mobile. He told us that if we could make it over to West Richland, then he would be able to take a look at the vehicle. He was pretty much the only mechanic we could find available on a Sunday. Sure enough, we got to Dale’s. He was extremely welcoming and quickly took a look at the Burgundy Beast. He confirmed the fact that our transmission was about to go. He told us it would be about $3000 for a new transmission. That wasn’t at all what we were expecting to hear (although apparently replacing the transmission is usually the most expensive repair you have to make to a car). There was no way he could get a transmission to us because it was Sunday, so we would just have to wait to see if there was one in the area. He drove us over to a place called JD’s Diner in a really cool Suburban in order for us to get lunch. His wife was kind enough to buy lunch for us. His wife and family were all there when we arrived.

Afterwards, we went back to the mechanic shop and hung out with Dale, Heather (his apprentice), Cody, and Bud (two of his sons). Dale informed us that he would waive his time and labor fees, which cut back substantially on the cost. [[(*THANK YOU AGAIN OH SO VERY MUCH!!!!*)]] Eventually Bud decided to drive us over to where we were staying (Balihi Motel). Once again, his family was extremely generous and paid for a room for us. We hung out at the hotel. Stephanie, Jordan, Ian, and I went swimming in the pool for a while. One of the ladies in charge of the motel was also swimming and was kind enough to let us use here pool toy. Ian was talking to another woman who told him that there was a nice river/park/swimming are less than 100 yards away and we asked for permission to walk down as a group. Mrs. Hineline agreed, so long as we didn’t do anything dangerous and we had at least one phone with us. It was so much fun. It was a gorgeous park (with a playground!). When we got back, we ordered pizzas and Jordan, Ian, and Mr. Williams went out for a nice 6-7 mile run. We ate when they came back and Mrs. Hineline was kind enough to do several loads of laundry, which we were in desperate need of. We watched SEVERAL episodes of a show called “Snapped.” It was about women who cruelly murdered people. Stephanie was very into it and was quite disappointed when it was time to go to bed and turn off the TV (it was kinda funny). We eventually called it a night.

Saturday, July 5 - Portland, OR

Stephanie’s thoughts- So we woke up at about 3:35 AM to go towards Oregon. Nothing interesting happened until about 2 o’clock. Mr. Williams realized that the needle was on empty. We pulled into Guentners Gardens & Nursery. In a way, it was a good thing because Ian, Itzy, and Jordan had to use the restroom. Mr. Williams ran about a block to get the gas. A bad thing is that Mr. Williams beat them back. He only got about a gallon of gas so we drove to the gas station. The gas topped off over one hundred dollars! The men there were super nice, the owner gave us $0.10 of each gallon of gas.
When we finally got to Portland it was really confusing. We were parallel from the road we needed to be on, there were North, South, East, West, Northeast, etc. roads that you needed to be on. The streets were numbered so you can’t just say 23rd Street, it had to be Northeast 23rd Street. Mr. Williams used “logic” to get us on the right road.
After the confusion we got to the Fit Right Store safely. The day was going to go like every other day, or so we thought. We met some real unique people in Portland, Oregon. One guy told us a poem, I couldn’t really make out some of it because he was yelling it a little bit. Another guy really freaked us all out. He spoke his mind quite clearly but not in a sense on who heard it, adults or children. I won’t tell you what he said but it wasn’t for little ears. The store lady, Malarie, came out and helped us kinda move him along.
Afterwards we parked up at 6:00 PM because it was closing time. The running team went out for a run up the road, it was basically a HUGE hill that kept on curling. We ran into a park for a little ways then ran back. I will tell you that running down was a lot better than running up.
While waiting on Mrs. Hineline to finish up in Starbucks, I fell asleep in the chair behind her. When I woke up I was confused. We left to go to dinner and go to a Burger King. The trick was getting to it. We went down a long road turned around and went back down the road. To many one way roads. We stayed the night at Todd and Reily’s house who generously let us stay in such short notice. Mrs. Hineline and Itzy shared a pull out couch while everyone else got the floor; it wasn’t bad though. It was a lot of fun and very interesting. Off to Washington, I wonder what life has in store for us?



Friday, July 4 - San Francisco
Stephanie’s thoughts- The boys woke up early to run the hill in front of the hotel, it was HUGE. At breakfast time, Ian was still in the shower, so the girls went straight to breakfast after a stop to the van. After everyone was there and seated after getting breakfast the power went out on the whole block. A lot of people laughed then continued to eat.
When we left the hotel and the spot where Mr. Williams parked was horrible! The van was parked in between a fence and a pole. It took us about ten or fifteen minutes to get the car out of that spot no kidding. We were moving about two inches per minute or so. Forward, reverse, a good driver, and teamwork is what it took to get out of the parking spot.
We drove down to Sports Underground and parked the van there so it was a short walk to the Golden Gate Bridge. We went onto the pier where there were people fishing. At nine the Warming Hut opened so some of us bought souvenirs. Afterwards we went to the Sports Underground to look around, killing time until the game. To do something else, we went to the Coif Memorial Tower to see the view from the top but it cost like four dollars or so to go. We met a nice couple, Josh and Carly, from Connecticut who took our picture. After the picture we talked more and found out they were in Sanoma, a few minutes away from Napa, tasting wine. They were really nice and I hope to see them again.
Subway, we had Subway again for lunch and by the time we got back to the hotel. Mr. Willliams’ uncle David was there.


