15-365

Mile 1,106.  Tortoise is continuing to catch up on posts from past days when walks happened but writing didn't.  This one is from December 31, 2015, a hillside loop walk in LaVerkin.  Lou was quite bundled, and the picture of the day is of Chief and Stefanie keeping warm indoors.  The day's walking thought is by Dieter Uchtdorf, and there's other tidbits from the five years of walking and blogging that Tortoise completed today ...

Cheerio!

15-364

Mile 1,104.  Tortoise is continuing to catch up on posts from past days when walks happened but writing didn't.  This one is from December 30, 2015, a classic loop walk up the hill from Lou's office, this time by way of Stout Park above the ballfields at the corner of 600 North and 200 West in Hurricane.  The day's walking thought is by Randall Ridd ...

Cheerio!

15-363

Mile 1,100.  Tortoise is continuing to catch up on posts from past days when walks happened but writing didn't.  This one is from December 29, 2015. Lou walked back to work this morning, taking the new connector road from the state highway to 600 North, pictured above with the Hurricane Cemetery and the snow dusted peaks of the Pine Valley Mountains in the background.  The day's walking thought is by Donald Hallstrom ...

Cheerio!

15-362

Mile 1,097.  Tortoise is continuing to catch up on posts from past days when walks happened but writing didn't.  This fun one is from December 28, 2015 ... Lou walked home from work, and a little more, accompanied by a walking thought by Dallin Oaks ...

Cheerio!

15-360

Mile 1,093.  Tortoise is catching up on posts from past days when walks happened but writing didn't.  This fun one is from Boxing Day, December 26, 2015 ... a cold windy day, so Lou started doing laps inside the house.  After 6 laps, Wounded Duck joined him, and after 20 it became even more fun when the grandchildren did too.  He did 73 laps before it was done.

The walking thought by Quentin Cook came earlier in the day while driving in the car.  Tortoise had too much fun with his compadres on foot to listen while walking this day.  Lots of fun pictures await you ...

Cheerio!

15-359

Mile 1,091.  Tortoise was rewarded in his dreams for a white Christmas, awakening to this light dusting that came in the night.  After enjoying a fine morning with family, he went for an afternoon walk.  The weather was quite overcast and occasionally teased with a few snowflakes, but as the additional pictures will show, the white stuff is already gone.  The day's walking thought is by W. Craig Zwick ...

Cheerio!

15-358

Mile 1,087.  Tortoise was in St. George enjoying Christmas Eve with his family.  Near the end of the afternoon, Wounded Duck dropped his truck off at the Riverside Trailhead and got a ride with family, who were on their way home, to the Crosby Family Confluence Park.  There the two of them walked on the footbridge across the Virgin River and continued on the trail on the south side of the river until they got back to the truck.  It was a great way to end a wonderful afternoon.  

Today's walking thought was heard on the drive to St. George and is by Claudio D. Zivic. ...

Cheerio!

15-357

Mile 1,084.  Another beautiful mix of clouds, sun, mountains, and snow in the horizon as Tortoise walked the return trip to his office this morning.  The day's walking thought is by Robert D. Hales ...

Cheerio!

15-356

Mile 1,081.  It rained much of last night and today, then calmed down.  Tortoise walked home from work about 4 pm by way of the Tortoise Track hill in Confluence Park, the Hurricane Main Street trailhead, and the La Verkin bridge. The picture above?  That was taken at the La Verkin live nativity at the Old White Church at the conclusion of Lou's walk.  Merry Christmas!

The day's walking thought is by Richard G. Scott.  Cheerio!

15-355

Mile 1,077.  Here comes the cloud wave down Black Ridge headed towards the valley, with the hope of welcome precipitation.  Tortoise got his walk done in midafternoon ...  

Walking thought is by Russell M. Nelson.  Cheerio!

Cheerio!

15-353

Mile 1,072.  On a spectacular 58 degree afternoon with no wind, Tortoise got an idea for a new place to walk that includes a nice steadily steep hill with beautiful views.  So he drove out 3000 South in Hurricane to within about a half mile of the drop down to Sand Hollow Reservoir, parked his car, walked the rest of the way to the top of the hill, then dropped down for a mile and a quarter.  At this point he crossed the street and walked back up to where he started, taking pictures all along the way.  The day's walking thought is by Henry B. Eyring ...

Cheerio!

15-352

Mile 1,069.  Today's Tortoise walk was an afternoon hillside loop in La Verkin.  Pictured above is the outdoor Christmas tree at the city offices.  The day's walking thought was by Neil Anderson ...

Cheerio!

15-351

Mile 1,066.  It's plenty cold in the mornings, and most of the time in the afternoons these days.  But for one December afternoon, Tortoise was comfortable walking in a long sleeved shirt.  No coat, no beanie, no scarf, no gloves.  He was in Mesquite for work appointments, and when they were done, he headed out on a loop of that city's trails, enjoying the sunshine, no wind, and temperatures in the low 50s.  Today's walking thought is by Linda Reeves ...

Cheerio!

15-350

Mile 1,061.  Christmas lights against the final glow of sunset.  Tortoise walked a couple miles up the hill from his office, then looped around to return.  It was a touch warmer (37 degrees) and a little less wind than yesterday, and made Lou feel good.  Today's walking thought is by Carlos H. Amado ...

