I first got a taste of the flag run in Denton, Texas in late October. Old Glory kept calling my name. I caught up with her again in the deserted panhandle of Texas on Halloween night. I used a vacation day, jumped on an airplane and headed off to search for the flag in the middle of the night. My pal, Pete Wentz and I found her in a parking lot in Amarillo. A clown was there ready to run with all his heart. After all, it was a full moon on Halloween night.

We set off about midnight. Our coordinator, Jobie was "saving" some of us who were in it for the long haul, as she knew she would need runners later, in the wee hours of the morning.

Pete and I started our run about 2a.m. I was like a mad woman with this strong passion in my heart to carry the flag. It was then that I learned about the crew stick. This was created to remember our perished crewmembers on #11 and #77. It has a black ribbon with each fallen crewmember's name on it. Only crewmembers may carry it. If no crewmembers are running at that time, it stays in the RV with the road crew. Words cannot describe how proud I was to carry the crew stick. It was almost as if I carried their fallen and broken bodies across the midnight sky. Truck drivers, trains and cars all drove by and honked with their encouragement. My knees finally pooped out about 4:30a.m.

Two members of our volunteer team flew in from Corpus Christi. Neither of them were affiliated with an airline. They heard of the flag run through a running group. They wanted to catch up with it in Texas. One adult male had never even been on airplane before. He made this his first flight ever, to run with the flag across the midnight desert. We all made friends with complete strangers that beautiful night. A bond that we will not soon forget.

We finally reached the next volunteer group in Hereford about 5:30a.m. I was so surprised at how difficult it was to relinquish our flag duties to the next team. We took complete ownership in our mission. Although we were physically and emotionally exhausted and had gone hours without sleep, it was most difficult to hand Old Glory over to complete strangers. The group was a young team of cross country runners. Choked up, I walked over to them and told them how important this was. I pleaded with them to take it as serious as we had and for gosh sakes, make sure the flag stays in the lead!! Then it hit me. This is called teamwork. You trust in blind faith that the next crew will pick up where you left off. It had made it as far as the Texas panhandle, after all. And all of it has been done with love and compassion for our country and fallen loved ones.

Thanks for sharing my experience with me. It is a memory I will treasure always. And thanks to Jobie, Dan and the whole team.

Shannon Stewart
AA Flight Service

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