Thursday, July 3 - San Francisco, CA
Wednesday, July 2 - Los Angeles, CA

Stephanie’s thoughts-
I woke up around 7:05 AM to get ready and go to breakfast. It was a normal breakfast for me cereal, orange juice, and a waffle. But Ian went to the extreme! He put strawberry yogurt in his oatmeal and on his waffle. It was disgusting looking but than Itzy tried it and loved it. I was happy to leave early.
We packed our things onto a luggage carrier and went to the lobby to wait for our ride. We ran a little late today because we were waiting for the Burgundy Beast. Ian did the Burgundy Beast Dance and we got a phone call from the auto people, everyone besides the teachers than later did it again and here came Carlos with his red truck to pick us up. Talk about awkward.
So we finally set off at 9:53 AM, an hour or two behind schedule but they did the best they could and we are very grateful to them. When we finally arrived in California, Mr. Williams played two California songs a lot. The vegetation changed quickly on the mountains and we saw a ton of Joshua trees. We had to stop because California has an agricultural inspection stop.
We got to L.A. alter it was smoggy. It wasn’t bad because we had to drive through L.A. The pier was really busy, its good for us since we need a lot of people. During the three hours we were there we met people from twenty-three different countries.
We hadn’t really counted up the pledges or registrations yet but I know there are a lot. California took up two boxes on the banner. I thought it was cute because a little girl wanted to sign it so we let her and her mom wrote 2020 next to her signature meaning the year she would be able to vote.
Afterwards we went to the beach to touch the water. Mrs. Hineline and Mr. Williams told us not to get too wet but some of us didn’t really listen. Itzy, Ian, Jordan had to use trash bags as seat covers so they wouldn’t get wet. We stayed at

Tuesday, July 1 - Las Vegas, NV

Stephanie’s thoughts-
We slept in to about 6:00 this morning, Neil made us pancakes with green chili peppers, I know it sounds weird but they were really good. We cleaned and packed up later and before we left, we went across the street to the park and took a picture with him. We said our goodbyes and left.
A couple hours later, we arrived about ten miles away from Hoover Dam, some cops had to check our van for explosives. Mr. Williams and Mrs. Hineline said the only guns we had in here were my guns a.k.a. my arm muscles. Ian and Jordan were playing picture wars and started talking about guns and bows while Mrs. Hineline opened the door and four police were close. After we were able to go, there it was!! Hoover Dam. It was so neat and reminded me of the Transformers movie.
We took some pictures there then took a picture in front of the Nevada state sign, it was shiny. Then we were in Las Vegas and its hot, sticky, and humid. We ate at the In and Out Burger and the food was fantastic! On our way out we noticed that green fluid was coming out of the radiator, it was anti-freeze. So we skipped going to UNLV and went to Fleet Feet. The van has to go to an auto shop because it is leaking pretty fast! I hope it will be good enough to continue the trip.
So the radiator needed to be replaced and the automan Carlos and a mechanic Jorge were very nice and offered us a $200 discount and also offered to stay later and get up earlier to get us on the road as soon as possible. The voting drive didn’t go as well as we had hoped. We had about four registered and forty-four pledged to vote. Its not our worst or best day but we did get it done.
News Channel 8 came out and interviewed Mr. Williams, Ian, Jordan, and myself. The Fleet Feet management were very nice to us, giving us free hats as long as we wore them during the interview. Mrs. Hineline and Ian got the two hats, they were soft…anyways I’d like to thank Neil and Diana again for their hospitality Carlos and Jorge for there act of kindness with helping the Burgundy Beast, everyone at Fleet Feet Sports for allowing us to set up there, Boe and Kylee for giving us a ride to the hotel and also reggin’ and pledgin’. Tomorrow we will be in Los Angeles, California at the Santa Monica Pier.




Sunday, June 29 & Monday, June 30 - Flagstaff, AZ

Stephanie’s thoughts- Today was really fun because we camped out last night. This was the first time I had actually camped too. Yes it is true that the ground was really hard, rocky, and cold but I guess that is what camping is all about.
We woke up about 5:30 am or so to go and take a shower not knowing that the showers opened at 6:00am. The good thing was that we talked to two people about Run to Vote while waiting. I thought that the shower wasn’t that great because either way you put it, hot or cold, it was always scorching hot.
Well after everyone was showered, we ate breakfast, plain bagels and mini cinnamon with original and strawberry cream cheese. During this whole trip we have eaten bagels for most of our breakfasts so I am getting a little bit tired of it. Shockingly nobody else is. Shortly after we set out, it was another long trip from the campsite to the college so I decided to go to sleep, everything was fine until I hit my head on the window and it hurt really bad and woke me up.
When we finally got to Northern Arizona University, we went into the bookstore so Mr. Williams could tell the people that we were there. Mrs. Hineline had to go to the post office downstairs so Itzy, Jordan, Ian, and I went to look around in the store. A couple minutes later it was time for us to set up.
We put our sign in a tree, not that we made it look good; the rope was a little untidy but held pretty well. As usual we started Reggin’ and Pleggin’ and got a decent amount of people registered and pledged to vote. We ate subway for lunch, in a way we had duties or turns to eat and register people.
At about 1:45pm a camera man from channel two came out to interview Mr. Williams. Shortly after we cleaned up and went to Neil’s, a friend of Mr. Williams, and put down our stuff where we were going to sleep that night. The runners went for a ride to a park for runners, hikers, and bikers. I ran one loop which was about two miles then walked a there and back path and the boys ran 4 miles. A little while back there was an argument about some people wanted to build a highway through the park but some people disagreed and there was an agreement and it tuned out that they decided to keep it a park. Along the path were little challenges, I am not quite sure what they were since I really didn’t stop. After we came back we played ultimate Frisbee. Mr. Williams and Ian vs. Jordan and me, can you guess who won? That’s right Jordan and I 3-0.
After the game Itzy, Jordan, Ian, and I went to the high school track, Jordan and I did hurdles, Ian and Itzy ran the track. It was a lot of fun. Mr. Williams had made spaghetti and some salad. We watched some TV later and then went to bed. It was a good day and Neil was really nice. I hope there are more people like him. I want to thank Neil and Diana for their wonderful hospitality.



