How Do from Gila Bend, AZ!

Run Stats:

Day: 534

Miles Completed: 1847.1

Miles to San Diego: 252.9

Avg Miles/Day: 3.5

Marathons Completed: 70.5

Longest Run Streak: 15 days

Shoes: Skora Fit/Skora Tempo

Playlist Favs: Switchfoot, Tenth Avenue North, Phil Collins - No Jacket Required, Chicago Greatest Hits (Vol1)

Bible Verse of the Day: Let your roots grown down into Him. Let your lives be built on Christ. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. - Colossians 2:7 (NLT)

Run Reflections: Hello, from the virtual road. I'm currently heading west on I-8 and recently passed through the town of Gila Bend, AZ. After a week of vacation where I didn't run too much, my running pace has picked back up. So has the heat in the FL panhandle so I am taking water with my on my runs these days. I've hit a few milestones since my last post crossing the 1800 mile mark for the overall run and passing 500 miles for the year. I'm currently on a 9 day run streak and am taking aim at the current record of 15 days.

Looking back on my recent runs, it's funny how some are a real struggle and some are awesome. My run yesterday started out feeling like I was wearing cement shoes but I finally loosened up after about 25 minutes. Todays run, in virtually the same conditions, just felt great from beginning to end. It's an awesome feeling when everything is in synch and you feel like you can run all day.

Today I'm going to share some info on the town of Gila Bend and one of it's most interesting attractions, Stovall's Space Age Lodge. Info for this post is from wikipedia and roadside america websites. Also, this new blog site will only allow me to upload one picture to a blog post but I can (and have) created a Gila Bend photo album (in a different seciton of my blog page) with some additional pictures. I've also created an album of pics from my last post from Arizola if you want to go back and see the beauty of Picacho State park firsthand.

Gila Bend, AZ: Gila Bend is located in Maricopa County, AZ. The town is named for an approximately 90-degree bend in th Gila River, which is close to the community's current location. The town is also located near an ancient Hohokam indian village. Gila Bend is nicknamed the "Crossroads of the Southwest" because the town has historically been an important transportation route in the development and growth of the Great Southwest. Gila Bend was the "center of the wheel" of many different transportation spokes throughout the region including stagecoach, postal and railroad.

In more recent news on Gila Bend, in 2006, Volkswagon of America leased close to 12,000 acres of land just west of the town to develop an automobile proving ground. In another fun fact, the band Los Lobos wrote a song called "The Road To Gila Bend", which is part of their "The Town and the City" album. In addition to the "quirky" welcome sign provided here, I've also included a picture in the photo album of the Stout Hotel. Built in 1927, it was known as "The Jewel of the Desert".

In researchiung Gila Bend, I learned that it is the home of Stovall's Space Age Lodge and Resturant. Wikipedia mentioned it but there is a much better story on the roadside america web site. The lodge was opened in 1965 by Al Stovall and has a space age design (including a portion that looks like a space ship). Mr. Stovall apparantly had friends in the military/government and he used them to acquire autographed photos of astronauts which he hung on the walls of the resturant. Since that was the hey day of teh space race, I imagine this place was pretty popular for people passing through. He also used the plastic factory he owned to make space-age decorations. This attraction has an interesting history, including how they portrayed a fire in the resturant as an alien attack, and I'd encourage you to read full review at the roadside america web site (this site won't let me embed links). I've included 2 photos from this site in my album to give you a glimpse of the whimsy and fun of this place.

Well, thanks for tuning in, I hope you enjoyed this brief overview on Gila Bend. I hope you have a great week and I want to wish all the fathers out there a Happy Father's Day - especially my dad!

God Bless,

P.Don