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Tortoise took some time today to process Glen's passing, but couldn't take too much as it is a quarterly payroll and sales tax deadline day and three of them made it to his desk with special issues he needed to help figure out how to resolve.   He blew off some steam by walking to work up the hilly route, 3.27 miles with 224 feet climbed in 1:05:46 hours in 99 degree sunny conditions.  Tortoise rating:  4.8; calories burned:  516.

For a map and more, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-211

Yeah, the tortoise walked today, we'll get to that in a bit after we talk about Glen Worthington Beecher, my brother, who passed from this life this afternoon at age 59.  We don't know a lot about his passing yet, his body is on its way to Salt Lake now for an autopsy and then we'll know more.  We do know he was in pain the past week or so, and had difficulty breathing.  But he didn't choose to go to a doctor for it, that's partly why the autopsy.

Rather than dwell on what we don't know, Tortoise will focus on what we do.  Glen was a gifted artist, and got great joy from thousands of hours doing mostly portraits with pencil and paper as a young man.  My mother has one he did of President Kimball that has always really seemed to capture his spirit.  He had a special love of comic book and cartoon characters in general and Superman in particular, and could make short work of drawing an amazing likeness of any of them.

Pictured above at age 13 with me at our Aunt Karen and Uncle Bob's house in what was called Granger then and is part of West Valley City now, he already was well on his way with this talent.  (My thanks to Jodi Stevenson for keeping track of this picture and sharing it)

14-210

Greetings, as the tortoise passes the American Legion building in Hurricane on his walk home from work tonight.  3.29 miles with 213 feet climbed in 1:01:03 hours.  Tortoise rating was 4.7 on the 1.48 mile uphill portion of the walk; 515 calories were burned.  For a map and tonight's instrumental gem, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-209

I found myself in St. George at the end of the work day.  It was threatening rain and breezy, which actually made for pretty nice walking conditions for late afternoon in July.  I parked at Cottonwood Cove Park on Dixie Drive, and headed out on the Santa Clara River Trail, first by heading down to Star Nursery to pick up where I left off on June 13.  Following this I retraced my steps, then walked through the park and took some nice pictures.  I also discovered that the trail pretty much ends at the top of the park, so I continued with a magical mystery walk on various sidewalks to complete a 4.29 mile roundtrip walk in 1:19:20 hours, climbing 146 feet in the process.  Tortoise rating was 5.6; calories burned were 671.

When you click below to continue reading, you'll find those nice pictures along with a map ...

Cheerio!

14-207

I did the 8:00 temple session tonight; when I finished I walked up the hill and got some exercise and nice views.  2.46 miles with 305 feet climbed in 51:22 minutes.  Tortoise rating:  3.8; calories burned:  395.  For a map and more pictures, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-206

Now there is a high quality school mascot!

I drove to McCarran Airport in Las Vegas this morning to take Sarah, Chloe, Abigail, and Nathan to their flight home to Florida and Willyne to hers to Boston to begin her odyssey west with Becca to Roosevelt.  When each of them got boarded on their flights I watched and waved until their planes were tiny dots in the sky and then reluctantly headed to the car.  I think it took me all of 3.2 seconds to miss them.

Tortoise especially appreciates his walks at times like these, so he headed over to the Pecos-McLeod Trailhead where the Flamingo Arroyo Trail begins an 8.6 mile path along the path of a wash that has been turned into a storm control ditch.  I followed it until I reached the US 95 trail (which literally goes along the side of this busy freeway for around 3 miles.  When I reached Twain, I switched to city sidewalks to return to my starting point.  I passed the school pictured above when I had about a mile left to drive to the trailhead from the airport, and of course, had to stop!

The walk totalled 5.03 miles with 141 feet climbed in 1:42:33 hours.  Tortoise rating was 5.9, but the distance qualifies us for our sixth Benjamin Category Override to an even 5.0 rating.  It was 97 degrees and humid (just rain already!) so I will agree with the override.  :-)  Please click below for a map and more pictures ...

Cheerio!

14-205

Happy Pioneer Day to you!  It was busy for me, and fun.  Did you ever think you'd see Muriel Church on an ATV, for example?  I started the day at La Verkin's festivities, then went to Toquerville, then hung out at home for awhile, losing two Risk games in the process, but then that's pretty normal when I play Risk these days.  Around 4 I headed up to Springdale for the rest of the day, and while there I got in a 2.00 mile walk with 100 feet climbed in 40:00 minutes.   Tortoise rating:  4.9; calories burned:  320.  There is no map today, my phone ran out of battery and it got lost in the process.  However, I have a lot of pictures that I think you will enjoy when you click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

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Tortoise presents you another beautiful sunset view from one of the hills he climbed tonight.  An extra windy path this time to pick up more hills and do something slightly different on the streets of La Verkin.  3.42 miles with 214 feet climbed in 1:03:37 hours.  Tortoise rating:  4.9; calories burned:  534.  Please click below to continue reading for a map and more ...

Cheerio!