Saturday, June 28 - Albuquerque, NM
Jordan’s thoughts-
We woke up, got ready to go, and packed our things. We then walked down to the continental breakfast. After breakfast we loaded up the van. Ian and I went back up to the room to make sure that we didn’t leave anything. We do this everywhere we go to make sure that we don’t leave anything. This time we found my swimsuit, which I had left on the shower to dry.
It was about a five-hour drive from Amarillo to Albuquerque. During the drive we saw the source of the smell from the night before. It was a cow farm where hundreds of cows were crammed together so close that some of them couldn’t move at all. I didn’t like it one bit and I really, really wish people didn’t do that to animals.
When we got to Albuquerque we went strait to the Fleet Feet. We meet Bobby and he ordered pizza for us while we set up. After a while the pizza came and we got to eat. After refueling with the pizza and soda, Itzy and I grabbed some notepads and left to do some regin’ and plegin’ in one direction while Ian and Stephanie went the other direction. After walking for a little while Itzy and I came across a group of ships and restaurants that were pretty busy. We circled around there for a while, got a person registered, and got a bunch of people to pledge, but we eventually got really thirsty so we headed back to the Fleet Feet. When we got back we found out that there weren’t many signatures on the banner so Mr. Williams came up with the idea to go to Oldtown. Steph and Mrs. Hineline stayed at the Fleet Feet while Mr. Williams, Ian, Itzy, and I grabbed the banner and left for Oldtown. It was a short drive from the store and when we got there we quickly found that it was a great place to do some reggin’ and pledgin’. Ian carried the banner on his back while the rest of us walked around and talked to people. We met the same group of tourists from Finland who we had talked to in Texas. We talked to them a little more and then continued to reg’ and pledge. We also met a big group of people from Wisconsin. We talked to them for a little while and found out that they were down there for a bowling tournament. While we were talking to the bowling Wisconsinites a news guy showed up. Turned out he was originally from Wisconsin too! Itzy, Ian, and I took a little break while Mr. Williams talked to the news guy. We ran around the park so he could get some shots of us running. After that Mr. Williams went to go get the van while we ate snow-cones. Itzy also happened to find a souvenir shop. She couldn’t help but to buy some stuff there. Mr. Williams then arrived to pick us up and drive us back to the Fleet Feet store. ON the way back I talked to my parents on my cell phone (little did I know that would be the last time I used it for a while). When we got back we found out that Mrs. Hineline and Stephanie had gotten some more people to register and pledge. We then packed up and left for Bobby’s house. When we got there they showed us around and he introduced us to Rona (his wife) and (his daughter). Once we got all of our stuff inside, Mr. Williams, Ian, and I put our running clothes on. We were originally going to run distance but after seeing the storm clouds roll in, Mr. Williams decided to play it safe and just stick close to their house, so we decided to do some speed workouts on their really steep driveway. I did 8 but Mr. Williams and Ian did 13. Sprinting up a steep hill at 7,000 feet above sea level is not easy! Each time we made it to the top we were completely out of breath. When we came back in we showered-up and put some different clothes on. We then ate delicious hamburgers and hotdogs and watched part of the Olympic trials. Shortly after that I got ready for bed and I hopped in my sleeping bag which was on the living room floor. I listened to the conversation that everyone else was having around me… but I fell asleep. It had been a fun and productive day and I was exhausted.


Friday, June 27 – Amarillo, TX
-Jennifer and her trip home

Around 4:30 in the morning We all woke up to get ready to go to the airport. Yes I was scared, and yes I was nervous. I didn't know what i was more scared of; me getting on the wrong plain, or just being on the plain. When we finally arrived at the airport, I was saying my good byes to everyone and Mr. Williams (Willy) was walking in with me. When Mr. WIlliams (Willy) left and i had to stay, i got even more scared. When i arrived on the air plain my stomach started to hurt and my legs started shaking. My first empression was that the plain was pretty small. I sat down and the man beside me asked if i wanted to sit near the window seat. I shook my head no because i didn't feel like talking. i was waiting on the plain for about 15 mins. When the plain was starting, my stomach dropped and i was smacking the gum that was in my mouth really fast. I took out my ipod so i can get my mind off of everything. The plain started moving this time and i started to get even more scared and my hands started to get all sweaty. I turned the volume from my ipod louder so i can get my mind off of everything. The plain was moving faster and faster, sooner a enough we were in the air. I looked out the window and my eyes had gotten big and wide. I started to get light headed and i felt like i was going to get sick, and i started to feel bad for the guy beside me.
twenty minutes later the plain started to shake. Of coarse i was starting to get scared again. i thought that the plain ride was sappost to be smooth and not all shaky. The plain kept on getting higher and higher. The more higher it had gotten, the more scared i had became. Pretty much the whole plain ride i was think what Mrs. Hineline and Mr. Williams (Willy) and everyone else kept on telling me that its not scary at all. To me it was a little different. I was scared almost the whole time and i had to go to the bathroom, but i didn't go because i was to scared to get up. I had to go really bad too.
The plain gets shakier and shakier every time. the man beside me acts like its no big deal and fell asleep. And of coarse he started snoring....loudly. My ears started popping and i was chewing more gum. It helped a little bit, but my ears was still hurting. I started to get thirsty. When the lady that worked there was asking people if they wanted water, i told her no, I already had to use the bathroom and i was to scared to even move. I started to get tired so i went to sleep for awhile, but i kept on waking up because the seat belt was to tight and my ears started to hurt again and i still had to use the bathroom extremely bad. I woke the man up that was beside me to help me with my seat belt. He started to laugh and i said please and he said sure.But he was still laughing a little bit. I looked out the window again and all i saw were white clouds.
The man beside me started to take over the left arm rest, and that was the arm rest that i wanted to use. After awhile i got pretty bored and it started to get pretty cold, and i left my blanket and my sweat shirt in the run to vote van. Remember when i said that i had to uses the bathroom? Well it got to a point where i just couldn't take it anymore. I walked up to the bathroom that was in the plain, but someone was already using it. They took forever and by the time they got out of the bathroom, it started to stink. I had to hold my noise for about a minute. I got out of the bathroom and sat back down. The man that was beside me woke up and got out a photography book. I asked him what kind of photographs he does.He didn't really tell me, but he had to be talking for at least 30 minutes about it. Finally he stopped talking and asked me why was i on a plain by myself and i told him about run to vote. and he started to get exsided. He asked a lot of questions and i gave him all the answers. i was so glad that he didn't ask any complicated questions.
the plain ride was almost over, and all of a sudden the plain felt like it was a roller coaster. The plain started to go down and it started to turn. Everyone that was on the plain acted like it was no big deal. I tried to look out the window one last time, but the sun kept on blinding me. When the plain stopped for everyone to get off, i was extremely happy. When i got off the plain, I had to wait at another airport for about 2 to 3 hours. When they called out C54, Raleigh/Durham's flight. I wasn't as scared as last time, because i knew what to expect. When i arrived on the plain and a elderly lady told me to get up because she wanted the window seat. I didn't want to argue with her so i got up nicely and sat in the next seat. The mean lady started to become nice. She asked me why was i going to NC and i told her that's where i live and i told her about run to vote and she said that its good that young kids are getting involved. Later on we were talking about school. She's an elementary teacher, but she wants to be a high school teacher teaching English. She asked me if i was good at writing. I told that I'm descent. we kept talking for about 30 minutes, after that she fell asleep.
For some reason this plain ride wasn't as bad as the other one. It was more smooth and the plain ride was shorter, but I still didn't like flying. I got off the plain and i called Mr. Williams (Willy) and Mrs. Hineline that i was ok and that I am in NC. When i saw my mom and Ali (my sister) and my friend Melissa, I kind of ignored Mr. Williams on the phone and started talking to them. No worries, I told Mr. Williams (Willy) I had to go. When we left the airport, we went to target, and went to my friend Casey to swim. I told them almost everything that had happened. They told me to shut up because I was talking about it too much. But its all good. I am going to join them again in a couple of weeks.

