Track and Field Blogs - Ryan From Flotrack

Where do I begin....I guess the fact that we actually have internet is a plus! ?

So last night we spent the night in the Pearl outside of Bozo's Mechanic shop. ?Three of us in the van, lets just say my back did not feel great in the morning. ?Chase got up in the middle of the night and threw up for no reason. ?We woke up in the morning, left the Pearl with Juanito and went for a run. ?It was pretty awesome. ? We found a sweet dirt trail and went about an hour. ?Old man Floreani and Fat man Fenton dropped the collegiate runner, Chase Wade, on the run and made him puke for a second time. ?He says food?poisoning, but we all ate the same thing the night before so sorry Chase....that wasn't it.

We got back and the Pearl was FIXED!!! ?Or at least we thought. ?So after 17 hours in Santa Rosa and $104 later, we were off!

We made it 170 miles through New Mexico and guess what.....the Pearl died out again. ?Yeah guys, its been a crazy last 24 hours. ?And it gets better. ?We made it to another mechanic, Black Mound Shop. ?We met a lady and her daughter who after talking with them for a while offer us there yard at the ranch to set up a tent. ?So picture a small desert-like town that has probably less than 1,000 people. ?And all the while she kept telling us about wild animals, shootings in the area, murders on the loose, etc.... ?Perfect scene for the build-up in a scary movie. ?I don't Chase was too keen on the idea so some calls were made and U of New Mexico coach Joe Franklin was able to round up one of his athletes (Brock from Indiana) to come get us. ?So while we waited we went to the ranch with our new friends and hiked around their property, they have 244 acres! ?The?scenery?was awesome and we saw some cool stuff thanks to Kathryn and her daughter Cali.

For now we are at Brock's and enjoying some air conditioning. ?Tomorrow we're going for a run in the foothills of Albuquerque. ?The Pearl is getting a fuel pump replaced but hopefully Mel will have it ready for us by noon. ?We won't be in Eugene tomorrow like we had originally though, but hopefully sometime on Thursday. ?I have some video footage I am trying to put together. ?What a crazy trip its been and we haven't even been gone for 48 hours yet. ?

-Ryan

Here's some photos from the day, videos to come (hopefully!)