Continued Pushing Through Arkansas
Total miles pushed: 52
7 to 8 AM – We packed and checked out of the Baymont hotel. We left some flowers and a thank you card from us and the Health and Fitness Tour of America for the Baymont staff. They treated us with great hospitality and impeccable service.
9 AM – I resumed my push from West Memphis to Lehi, AR on highway 70 approximately 6 miles. From Lehi to Shearerville, AR it was 7 miles. At Shearerville we got on highway 79 South. I pushed on for 10 miles to Chatfield, AR. Andy was along riding the bike and taking pictures.
Break 11AM to Noon after pushing 23 miles. I had Gatorade and water and ate a little chicken and a baked potato.
12 Noon – I pushed on 6 miles to Hughes, AR and another 8 to Brickeyes, AR. From Brickeyes it was another 5 miles to Soudan, AR. This was a tough 19 miles because the wind was blowing pretty hard into my face. We decided to take a break before we finished our 8 mile push in Marianna where we met with the Mayor and the newspaper.
3 PM I resumed pushing the last 8 miles toward Marianna with the slight hills and intense wind in the face, it slowed my pushing down at times below 10mph. We arrived into Marianna just before 4 PM. Once in Marianna we met officer Kevin Evans who escorted us approximately 2 miles through the city limits of Marianna to Mayor Taylor’s office. I met with Mayor Taylor, and City Clerk Kendon Gray between 4 and 4:30 PM. I presented the Mayor with a plaque in recognition of his commitment to lasting health and fitness initiatives for all citizens of his community and his support of our efforts for the Kevin Saunders Health and Fitness Tour of America.
Several young girls from the community came by and brought their camera to take a picture with me since they had seen me on TV the day before in Memphis. Andy also took a picture of me with the young kids who were enthused about getting active in the Marianna area. It’s so very important that kids be active! With video games and two hundred channels on television many kids today spend all their time sitting down and get very little exercise. Childhood obesity is a real problem. Type 2 diabetes is being seen more and more in children where once it was mostly an adult condition. Fast food and no activity is leading too many children down a road to ill health. I’m glad these young girls are excited about staying in shape and I hope their enthusiasm spreads to their friends. The Revolutions tour is all about getting America fit one person, one community at a time. The more people I meet, the more I believe it can happen!
We had some laughs with the Mayor. He said he wanted arms like mine. I told him that if he worked out enough he could get some, and I asked him to join me on the tour. He said he’d think about it.
I also mentioned to Mayor Taylor that one of our tour sponsors: Imshapingup.com was providing free memberships to the city government so that they can log on and have access to easy to understand information about health and fitness. Staying educated about health and fitness is an important step towards maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Media present in Mariana: The Courier-Index: reporter Edie Sanford and General Manager Melinda Huff. They took pictures and were also doing a story about our Big Push across America and our purpose to inspire and motivate all Americans to get fit by providing resources and tools for cities like Marianna to create lasting health and fitness initiatives by providing clear and easily understandable information about fitness, nutrition, and many other aspects of good health and fitness for all citizens.
Note: I had another flat tire today, and my 2nd pair of gloves is almost worn out. Sometimes the equipment gives out but I never will!
5 PM – We loaded up the truck and trailer at the Mayor’s office and decided to drive on to Stuttgart, AR where we will spend the night.
6 PM – We arrived at our hotel and unloaded.
8 PM – We caught up the log and downloaded our pictures for the day so we could send them in to The Visibility Company so they could make the most recent updates to the website. However, we could not get a strong enough connection to the internet via our wireless internet card to send any of the updates to The Visibility Company.
11 PM – Went to bed.