Ian’s thoughts−
We woke up early in the morning, like 4:30ish (which is like 5:30 AM at home, due to the time difference). Everyone was kinda groggy, because it was our earliest wake up time so far. Jennifer was to be leaving today…Tear… Tear….Tear…of joy, JK. Anyway, we were all bunched in the back seats with my grandma and Mrs. Hineline in the front. As Mom (in case you didn’t know, that is what we call my ultra-cool grandma) led Mrs. Hineline to the airport, we all talked about how much we were going to miss Jennifer (that furry Jenn her: insert cool accent). Then the horrible decision was made to grab McDonald’s and I had two McSkillet burritos, for a grand total of 1,150 calories, most of it being fat, with way too much sodium. Actually, because I try to make healthy choices, I find fast food nauseating and my insides feel slimy afterward. So, with my stomach slightly churning, we saw Jennifer to the airport, and Mr. Williams saw her to where she neded to go, as I sang, “The smell of your skin lingers on me now, you’re already on your flight back to your hometown…” It should be noted that as I sang this I had a funny accent and pretended to be sad, which we were…ish. Everybody hopped back in the car, and we were off to drop off mom and continue our adventure. We spent like the next four hours en route to the Big Texan, which we arrived at around 12:30 PM. The Big Texan actually supplied us with a free meal of a big burger, big fries, as well as a drink and some jalapeños. I was the only one who wanted to eat the jalapeños, so I was sitting there hiccupping while Mr. Williams was being interviewed by the Amarillo Globe. After lunch, we set up in the shade of the porch of the Big Texan. There was a guy that had started trying to eat the 72-oz. steak, which he was still trying to eat now. We signed up about 10 people and got 127 pledges. Everybody went into the souvenir shop and I was going to get Joshua and Jessica a bullwhip like Indiana Jones, but they were really cheaply made. Jordan, Mr. Williams, and I went running around a cemetery that had all kinds of wildlife in it. There were doves, ravens, ducks, and jack rabbits. At one point, Mr. Williams and I started to chase some jack rabbits in a field adjacent to the graves, but that didn’t last very long…jack rabbits are…rather speedy. As we headed back from the run, my nose and hips had begun to feel dry from the heat. We packed up and went to the Best Western hotel that was giving us two rooms for free. What was great was that there was the hot aroma of the manure that had just been spread on Texas fields. We went swimming in the hotel pool, and soon we had elected to race. Jordan and I, however, hadn’t taken out our contacts. As we churned water across the pool, my contacts started to flap and by the time we stood up, our contacts we lost in the stupidly harsh chlorine that now antagonized our eyes. We washed out our eyes, swam carefully a little more, then changed in our rooms. Probably the last worthwhile thing I want to mention is when we got Itzy to walk around with her tongue hanging out, and breathing through her nose. See, 90% of taste is smell, the other ten percent involves your tongue, sooo… that was funny.

Thursday, June 26 - Oklahoma City, OK

Jennifer’s thoughts-
When we woke up, we went to the Oklahoma City bombing museum. Every one pretty much got emotional. After that we went back to the hotel that we stayed at and ate lunch there. To me the lunch we had tasted the best on this trip so far. We went to the voting drive around three o clock. We went to fleet feet to set up. After setting up we were all walking around and Itzy made us get kicked out of target. Today we did something a little different, who ever pledges, we let them have a free meal. About one hour later, the reporter came. Mr. Williams kind of made me get inter viewed. I didn’t want to because I was camera shy. Me and Stephanie walked somewhere else to hold a sign to get people to come and get registered. While we were over there, the reporter was coming up the road. When they have gotten out of the car Mr. Williams was coming out. At that moment, I just knew that I had to get inter viewed. I was so scared and nervous. I didn’t know what to say and I was scared that I mess up. When the reporter started talking to me and I felt a little better. I told Mr. Williams to leave because to I did want to listen. After that we started to run some, and went to eat after words. When we went back to the hotel, we all took are showers and just all hung out for a little bit, and then watch a movie and started are blogging.

Wednesday, June 25 - Wichita, KS

Jordan’s thoughts-
It started out like every other morning…we wake up in a different5 state and a different house. We then pack our stuff, go eat breakfast (which were some really good bagels), thank and say goodbye to our hosts (Randy and Keith, who were really nice people), then leave for the next city.
It was a long drive to Wichita, Kansas. We drove through a lot of country so there weren’t that many gas stations or places to go to the bathroom. When we were about halfway there, Jennifer really had to go to the bathroom. She eventually had to go so bad that she was ready to go in a bunch of trees on the side of the road. Luckily, Stephanie saw a porta-potty on the side of the road where some people were working. She was really happy!
When we finally got to Wichita, we ate at Wendy’s real quick. It was the first time I got a chicken BLT (without the tomatoes, so it was really a chicken BL), and it was really good! After that, we went to Wichita State University to set up our stand there. We did really good there! In fact, we did so good we even got Huxley the Hippo to sign! One of the reasons we did so well there was because some members from the local mayor’s council came to help us out. When it came time to run, Ian and I decided to take a break and let our legs rest (it was the first time on the trip where we didn’t run). Once we were done packing up, we found out that we were going to have to drive to Oklahoma City that afternoon instead of the next morning.
Thankfully, it was only a 2-hour drive, and Mr. J was so nice that he let us stay in his hotel for that night and the next. After that, we ate some chicken and pizza from Ian’s Grandma (Kathy). She showed us the city at night. She also showed us the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. It was a very beautiful memorial, especially at night. It made me sad, upset, confused, and weak all at the same time. I prayed a lot that night for all the people affected by the bombing. Then people in and around the building were not the only victims of the bombing, but their friends and family were too. Afterwards, we went back to the hotel and went to sleep.

