Talk about a jam-packed day, Day 3 of my “Championship Cup Tour” was so hectic, so full of laughter, smiles and joy that … well, enough blabbering, just take the jump to find out more of what went down “downstate” in Castle Dale and Moab yesterday!

Leo, “The Intrepid Travelers +1″ and myself started bright and early in the Emery County hub of Castle Dale on Wednesday, where we made a quick stop at the Stewart’s market before getting a fire truck escort to take us to Town Hall to meet up with the newly-reelected Mayor of Castle Dale, Neal Peacock. The Mayor, Sheriff, Fire Chief and some City Council members all were on hand to give us a key to the City of Castle Dale (which we proudly traded for some championship hats & scarves) before hopping back on the fire truck for a chilly ride (did we mention it was in single-digits in Castle Dale yesterday morning? I almost froze my handles off!) down the street to Castle Dale Elementary for our first of three assemblies on the day. Before we left town we also made a stop at Emery High School, where we helped add a little more pep to their rally for this weekend’s big game basketball game against those meanies from Richfield (don’t worry Richfield, we’ll give you plenty of love next week!).

From there it was off to Moab, and we finished the three-hour drive just in time to make our assembly at Helen K. Knight Intermediate School, where we helped present the “Student of the Month” honor, among other recognitions. From there we headed over to Arches National Park, where I got a nice backpack ride (via “Intrepid Traveler” Scott Reynolds) up to the famed Delicate Arch to get some nice shots before calling it a day (UPDATE: TONS of awesome photos of the gang at Delicate Arch are now up on our Flickr page s… check them all out, now!). And big ups to John Geiger, Moab’s Recreation Director, for arranging our “march to the arch” … couldn’t have done it without ya!

As mentioned before, keep checking in to Behind the Shield and our Flickr page to see just what we’re doing out on tour and the fine people we’re meeting along the way! Until tomorrow, adios amigos!

In Cup We Trust,

“Uncle Phil”