15-303

Mile 895.  Lou parked his car at the Lowe's store across the street from the hospital and started walking while there was still daylight around the back side of the hospital, up Foremaster hill, along the river to River Road, and back up to the hospital to visit his mother who is being treated for pneumonia.  After a nice visit, he finished the small remaining portion of his loop walk.  You've got to be quick to get a picture of a deer who is running away, a rare sight in the city even along the river.  There are more pictures, a map, and today's walking thought by Henry B. Eyring waiting for you when you click below ...

Cheerio!

This single cloud formation viewed from the top of Foremaster hill
looked kind of like flying saucers in the distance.  Nice Halloween touch!

Lou experimented with taking distance photos with his phone 

in different directions while coming down Foremaster ridge

Headed down Middleton Wash trail from Riverside Drive

There's the deer eating dinner in the pasture.  When he started moving Lou
took the title picture above.

You can see the priority placed on walking trails in this city.  Here's a new
subdivision going in, with the trail finished while some homes are still
being built.  Makes it nice for Tortoise, he is thankful

Trying to capture some more subtle light similar to yesterday

And here's today's loop route.

Today's walk was 5.15 miles and had a 4.8 tortoise rating earned by climbing 304 feet in the 2.02 mile uphill portion.  The over 5 mile distance qualifies this walk for the Benjamin Category Override to a 5.0 tortoise rating, which wasn't needed today.  Average elevation was 2675.  This walk burned 767 calories in 1:34:18 hours.

Here are the overall stats so far for 2015:

895.58 miles walked which is 89.38% of Lou's 2015 goal.  On this day in 2014, Tortoise had walked 868.03 miles.

274:16:34 hours walked which is 87.63% of the 2015 goal (which is to walk 1 hour a day on the 313 days other than Sunday in the year).

48,035 total feet climbed, compared with 42,727 feet on this day in 2014.

134,219 calories burned.

83.07% of the year has passed.

Lou has walked 148 consecutive non-Sundays since his 8 missed days May 2-11.  Overall he has walked on 251 of the 260 non-Sundays in 2015, a 96.54% consistency rating.  This compares with 247 days walked in the same period in 2014 (a 95.00% consistency rating).

The purpose of the percentages is to have a higher percentage of both distance and of time walked than of the year.  This tells Tortoise that he is on track.  Yes, this is more numbers than you are likely interested in, all Tortoise can say is he's really good at setting high goals and having them slip away because he doesn't do them every, every day.  (If you doubt this, compare Tortoise's walking record up until 2013 with 2014 or 2015 ... for him, it is what it takes to be consistent.  He hopes you find what works for you).

And now for today's walking thought ...

" ... you may have at times felt Heavenly Father was unaware of you.  You can pray to know His will, and with the honest desire to do whatever He asks you to do, you will receive an answer.  Heavenly Father will allow you to feel that He kknows you, that He appreciates your service, and that you are becoming worthy of the greeting from the Lord you want so much to hear:  'Well done, good and faithful servant; thous hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things:  enter thou into the joy of thy lord.' (Matthew 25:23)"

-- President Henry B. Eyring, "You Are Not Alone In The Work", October 2015 LDS General Conference

The tortoise is smiling!