Ian’s thoughts-
When we arrived at the Character First Training Center, my wonderful Grandmother, as well as the staff received us warmly. After we placed our belongings in the fantastic rooms, we were blessed; we ate a very satisfying meal provided by my Grandomther. As Mom gave us a tour of the city that night (We call our Grandma “Mom”), we visited the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial.

This memorial stands to honor those who died in the first recognized act of domestic terrorism in America. On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh set off a bomb composed of 4,000 pounds of explosive fertilizer in front of the federal building. The lives of 168 non-combantant innocents were lost. Many people still suffer from the pain of that day. Among the areas destroyed by the blast was a daycare. Nineteen children were murdered by this man and, indirectly, by his co-conspirator.

Between 9:01 and 9:02 AM, on this normal day in the heartland, our nation had its heart wrenched. This act of hate and violence was an act against innocence, against both the innocence of the American Heartland and against the children. However, in that moment, there also arose the spirits of bravery, camaraderie, love, and selflessness. One man worked 96 hours straight because moral dictated that he must. Another man would walk up to a rescuer, hand him a pair of lightly worn work boots, and walk away in his sock feet. After reading this, I broke down, and even at this moment, I feel like crying. If ell that this is all I should say, for something like this overshadows the rest of the day. This memorial is a site that is both disturbing and uplifting. Every. Single. Vote. Counts. Your vote could be the vote that decides the election that decides the person that presents the bill that becomes the law, that stops the murderer, and now, this one vote that “doesn’t matter” has saved a thousand people.
USE YOUR VOICE!

Tuesday, June 24 - Springfield, MO

Itzy’s thoughts-
Hopes high and spirits raised after a well-deserved day off and an extremely successful voting drive, we woke up at Steve’s house. He is actually Mr. William’s roommate’s uncle. He was an amazingly generous man and offered unconditional hospitality. I got to sleep on the porch (which was incredibly comfortable—the temperature and wind were perfect). He provided us with warm, fresh-from-the-oven donuts. The two days spent at his home were an amazing experience—for me especially. I have this incredibly irrational fear of dogs, and yet I absolutely love cats. When we first arrived at his house, the first thing I noticed was a beautiful black cat sitting by the mailbox. The next thing I know, there’s a brown dog leaping towards the Burgundy Beast. Steve was really nice when it came to handling my fear of dogs and was willing to keep me far away from Ruthie. Turns out that by the end of our stay, I had absolutely fallen in love with Ruthie. She was an amazing creature. I’m most certainly not in love with dogs, but I’ve learned to better appreciate them. We finally set off to Springfield, MO—it was to be one of our longest drives so far on the trip. We began driving north to Missouri through the Ozark Mountains. The terrain was absolutely beautiful. We ate at Burger King (the location was very convenient in relation to the school). I got a kid’s meal and got the coolest/lamest toy in the world. He was nicknamed Dr. Buff-man. It’s one of those Hulk toys that doesn’t really do much other than project spikes from his back (which was actually somewhat of a disappointment, yet it was fun nonetheless). We arrived at Missouri State University and, with the help of the Safety and Transportation Department, we set up at the Bear Paw (one of the most highly commuted areas at Missouri State). We had a nice turn out considering not as many students were present due to the summer season. There was an outdoor track available for the team to run on and Mrs. Hineline allowed me to go out and film the boys running for her Run to Vote documentary. There was an amazing guy sprinting across the field and after his run, Ian went over and talked to him. He was the fastest runner Ian has ever met, and it inspired him to work harder towards his Olympic goals. We packed up and went to Mr. William’s roommate’s parents’ house. Randy and Keith were extremely hospitable. Randy made a spaghetti dinner with an incredible meat sauce. Their house was really nice and we were all able to sleep comfortably. Mr. Williams and Jordan played each other in a suspenseful game of chess. Willy vs. Jordo. Overall, it was a pretty amazing day…Jordo beasted.

Sunday, June 22 & Monday, June 23 – Little Rock, AR

Ian’s thoughts-
Hola again, it’s Ian (yay! it hasn’t been another forever!…sorry, I’m kinda sleepy)
Yesterday was a blast, but of late that has been referred to as yestahday by Mr. Williams. Every day Mr. Williams has been slipping with his yankee-ness, so we all will be praying for him fervently… heahhahaha…well, I thought that was pretty funny. We had our first day off yesterday, which apparently didn’t apply to running. This was my first early-morning run, at least my earliest to date. All night long I would wake up and make a peep hole through my fingers so that I could see the numbers on the clock across the room (I didn’t sleep with my contacts in). Eventually, it was the semi-acceptable wake-up time of 5:18 a.m., and I began the quest to find my newly washed clothes. What was hilarious about my 20 min search was that my clothes had been at my feet all night…ha…ha……ha. After getting some water, Jordan, Mr. Justin, Mr. Williams, and I set out for a five-mile run. The morning welcomed us with its damp air and moist grass, making every step more refreshing than the last. Not really. The damp air and grass was true, and it was a beautiful morning, but it was a little humid for my taste. I think that maybe the humidity made my Under Armor less effective (this was like a second maiden voyage for my new, blue Under Armor shirt, even though that sounds a little stupid… oh, well.) We got to run along at a decent pace, around an 8 min mile pace, and after a few miles Jordan started getting a little tired; so I was between the two in the front and Jordan slightly behind. This continued till we were about 100 meters or so away from the burgundy beast (the name of our van), when Jordan leaned over to me and said “hee..huh..hee..huh..hee (his breathing), can I tell you something?” sadly I couldn’t hear him, so he had to repeat the painful process a couple of times, then “ sure”… he says…. …..(making suspense)… … … … … … “race you to the van!”
This was a “what the heck!?!” moment for me, because now the huffing and puffing Jordan was charging away with a lot more speed than he should have had. I mean, this was an amazing kick! I joined him to race away from Mr. Williams and Mr. Justin; and by the time we reached the van, we were almost going as fast as we would on a race day. No, it doesn’t really matter who won, but I just had to tell you how tenacious that guy is.
Jordan stayed behind when we set off a moment later for another three miles, and I started out feeling like I had just run five miles and a 100 meter sprint, go figure. This time the pace was slightly faster, and apparently Mr. Williams stomach, as well as mine, took special notice of that fact. With approximately a mile and a half left, we weaved our way through contestants for the triathlon-sprint to take place that day. With stomachs feeling… interesting, we waited in the bathroom line for a minute or so before deciding to take off. It was home or bust, literally! The pace was even faster on the way back, and the last ¾ mile was really fast. With about a quarter mile left, and them still holding the pace, I slowed slightly in order to more carefully control my bowels. However, rounding the corner I saw…dun.dun.dunn…the burgundy beast! I took off, almost drawing even with them as they reached the van.
Moments later…Relief! ( to be read : ahhhhhhhhh!)
It’s getting late so, more to come later…
Goodnight. (mommy, I love you, and please tell everybody at home too)
—Ian (continued)

