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Mile 690.  Floryne is in the midst of walking 80 miles between now and her 80th birthday a few months from now.  Her planned adventure today was to purposely park a mile or so away from Peach Days, then walk in to see the exhibits and hug her great-grandchildren.  Tortoise started out from his office a half hour or so ahead of that with the idea of meeting her at her starting point and walking the last stretch with her.  This plan went well until shelter needed to be sought under a tree from a sudden downpour.  Willyne wound up providing a ride from that point.  It was nice while it lasted!  The walking thought along the highway was provided by Dieter Uchtdorf and might have some interest to Darin and other astronomers (or thinkers in general) who happen upon it ...

Cheerio!

This picture is a short distance past the one above along the same highway!

Tortoise smiles when he sees this exhibit.  Such fun attention to detail.
The quilts are amazing for the same reason.

Today's walk was 2.29 miles, done in 42:51 minutes at an average pace of 18:43 minutes per mile. This route had an average tortoise rating of 5.1, earned by climbing 121 feet in the 1.15 mile uphill portion. Average elevation was 3230.    

Here are the overall stats so far for 2016:

690.45 miles walked, compared with Lou's goal for this date of 671.97.

47,939 total feet climbed so far in 2016, compared to a year-to-date goal of 41,356.   Lou hopes to climb more than the 61,316 feet he climbed in 2015 -- but in less time each day than his 1:07:04 hour per day average in 2015.  So far in 2016, Tortoise's walks have averaged 58:58 minutes each.

His average pace so far in 2016 has been 18:01.2 minutes per mile, compared with his 18:25 minute per mile pace in 2015.

Lou has walked 412 consecutive non-Sundays since his 8 missed days May 2-11, 2015. overall he has walked on 515 of the 524 non-Sundays in 2015-16, a 98.282% consistency rating.

And now for today's walking thought:

" There are few things that have filled me which such breathless awe as flying in the black of night across oceans and continents and looking out of my cockpit window upon the infinite glory of millions of stars.

"Astronomers have attempted to count the number of stars in the universe.  One group of scientists estimates that the number of stars within range of our telescopes is 10 times greater than all the grains of sand on the world's beaches and deserts. (See Andrew Craig, "Astronomers Count the Stars", BBC News, July 22, 2003, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3085885.stm  -- Do you have anything to add to this, Darin?)

"Given the vastness of God's creations, it's no wonder the great King Benjamin counseled his people to 'always retain in remembrance, the greatness of God, and your own nothingness. (Mosiah 4:11)'

"But even though man is nothing, it fills me with wonder and awe to think that 'the worth of souls is great in the sight of God. (D&C 18:10)'

"This is a paradox of man:  compared to God, man is nothing; yet we are everything to God.  While against the backdrop of infinite creation we may appear to be nothing, we have a spark of eternal fire burning within our breast."

-- Dieter F. Uchtdorf, "You Matter to Him", LDS General Conference, October 2011

The tortoise is smiling!