Dispatch: Winslow, AZ

Here’s an interesting tidbit for you. During our morning briefing we learned that the Gallup, NM Boys and Girls Club doesn’t have any computers. Not one! As it is our current destination the Fireball Run generously purchased 5 laptops for the young boys and girls in this impoverished community.  After a heartfelt appeal, the players, led by John and I, coughed up enough cash to purchase 6 more laptops that will be presented to the Boys and Girls Club upon our arrival. Sometimes winning isn’t the only thing, or even the best thing. Sometimes, paying it forward trumps all of the other benefits.

John and I learned a very humbling lesson yesterday. We were strutting at 2p.m. and slinking by 5p.m. because one miscalculation repositioned us from first place, for the day anyway, to near the bottom. So, we have changed our strategy to friendly, not aggressive competition, which is giving all of us better opportunities to get to know one another. The Fireball Run players are a high energy bunch that likes to drive fast and push the envelope, but above all they are smart and strategic. So far, only one car has received a speeding ticket. He tried to buy his way out by giving the Highway Patrolman a couple of missing child flyers, but to no avail.

When we pulled into Winslow, Jackson was standing on the corner, casually leaning on his guitar with sightless eyes fixed on the trinket shop that was playing the familiar music. We ate lunch on the only patch of grass within a 50-mile radius, walked the town and handed Hasanni Campbell flyers to as many of its 10,000 residents as were willing to brave the heat. My impression is that there is not a lot to do in Winslow, Arizona and I think that even Jackson Brown and the Eagles would get a little stir crazy hearing the tune that immortalized this tiny little town looped endlessly over cheap speakers for all eternity.

UPDATE: Gallup may be impoverished, but beautiful murals grace many of its public and private buildings. The lack of material goods is balanced by the rich, artistic and spiritual cultures of more than30 separate ethnic populations. We talked to the Mayor about KlaasKids returning to provide safety and fingerprinting seminars to all of their young children.

The reception in the town square was very well attended and the Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club was visibly moved when presented with the new laptops.