After the run, we showered up and changed into our clothes for the day. Mrs. Diana cooked a great breakfast of Belgian waffles and wee all sat and enjoyed the conversation with some fresh orange juice. Part of what is making the trip so pleasant is the fact that we’re doing something worthwhile with our free time. As the meal went on, I found that I couldn’t get full, so I scooped up the drippage from the waffle mixture and made part of another waffle. I realized that I had eaten too much when the last bit of juice absorbed into the waffle and I felt pleasantly plump. Breakfast came and went and we took a picture with Mr. and Mrs. Raneau. We received shirts from them, and as we left, Mr. Justin walked up next to our van and, against our protests, he reached in the van and shoved a donation in our cup holder. The moments following, I couldn’t really get aover how kind, hospitable, and generous they had been to us. I greatly hope to see them again soon.

We arrived in Little Rock and walked around for a while before we really did anything, though we had to eat. There was a cool open-air café that I had a house salad at. While everybody was finishing eating, we were interviewed by a local station, and the reporter told me some things about focusing a camera. The Arkansas bridge was cool, and we got free tickets to the Clinton Museum, which was a neat, platinum green building design containing cool facts and items. What I saw as most interesting was a saber encased in a gold scabbard and having gems set everywhere. After the museum we saw the capitol building and at Subway…again. A nice, relaxing day off.


Jennifer’s thoughts-
In the morning of Louisiana, we had really good breakfast to eat cooked by Diana. A nice couple gave us a donation before we left. We all thought that it was a nice thing to do and we were all very happy.
We had about a 4 hour drive to Arkansas. It was our first day off. The first thing we did when we got there was we ate at a sandwich store. We also got interviewed there, but Itzy and I weren’t around because we had to use the lady’s room; however, we were there at the end.
We looked around the Clinton museum. We went in there for free, because a nice lady was nice to let us in. After that we were looking for a place to eat; unfortunately we had subway. Not a lot of people wanted to eat there, but that was the only option. After we ate, we went to a man named Steve’s house. So far I think he is a very nice guy and we were all thankful that we stayed in his house.
The next day we were still in Arkansas, but this day wasn’t going to be another day off. We all had to do the voting drive.
At the beginning, we were going to set up at a community college. Since the place was so small, and not a lot of them were old enough, we decided that we were going to go down town. We did really well down there, and I think we had the most pledges done today. After the voting drive we went to the capital. To me I thought it was very interesting and it’s a place were I would like to visit again sometime. After visiting the capital, we went back to Steve’s house and some of us went to run the miles that we had to do. Steve made us really good spaghetti for us to eat for supper. We all took showers after that and washed clothes. We are all excided for the next day.


Saturday, June 21 - Shreveport, LA
Jordan’s thoughts-
When I woke up that morning the room was quite chilly! We living in Wisconsinaccidentally left the AC running all night; however, . Soon gives a person a new definition for the word cold after waking up, Ian and I asked everyone if they wanted some cold pizza, but no one did so we finished it up. After taking turns brushing our teeth and getting dressed in the one bathroom, we packed up the car and headed for Louisiana!
When we arrived at Justin and Diana’s (who are really cool people by the way) house in Shreveport and they fed us some lunch. We then went over to the Sports Spectrum and set up our stand to begin reggin’ and pledgin’. Stephanie’s uncle from Texas dropped by and really surprised her. It was pretty cool. After a little while, Itzy, Ian, and I walked over to a nearby shopping center to look for people there. We didn’t find anyone to register but we sure did get a lot pledges. When we got back to the Run to Vote stand we found out Stephanie and Mr. Williams had just gotten done with two different interviews. We decided to start running around 5:00 but we really didn’t know where to go, so we just ran around the parking lot a few times. At 5:30 the store began to close so we had to pack up. Once we counted up all the signatures, we found out that Louisiana had beaten the record for most pledges, which was previously held by Florida. We then packed up the van and went back to Justin and Diana’s house. We ate watermelons and sandwiches for supper. They let us stay in the newly renovated guest house behind their home. After everyone got done showering we all sat down and watched Jumper. After that we went to bed.