14-203

Started my walk as the last of sunset was fading away ... always looks nice!  4.36 miles today with 154 feet climbed in 1:16:16 hours.  Tortoise rating:  5.4; calories burned:  679.  Please click below for a map and more ...

Cheerio!

14-202

Sarah joined me for a meandering night walk through La Verkin.  3.69 miles with 100 feet climbed in 1:08:00 hours.  Tortoise rating:  5.6; calories burned:  577.  Please click below to continue reading for a map and more ...

Cheerio!

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Somewhere around 6 pm, or three-quarters of the way through the day, Tortoise headed out with Chloe, Abigail, Nathan, and Sarah to ride the Zion Shuttle to the end of the line at the Temple of Sinawava and enjoy the Riverside Waik.  We went 2.00 miles round trip with 57 feet climbed in 46:00 minutes.  Tortoise rating:  5.2; calories burned: 320.  Please click below for more pictures and a map ...

Cheerio!

14-200

Our stake does a yearly major service project on a Saturday near Pioneer Day.  In 2012 it was in Springdale, last year it was in Confluence Park, and today it was primarily in a new park in Trail Ridge Estates (basically Cholla Creek, but these homes are on the other side of La Verkin Creek).  I say primarily because I was sent with some other leaders to do clean up work at a home that had debris to the point that Toquerville City declared it a fire hazard.  However, the owner didn't want to let go of his items.  After some talking he let us do a few things and eventually became glad we were there.  That was a relief.

We were told the project would take until 11:30, but we had a good enough turnout that we were done about an hour early, and I noticed some new potentially interesting places to walk (such as the path pictured above) so I thought this would be a good time to do it.  It was warm when I started at 88 degrees and warmer (95 degrees) when I finished 1:48:16 hours later.  Thank goodness for the steady dry breeze, and that I had a string to hold my hat in place.

Tortoise walked 3.86 miles with 874 feet climbed.  Tortoise rating was 0.5 based on a pretty steady 10% grade for 1.66 of those miles and rocky conditions.  Not as extreme as the Brown's Point Trail, but it was a consistently rocky path.  Calories burned:  681.  Please click below to see a map and more pictures ...

Cheerio!

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Yes, this is on the way to work.  In fact this path was a quarter mile shorter than the one I used to walk home last night, at 3.47 miles.  There was 342 feet of climbing, which overall gave the walk a 4.2 tortoise rating on the uphill half.  Just for the record, 207 of those feet come in just 0.29 miles.  The 13.5% grade on that stretch would produce a tortoise rating of -0.7 (a rare, beyond tortoise walk!).  But the chairman of the tortoise path rating commission won't issue ratings lower than 4.1 for walks or segments shorter than a mile.  So we will just say that tortoise got a vigorous workout on his trek to work.  It took him 1:07:05 hours in mid 80s temperatures; he burned 545 calories.

I'm hoping Becca will get a smile out of the old time bridge shown above.  There's more pictures and a map waiting for you when you click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

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I walked home from work tonight, you never know what you will see along the way on a given day.  Tonight I passed a guy running his guts out to get to first base in this game. Especially impressive as it was still 100 degrees a few minutes after 9. (It did cool to 95 by the time I arrived home at 10)  Seeing him run made the smiling tortoise smile more while going 3.71 miles with 224 feet climbed in 1:10:44 hours.  Tortoise rating in the 1.35 mile uphill portion was 4.5; calories burned 583.  For a map and more, please click below ...

Cheerio!

14-197

It was getting later and later, and no walk yet today, but lots and lots of fun with Doug Jr. and five of my grandchildren.  Among other activities, we played P.I.G. with the soccer net, generally without a goalie, but Roo loves being the goalie, so the game was continually improvised as we continued.  After much encouragement from Ledge I started my walk in circles around the field in between my turn to take shots on goal.  I detoured from the circles many other times ... just to be goofy grandpa.  Meanwhile the girls were swinging with vigor, and I took my circular walk over there as well.

Somewhat later after all the grandchildren had reached a state of slumber, Sarah went with me for another 2 miles to complete today's walk.  It totalled 3.75 miles with 99 feet climbed in 1:24:11 hours.  Tortoise rating on the 1 mile uphill portion was 5.1; calories burned:  624.  For several more pictures, a map, and commentary on the map, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-196

Two walks today.  A short one at lunch, followed by a longer one after 10 pm with Sarah.  They totalled 2.67 miles with 67 feet climbed in 0:49:16 minutes.  Tortoise ratings:  6.0 and 5.5.  Calories burned:  421.  For maps and more, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-195

This evening's walk began at about 9 pm, once the temperature had dropped to 97.  As I covered 3.95 miles, with 72 feet climbed, in 1:18:47 hours, the temperature gradually lowered to 90.  Without the penetrating sun it was more tiring than usual but doable.  Tortoise rating;  5.7; calories burned:  622.  For a map and another picture, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-193

Another beautiful morning in La Verkin, perfect to walk 4.30 miles with 314 feet climbed in 1:25:46 hours.  Tortoise rating on the 1 mile uphill portion was 3.1; calories burned were 677.  For a map, more pictures and fun, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-192

