 
For the past three months (since November 18th) the 4th
grade class has been ahead of the 5th grade class during
this Route 66 challenge. Well... this week there was a big
change! The 5th graders put in an amazing week of distance
by completing 178½
miles. They can certainly thank their teachers, Mrs. Kuchel
and Mr. Creighton, for taking them out this week for several
extra laps of the half-mile loop behind the school. The
spring-like weather that Missoula has been experiencing
lately likely contributed to their desire to log a lot of
distance. Missoula has been in the mid-40s for the past 10
days and there is no more snow left on the ground.
Currently, the 5th graders are ahead of the 4th graders by
13 miles. The race is on for the finish!
Here's a breakdown to show how the two 5th grade classes and
the two 4th grade classes acquired mileage this week:
|
Class 5C |
Class 5K |
Class 4F |
Class 4S |
|
86 miles |
92½
miles |
14½
miles |
20½
miles |
With all of the miles the 5th graders logged this week, they
virtually cruised past much of New Mexico's landscape. Where
did they end this incredible week of running and walking?
Currently, the 5th graders are in Laguna, New Mexico. This
town of about 500 people. Very close by is the Laguna
Pueblo. The pueblo consists of six Indian villages (Encinal,
Laguna, Mesita, Paguate, Paraje and Seama) with a total
population of about 8,000 people. The pueblo is located 45
miles (71 km) west of Albuquerque off I-40 and 31 miles east
of Grants. Each community within the pueblo celebrates its
own feast day and on September 19 all of the villages
celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph. Dances follow a Mass and
hundreds of booths offer various native arts and crafts for
viewing and purchase. Visitors to the pueblo should remember
that the local Indians generally do not allow photography,
sketching and audio/video taping on Laguna land. By the way,
February is the driest month of the year in Laguna... so
there's no need to run or walk with an umbrella! However,
you'll want to bring along a portable AM/FM radio. Laguna
receives 33 different radio stations from surrounding cities
- likely due to the wide open spaces of New Mexico. The
5th grade class is now only 113½
miles away from the Arizona border!
The 4th graders are 13 miles behind the 5th graders and are
currently in Suwanee, New Mexico. This location has also
been referred to as "Correo". This is truly a ghost town of
New Mexico, with a lot of abandoned buildings - most of
which are in ruins on the ground. For about 60 years the
location of Suwanee consisted of only a small store and a
post office. A one-room schoolhouse was eventually
constructed and some ranches began to appear as the years
went by. In 1931 the State of New Mexico built a new road
from a junction west of Suwanee to Albuquerque and that road
became Route 66. Around 1938 the post office was moved to
that junction - but it was closed in 1960. Today, a small
trading post is all that's left of Suwanee. The rest is
simply a ghost town. The 4th grade class is now 126½
miles away from the Arizona border!
Both classes completed their Route 66 questionnaires for the
states of Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico and Mrs. Staso has
graded those. Many 4th and 5th grade students didn't know
the answer to the final bonus question. The bonus question
was: "How far is Route 66 from start to finish?" The
alignment of Route 66 that the kids are virtually running
and walking is 2,278 miles. However, some older alignments
show the total distance at 2,448 miles, and a couple of
other distances as well. Since we didn't specify that the
students needed to list the distance that this particular
virtual Route 66 trek is covering (2,278 miles), we accepted
answers that used other alignment distances - some of which
could be found on the Internet.
There are only two states that remain in front of the
students... Arizona and California. This week the 5th
graders not only made up the 130½
miles that they were behind, but they also pulled ahead of
the 4th graders by 13 miles. That just goes to show you how
one week of good effort can make a big difference in this
virtual race for the finish line of Route 66. Will the 4th
graders regain the lead that they had, or will the 5th
graders continue to widen their lead and arrive at the ocean
first? We'll just have to wait and find out. That's all the
news to share from this milepost. Please check back again
for another update... and for more photos! We plan on taking
pictures this week of the students to include in our
February photo gallery.
Click Here To Read The Next
Journal Entry > >
|
5th Grade (41 students): Added
178½
miles this week.
Their total is
1,458½
miles.
They have 819½
miles
left and are 64% done with the trek.