Friday, June 20 – Jackson, MS
Itzy’s thoughts - The day started out pretty good. For some reason, the later I go to bed, the earlier I wake up. I ended up waking up around 3 in the morning and not being able to fall back asleep. I just lay there thinking about everything that’s happened on the trip. Around 5, Ian woke up. He had been hoping to make breakfast since the trip first began and he was finally going to get his chance. The previous afternoon, some of the team went to Winn-Dixie to pick up ingredients to make dinner and Ian’s famous oatmeal. He was up early and made breakfast. The smell of brown sugar and raisins was delicious. This was actually my first time eating homemade oatmeal rather than the plain-ish instant oatmeal from the grocery store. It was definitely a great experience. Ian is an incredible cook and I had more than one serving for the first time since the trip began (It was just so good I had to get thirds).
We set out on time. Upon arriving in Jackson, Mr. Williams checked in at the store to let them know we had arrived and then we went to get some lunch at the Beagle’s Bagels (I had the cheese melt, which was actually really good). Jennifer had originally wanted to go to a Japanese restaurant next to the Fleet Feet store, but when she asked for a donation of food, she was told that donations were reserved for customers with health issues. The lady from the restaurant was extremely nice though, and came out to sign our pledge banner.
When we arrived at the Fleet Feet store, we were given a warm welcome by the staff and we were given two tables to set up on. I felt a lot more comfortable coming up to people and telling about the group and what were doing. I’ve always had trouble breaking out of my shell, and Run to Vote has definitely helped. I was actually extremely proud of myself for stopping a group of younger adults. Turns out one of them was training for the Winter Olympics in an event called the Skeleton. He talked some to Mr. Williams and they both wrote down each other’s contact information. The guy was really nice and said that he would see what he could set up for us in Salt Lake City (possibly a bob sled ride and some lodging). Things were going great until we realized that a storm was setting in. The rain and wind weren’t terribly bad and the whole thing didn’t last too long. Some of the group went back into the Japanese restaurant to ask the staff if they were already registered to vote. Fortunately, some of them weren’t and we were able to get three registrations completed. The lady Jennifer had talked to before was, once again, extremely nice. She helped translate a bit and she donated Japanese drinks for the team. They had really cool caps and they tasted pretty good. Overall everything turned out great during the actual voting drive.
The problem came later on in the day when Mrs. Hineline and Mr. Williams were scrambling to find a place for us to stay. They called up a few places but they unfortunately had no luck. The idea of staying at a campground came up, but with the storm (which included lightning), the idea was shot down pretty quickly for both safety and practicality issues. Mrs. Hineline tried contacting churches, stores, the chamber of commerce, etc. but on a late Friday afternoon, most places had already closed for the weekend. We stopped by a large church that we were hoping could lodge us, but they were unable to do so because no security guard would be available to stay with us overnight. Mrs. Hineline and Mr. Williams eventually settled on just paying for a hotel room. Mr. Williams was able to get a AAA 10% discount, but it was still almost $50. It took some money from our budget, but it was definitely preferable than driving around aimlessly in search of a place to stay. We ordered pizza from Domino’s and got 3 large pizzas for $5 each (which was a pretty good deal). In the hotel room, we watched Planet of the Apes (which Ian had fun commenting on). The sleeping arrangements were a tight squeeze, but everyone slept ok.
Overall, it was a great day!


Thursday, June 19 - Mobile, AL

Stephanie’s thoughts- We had to wake up at 6:25 a.m. today because it was about a four hour drive to Mobile, Alabama. I had fallen asleep for some of the drive but the neatest thing was that we would have a déjà-vu hour, which was at seven o’clock. The time change is something I will have to get used to because it is something important to know especially since we are behind North Carolina one hour!
We set up Bishop Sate Community College, the people there were really ecstatic for us coming and having our drive there, which we were to. Everything went really well we had about seventy people pledging to vote in the 2008 elections and thirteen people registered which was a good amount of people, and we even made new friends along the way. We owe a big thanks to all of the people of Bishop Community College especially Mrs. Gloria, she had helped us exceptionally well. Today was a job well done for us once again and I really can’t wait to go to Jackson, Mississippi because I haven’t been there either!

Wednesday, June 18 – Tallahassee, FL
Ian’s thoughts- Hey, it’s Ian! ( after another forever(sorry(I like parenthesis)))
Today was fantastic! We did a lot of neat things, and actually saw our first watermelon bus. Breakfast was a satisfying meal of strawberry and/or plain cream cheese on top of a warm bagel, (which Jordan pronounces as baggle, instead of the proper baygel sound), at any rate, breakfast was refreshing. I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely Ms. Avery, and her boss, Representative Sands. They led us in a very interesting tour of the capital building, made so in part by their…candid commentary the whole way through. The voting drive was held on the FAMU college campus, which received us warmly for the most part. Resistance to something wonderful is inevitable, but the minute amount that I received still surprised me. However (comma) that can not drag down we, who are in the right; so we will smile at them and I will say “Have a blessed day!” Sorry, I sometimes catch myself starting to vent, so back on the subject. We set a high bar at the voting drive, with a hundred pledges and twenty registrations; there is no way the we would have had the success we had without the help of Markita, a very charismatic senior at FAMU, and even though this is a run-on sentence on steroids, I have to say that she is almost as that’s-right-I’m-in-your-face-and-you-better-like-it as my aunt Nancy is. After the drive we ran about two miles each, which Mr. Williams and I finished in about 13 mins 50 secs (not completely horrible, considering it was my first timed 2mile.) One hour later and we were scrambling to be ready for dinner at a restaurant across the street called the Silver Slipper, with the absolute necessity of our punctuality (I mean, dude, we were eating with a representative!) And even though his other buddy couldn’t make it, the room was constantly filled with laughter; and even with most of it being at my expense, well… I have deep pockets in that area. Ms. Avery was wonderful, as was her friend, Ms. Erin. You know, as I was walking up to the Silver Slipper, Ms. Erin said something that I felt deserved saying “yes Ma’am” to, and she was like “ You don’t have to Ma’am me; I’m like…2 years older than you”.
So I said, “so, you’re…18?”
“I’m 22”
“oh.”
I really hate to cut this short, but we have some catching up to do in the blogging area. I guess I can just make it quick then. Long story short, we had a great night, and the morning was also interesting. We were debating between waffle house and Arby’s for breakfast, and no one had an opinion! Eventually it came down to only me caring where we went, so we went to waffle house. This sounds kinda cheesy, but that was an example of each voice being important, and as a result, we got to eat food made in our country…yay! In the diner, I actually found myself sharing a conversation with Jordan, Stephanie, and the waitress about Déjà vu’s and prophetic dreams, and combo’s of the two. Today has already been an adventure, let’s see what Alabama holds!


Stephanie’s thoughts- I was really excited to be going to Florida. Avery Coleman was one of the best replies I had gotten out of all of the people that I had contacted before the trip. When I got her e-mail I was so shocked, full of happy emotions, and I walked out of my room with a huge smile on my face and my mom said “what” I had told her that I got a great e-mail and I had forwarded it to her. When she read it she had the same expression on her face as I did previously. Of course she told me to get in contact with Mr. Williams and Mrs. Hineline immediately. They had conversed and had plans made out including touring the capital building, getting a really nice hotel room which was already paid for, and dinner with Avery, Representative Sands and a lobbyist named Erin.
Well that day finally came when we got a chance to meet Avery Coleman and her boss Representative Franklin Sands. Rep. Sands gave us a personal tour of the capital, it was really nice, and I just couldn’t believe that I was actually there. After the tour we went to the voting drive a FAM University, the people were just amazingly nice. We actually got one hundred pledges and twenty people registered. Florida was a little bit different from the rest of the states because they were allowed to be sixteen to register but normally eighteen to vote, we had a lot of fun, but it was also very hot!! After our run we went to the hotel to shower up and get ready for dinner. We had to hurry because we had less than an hour to actually shower seven people and we had only two showers. We had managed to get it done, thank heavens the restaurant was across the street, and shockingly the first ones there other than the lobbyist Erin. We had a really nice, all coarse dinner with everyone, lots of laughs and good stories. That day is one of the most remembering ones!!