Cheerio!

15-349

Mile 1,057.  Tortoise walked another loop up the hill from his office on a cold, windy day following yesterday's snow flurries.  This picture tells the story of the goodness available less than a mile from Lou's office.  At first glance, it is simply a close-up of a small, delicate cactus.  You get the feel of being alone in a vast desert.  You might have to click on the picture to enlarge it to see these details, but not far away is a row of telephone poles.  That shows you how close it is to busy 600 North in Hurricane.  On the near hill is the city's trademark block H; to the right of that the gash in the ridge that allows Gould's Wash to pass through on its path from the mesa above to the Virgin River.  Behind this ridge is evidence of yesterday's snow on the peaks of the higher ridge beyond.  

There's more pictures of this walk to West Cinder Knoll, some of them worthy of the beautiful large coffee table picture book Lou dreams of compiling.  And then there's the day's walking thought by Ronald Rasband ...

Cheerio!

15-348

Mile 1,053.  Hurricane looked different through the lightly falling snow that Tortoise walked in this afternoon.  It melted when it hit the ground, although just slightly higher at 4,000 feet it stuck.  There's a few pictures of that later in this post, along with today's walking thought by Jeffrey R. Holland ...

Cheerio!

15-346

Mile 1,049.  Tortoise walked the long way to the church for his ward's Christmas party, then decided that two miles was enough for this cold, windy day and did not walk back home afterwards.  Walking thought is by Thomas S. Monson ...

Cheerio!

15-345

Mile 1,047.  Tortoise got such a nice response from his walking Christmas light tour two nights ago that he did an encore late tonight.  For the most part, Lou was able to walk different streets this time, so you will be able to enjoy a new set of Christmas lights as you look at this set of pictures.  Tonight's walking thought is by Dieter Uchtdorf.  And now for the pictures ...

Cheerio!

15-344

Mile 1,043.  Tortoise visited George Washington Academy this evening to watch his granddaughter and her fellow students perform in their Christmas choral concert.  On his way there, Lou parked his car and climbed the hill on Foremaster Drive between Riverside and the hospital in both directions.  He enjoyed the extra heart pumping of that enough to go back and do it again after the concert.  The delightful scene shown above was seen along the way.  

Today's walking thought is by Neill Marriott ...

Cheerio!

15-343

Mile 1,038. The skies of LaVerkin appear to be on fire in this brilliant December sunset, a prelude to Tortoise's Christmas light walking tour of much of this community. Today's walking thought is by Jean Stevens ...

Cheerio!

15-342

Mile 1,034.  This evening's after-work walk was a little later and a little darker, so Tortoise chose a route with less hills to climb because it was also better lit.  Today's walking thought is by Linda Burton ...

Cheerio!

15-341

Mile 1,030.  Tortoise did a loop up the hill after work this afternoon, including a walking thought by Thomas Monson ...

Cheerio!

15-339

Mile 1,026.  Tortoise visited his long lost friend Terreeeblay, that most trusty treadmill, to start his day.  Wounded Duck would be well pleased.  Later on Lou was treated by several of the women in his family to a heartwarming performance of Christmas Around The World by the BYU International Folk Dancers.  That's what Tortoise would have liked to have shared pictures of ... the costumes were colorful and delightful, and the dancing and music were better than that.  However, no pictures are allowed, so you'll just have to trust Lou's opinion on this.

After the performance, the group took a short walk through various parts of campus as shown on today's map ... ending with a generous scoop of caramel cashew ice cream at the Creamery on Ninth.  Today's walking thought is by David Bednar ...

Cheerio!

15-338

Mile 1,023.  Tortoise surpassed 2014's year-end total of 1,021.21 miles today with 23 walking days to go in 2015.  Bluebird should be very pleased with herself as a motivational genius.  

Lou did this in small segments during the various 15 minute breaks of another day of tax training, knowing it would be his only opportunity to walk this day.  There are more pictures, a map, and the day's walking thought by Larry Kacher waiting for you ...

Cheerio!

15-337

Mile 1,020.  Another day of tax update classes for Lou, this time in the Dixie Center.  Afterwards, Tortoise walked under the Dixie Drive bridge, got on the Virgin River trail and went just past the Riverside Drive trailhead before turning back.  The waning sunset view of the river shown above was taken there.  There's some other nice pictures as well, including some outside the well decorated Dixie Center, currently hosting the yearly Dickens Festival that attracts far greater interest than the annual two day Utah State University tax update school.  Today's walking thought is by Hugo Martinez ...

Cheerio!

15-336

Mile 1,016.  Lou walked over to Dairy Queen to deliver a payroll after work, then kept walking up the hill from there.  Today's walking thought is by Allan Packer ...

Cheerio!

15-335

Mile 1,012.  After a day of continuing education courses at Dixie State University on some of the tax changes this year, Tortoise walked up the hill to the new Red Hills Desert Garden, then continued up the initial hill of the T-Bone trail that starts there.  When Lou reached the junction with the Pioneer Hills trail in about a half mile from the Desert Garden and got some more pictures, he headed back down by way of Skyline Drive (the top of 200 East).  Today's walking thought is by Carlos Godoy ...

Cheerio!