Where's Toto? I've been looking for her all over Kansas. On Wednesday I pulled out my surrogate Smoochie to ride along as team mascot. She's a stuffed black and white English Springer Spaniel I purchased in London in April. She's traveled all around the globe as part of the Blue Planet Run Team. With a few added spots on her nose, she's the spitting image of my dog Smoochie.

During my run I passed the turn-off to the Oz Museum in Wamega, Kansas. I wondered if that's perhaps where Dorothy was born. We also saw a major if not the main factory for Russell Stover Candies and I was reminded that most all candy contains cane sugar. Kansas corn produces a lot of cane or corn sugar for candy production. Today we crossed the Kansas River at least once and are sleeping by its shores tonight.

Team Green stayed in Salina, Kansas last night in a refrigerated factory. As Laura put it, it was a "future place," designed so you could not or would not have to get out of it. It was called a full service inn, quite gargantuan inside with extracurriculars galore including a large pool with a water slide. It had all the necessities for eating and sleeping, but it was all indoors. I hated the place and it was surrounded by trailers, gas stations and motels just off the interstate. The temperature inside was like a freezer. But the staff were some of the friendliest people I have encountered in my lifetime. All of Kansas is that way, continuously super friendly and helpful.

It was another scorching hot and humid day, moreso than yesterday. Temperatures fluctuated between 97 and 100 degrees during the early stages of our runs. I had some welcome cloud cover move in during my run dropping the ambient temperature to a "cool" 96. Contrary to all information on the flatness of Kansas, there are hills. You just need to get off the interstate to find them. Jason and I encountered a number of hills and he had the steepest one we've seen in Kansas thus far. We were on and off dirt roads today basically following the frontage road parallel to the interstate. Every once in awhile we would veer off into a town or onto a country road. One such country road passed through another wonderful elm grove. When we arrived in Manhatten, Kansas, the Little Apple Running Club and Mrs. Kansas showed up to run with Simon. We had a gathering of great locals who cheered Laura in and enjoyed igniting with us. Earlier in the day as we were leaving our first exchange point, a local pulled up and said he'd been hoping he would find us. He had the BPR map from the National Geographic and wanted to touch base and contribute to the cause. After our shift, Dill threw us another dinner BBQ, our last since he's gone tomorrow for a few days and we then begin the graveyard shifts. Imagine this! Team Green has two night shifts, then one day shift and we are in New York City. Plans are underway for the grand finale.

Kansas has been full of wonderful surprises, the greatest being the people. We've left the sunflower region and today enjoyed lots of small and sweet homesteads along with more endless acres of corn and sorghum. The house and driveway markings were interesting, such as old farm machinery tipped sideways with tires and arrows pointing to the homestead and a family name tacked on. We are staying in Lawrence, Kansas tonight, a lively college town with good coffee shops. We went through one larger town today that had none. Team Green has no more runs in Kansas but will start again tomorrow in Kansas City, Missouri at which point, "Dorothy, you're not in Kansas anymore." One more state in our journey towards the finish line.

The BPR team has been blessed. All around us is hardship and disaster - the Utah mine disasters, the earthquake in Pisco, Peru, Hurricane Dean and so much more. We've had some storms and we've been held up by lightning. We had the two car accidents, one in Russia and the other in Mongolia, and the close call for Heiko. We've had runner injuries and abdominal disorders. But the things that would have brought us to a screeching halt have, knock on wood, not occurred. We have been spared and, in the grand scheme of things, we have had few interferences with our mission. Two days after we left Japan a typhoon came in. Other weather events are around us and I hope they stay that way. We can plan for the heat and humidity but not for events like tornadoes and hurricanes. Thus far our guardian angel continues to protect us and allow us to bring this odyssey to a successful close. This luck need only continue for 17 more days. So be it.

So how is my body holding up I've been asked? Very well. All through Russia I had backaches from the sitting in what I found to be very uncomfortable vans for long durations over poor roads. I've had a chronic tight iliotibial band which bothers me not at all some days and quite a bit on others. Sometimes my surgerized knee acts up. Both are tied into how well I stretch and running surfaces, like road crowns and downhills on hard pavement. Having a team masseuse work on me every five day helps alot. I had a head cold coming out of Japan and a bit of a queasy stomach for a few days in Russia after eating roasted vegetables which I knew better not to. There is still a while to go, but I feel good. Like every one else I'm tired but I know none of us will feel any fatigue when we run into New York City and the finish line becomes a reality. Even after having run every one of my assigned runs all the way around the world, I find that the reality of what we have been doing is surreal. For months after we are home the images will technicolor in my mind and the wonderful memories of what we've done, where we've been and my team family will come spinning in. I am told I will return home a changed person. I'm excited to find out who that person is.

Water is life. Pass it on!