Tuesday, June 17 – Atlanta, GA

Ian’s thoughts- Hey, it’s Ian again (after forever). Today was interesting. I found out that I had been talking gibberish in my sleep, at least that’s what Mr. Williams told me. Personally, I think it was brought on by sleep deprivation due to my sleeping bag being out of action (I pulled the bag out for the first time to find out that it smelled like cat urine, which we all had a good laugh about.). Out of the kindness of her heart, Jennifer lent me her blanket that kept about two thirds of me warm. Honestly, I’m not complaining, part of what makes life so perfect is the imperfection of the situations we find ourselves in.
The rest of the day went rather smoothly, with extreme generosity and hospitality shown by Fleet Feet (no, that’s not some variation of product placement). We registered some people and ran miles for them, as well as some for fun. Mrs. Hineline’s aunt and uncle supplied us with a delicious meal, as well as helping us with our laundry (which smelled of…democracy) and giving us comfortable housing, made warmer by their hospitality.
Monday, June 16 – Knoxville, TN
Jennifer’s thoughts- We woke up in South Carolina, and Ian Aunt made us lunch for us to eat. On that day, we went to TN. While we were driving in the van we saw mountains. It took us about 4 hours to get to TN.We all went to a park to eat the lunch that Ian’s mom made for us and the food there was really good. When we got done eating we were setting up are voting booth. There wasn’t a lot of people there at first, but once we started to walk around things started to change and we all did really well. After the that particular part of the day was over we ate at a place called Gridiron. The place was really good and they gave us some money for us to eat there. After eating was over we went to a park. It looked really nice and some of us were playing ultimate Frisbee and Itzy and I were playing in the water, then everyone else were joining in. Were all wet and but we all had a blast. We slept at a really nice church called grace church. We slept in the hallway right in front of the locker rooms. After all of us taking showers we played a game called bowling with tape. It’s a random game that we all enjoyed. After that we all went to bed and woke up the next morning and went to Georgia.
Sunday, June 15 – Greenville, SC

Itzy’s thoughts – Today was an amazing day…our second day on Run to Vote. I couldn’t really sleep all too great because I was so excited. So, I ended up waking up at 1:36 and just waiting for everyone else to get up. We ate breakfast (which included bagels...one of my favorite foods in the world) and we set out on time. We pulled over when we got to the NC/SC state border so we could take some pictures with Reggie, our super cool mascot. A van pulled up behind us and for a second we thought that maybe they thought we needed help. Turns out they were also on their own venture across the country and they had actually heard about us. They were really supportive of what we’re doing. It was definitely a good morning pick-me-up. When we finally reached our destination in Greenville, SC (a 4 hour drive) Ian’s aunt, Nancy, met us at Wendy’s because they had donated lunch for us. We spent a little bit of time there and then we went down to Fleet Feet. It was a little bit of a slow day; most businesses were closed because it was Sunday, so not many people came by our table, but those who did were really encouraging. We got lots of pledges and 4 people registered. There was a lady who said that if it weren’t for us stopping her in the Walgreens parking lot, she probably wouldn’t have registered to vote because a relative had told her that it was too late to register. It’s an incredible feeling to know that we’ve added even one more vote to the democratic process. We’re taking a little bit of a break tonight, mostly just catching up on our updates and such. I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!

Jordan’s aroundthoughts– Today was a really cool day! I woke up ) shortly afterward. We 6:00 and ate a bagel(which I accidently burned left the house at 7:35 and headed for Greenville, SC! About four hours later we met Ian’s aunt Nancy at a Wendy’s there. There we received free food, courtesy of Wendy’s! After lunch we went over to the local Fleet Feet to set up our stand. Itzy and I walked around town regn’ and pledgn’. We found a lot of people who wanted to pledge and we found one person who wanted to register. When we got back I found out that the running team was going to run downtown so that we could do some regin’ and pledgn’ there. It was about a mile and a half run to downtown Greenville. It was really cool there! From the really cool buildings to the really neat waterfall! After spending about an hour there we decided to head back to the rest of the team. When we got back to Fleet Feet we rested for a little bit then a local restaurant called McAllisters donated some drinks to us. At around 4:30 we packed up our stuff and left for Nancy’s house. After a little while Ian, Stephaine, Jennifer, Ahzhane(Ian’s cousin), and I went swimming at the neighborhood pool! It was a blast! After that we headed back to the house and ate dinner. Well, I got to go eat my slushy from Sonic!

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Stephanie’s thoughts – Today being the first day of Run to Vote!! I woke up at 6:00 a.m. to make sure I was all packed, eat breakfast, and just basically prepare for what’s ahead. About 10:30 a.m. I was making sure my mom was ready, brother was awake, saying good bye to everyone, and having everything in the dining room to be sure it goes. I was so excited that this adventure of ours was starting but at the same time kind of sad because I was leaving for two months and traveling the country. Arriving at the school was odd because no one was there and an empty parking lot. Soon after my mom and I had arrived, everyone started to come in one by one. We packed everything into the “Burgundy Beast of Voting” and then we piled in and left Granville County.
I am not quite sure what time we arrived at Fleet Feet Sports but it was really hot outside. We ate some food that another teacher had brought for us (Mr. Crain) and after we set up the table. It took some time to figure out how to set everything up but we got everything up before a WRAL reporter showed up to interview the site. He followed some people around watching how we attempted to get people registered to vote; I don’t know how that went since I stayed behind at the table to help there. We did really well for the first day; thirteen is a good amount of people to start everything off. Soon after the running team ran about three and a half miles, which is a great start. I am excited that this day has finally come and it will definitely help me with next years cross country and track team!

Jennifer’s thoughts- When I woke up I was so excited. We said are good byes to are parents, I thought to my self, wow I cant believe that I’m going to go to run to vote.
When we arrived at a store called Fleet Feet I was starting to get a little nervous. I was scared that I might do something wrong and I’ll just mess up everything. But during the day things have gotten a lot better. We asked people if they had registered to vote; how ever we had a lot of people that all ready registered or they just didn’t want to do it period. We ran about 3 ½ miles, because of the amount of people who registered.