The temple is always a good way to end a busy day ... and week.  And after that ... it was time to walk.  3.55 miles with 130 feet climbed in 1:09:18 hours.  You don't think much about what a steady climb it is on any St. George street headed north until you walk it.  I was surprised how much I felt it.  On the 1 mile uphill portion, the tortoise rating was 5.0.  I burned 558 calories on this walk.  For a map and more pictures, including the magical mystery feature of what I thought was a straight forward walk on city streets, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-191

Here's a view of the construction project to expand Papparazzi, across the street from my office, as I started on this evening's walk at 9 pm.  It's cool for July at 81 degrees, humid and a little breezy.  It teased us with a few drops of rain this afternoon and more is supposed to come in a couple hours, accompanied by flashes of lightning and claps of thunder.  I will keep praying for gentle rains and mild breezes ...

All of this made for genuinely fine conditions to walk 4.02 miles with 149 feet climbed in 1:11:56 hours.  Tortoise rating was 4.6 for the 0.98 mile uphill portion, with the rest being a gentle decline.  Calories burned:  627.  For a map and more, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-190

Rachel, Maggie, and Emma are headed home in the morning, so we had a pool/pizza party one more time.  Fun!  After everyone left from that, about 10, I set out on my walk, a 3.63 mile loop of La Verkin with 100 feet climbed in 1:12:19 hours.  Tortoise rating:  5.6; calories burned:  571.  For more, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-189

I met my granddaughter Emma and Willyne for lunch today.  O happy day!  It's a short walk from my office to McDonalds, so I added to my fun by walking there and back.  Then about 9:30 this evening I set out on a second, longer walk to get my total in for the day:  3.63 miles with 86 feet climbed in 1:06:46 hours.  Tortoise rating:  5.6; calories burned:  568.  There's more waiting for you when you click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-188

I took Willyne's car over for an oil change, safety inspection, and license plate renewal at my friends at Roadrunner this morning, and went for a 2.43 mile walk for 45:00 minutes in the 87 degree sunshine rather than bask in their air conditioned room while waiting for them to take care of me.  There was 96 feet of elevation gain along the way, yielding a tortoise rating of 5.3 on the uphill half of the walk.  380 calories were burned.  Tortoise has more waiting for you when you click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-186

A wonderful day for the tortoise, who was joined on his walk by Rachel, Emma, Benjamin, Sarah, Chloe, Abigail, Nathan, Josh, Megan, Ethan, Kate, and Riley!  We met at St. George's Crosby Family Confluence Park to walk 2.17 miles on the Virgin River Trail to the Man O' War trailhead, the section Rachel affectionately calls the Wal*Mart trail because it is clearly visible from the Interstate as it approaches the Bloomington Wal*Mart.  It takes a lot of coordinating to get that many of us together to do it, and a support team at home ... thanks, Becca and Willyne for helping there with Maggie, we'll look forward to walking with you soon!

All of this means so much to mr. tortoise.  Thank you, one and all!

The trail is paved, well marked and in good condition, which impressed Sarah and Rachel ... along with the fact that it is clearly popular with bicyclists, runners, and walkers alike.  It is mostly a gradual downhill path along the river, but there are a few very brief uphill sections totalling 24 feet climbed, which gives it a tortoise rating of 6.2.  We took 48:40 minutes to do this walk; the tortoise burned 361 calories doing so.  There's several more pictures with a map waiting for you when you click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-185

And a very pleasant American Independence Day to each of you! We celebrated by borrowing a 4 wheeler and trailer, decorating it, gathering our grandchildren and headed to our hometown parade. Of course, being the Tortoise, I was more than happy to walk along side and make sure everything went OK. Following the parade, we headed to the city park and played the games there, after which I walked back home and we had a wonderful picnic lunch. The video tells it all I think ... The tortoise's walking in all of this totalled 2.34 miles with 64 feet climbed in 59:25 minutes. Tortoise rating: 5.6; calories burned: 406. For a map and the latest yearly stats, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

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The tortoise was reminded today that magical mystery tours, whether walking or otherwise, can take you to multiple dead ends.  Sometimes those dead ends reveal some of the best views such as the one pictured above near the end of today's 4.28 mile walk with 256 feet climbed in 1:21:59 hours.  Tortoise rating:  4.7 on the 1.83 mile uphill portion of the walk.  Calories burned:  671.

For a map, more pictures, and ... the rest of the story, as gentleman Paul Harvey would say, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-183

Here's the 5:45 am view as I'm lacing my boots for today's 3.95 mile walk with 163 feet climbed in 1:15:17 hours.  Tortoise rating was 5.3; calories burned were 619.  I think you'll like the pictures, plus there's the usual map and yearly stats, so click below and let's keep reading ...

Cheerio!

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A brilliant sunrise view in La Verkin near the end of a 3.52 mile walk with 111 feet climbed in 1:01:23 hours.  Tortoise rating:  5.5; calories burned:   546.  A map and another picture await you when you click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!