16-203

Mile 569.  It was a two-walk day.  The first came before sunrise, which has been the standard experience this summer.  It was a little shorter than usual, because Lou had an appointment at Roadrunner to get his car oil changed at 7:30.  While the oil was being changed, Tortoise made a beeline west on Center Street and down to the bottom of Cactus Cliff Trail on his second walk.  He did this both to once again enjoy the view and to get in some quality hill climbing.  Got to keep the heart beating and the doctor happy!

Today's walking thought is brought to you by Henry Eyring ...

Cheerio!

16-56

Mile 139.  The tale of two walks ...

Bright and early this morning, Tortoise walked in the neighborhood near Roadrunner Auto Repair (Yes We Can!) while they changed his oil.  It was a pleasant mile in eighteen minutes.  Fourteen hours later, Lou headed out a second time to walk the extra mile ... or in this case two extra miles.  The walking thought was provided by Kevin Hamilton ...

Cheerio!

15-41

Mile 124.  Two walks today.  First one was a short loop near the office pictured above.  The second was from the house up Main Street to the church and back. Total of both was 4.17 miles.  For more, including today's walking thought by Durrel Woolsey and a surprise, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

15-36

Mile 106.  Another two walk day!  The first was less than a mile with a steep climb and remarkable views in St. George between appointments.  The second was a traditional 3.23 mile La Verkin loop in the evening.  For more on these walks, including more pictures, today's walking thought by Harold G. Hillam, and other fun highlights of the day, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

15-35

Mile 102.  Tortoise had work appointments along the way home from California today, and got a couple short walks done nestled between the work.  The first was 2.12 miles on city streets in Mesquite, Nevada; the second was 2.15 miles on the Chuckawalla Trail, just off busy highway 18 a very short distance north of St. George, Utah.  Amazing how such serenity can exist so near so much activity!

For more on these walks, including a generous sampling of pictures and today's walking thought by Ted E. Brewerton, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

15-10

Mile 30 for 2015 was reached on a day it took three walks to reach 2.08 miles. Pictured above is the first walk, from the rental car shuttle drop off at Terminal 1 at Los Angeles International Airport through security to his gate.  Second walk was through McCarran Airport in Las Vegas to the St. George Shuttle.  Third walk was in a circle in the Joann's fabric store parking lot in Washington, Utah so that the minimum two miles for today would be walked.   Tortoise was in travel mode home, he just did what he had to to get it done ...

For more on this walk, including today's walking thought by Gordon B. Hinckley, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

15-7

Mile 21.  Tortoise is in travel mode this evening, resulting in a two walk day with each walk in a different state.  Pictured above is the C concourse of McCarran airport in Las Vegas, significant in this instance primarily because Lou was travelling out of the B concourse.  Later on in this post the reader will find a link to his meandering 2.92 mile path through all corners of the C concourse, then all of B, followed by all of A, before returning to B to board his plane.  With a backpack of clothes and a rolling bag of work.  It helps the time pass by more quickly once the security search has been completed, and it's not like those plastic airport chairs are known for their great comfort ...

Prior to this walk, Tortoise also did an 0.92 mile quick trek from St. George Shuttle to Wendy's and back. For more on these walks and today's walking thought by W. Don Ladd, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

15-6

Mile 17 on a two-walk Tuesday.  Today's picture is from neither, but is rather a classic sunrise view of the Pine Valley Mountains as the full moon sets.  It's visible faintly to the left of the mountains not far above the horizon.  First walk was a nice walk around the block with Tortoise's sweet lady, followed by an evening walk up the hill from his office as far as 600 North and back.  For more on these walks and today's walking thought, Hartman Rector, Jr.'s farewell Conference address, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio! 

14-300

Here's a view walking home from work this afternoon.  This followed a shorter walk this morning home from Roadrunner after dropping my car off to get a leak repaired.  Total of both walks was 4.02 miles with 217 feet climbed in 1:17:42 hours.  Tortoise rating for the walk home was 4.9.  Total calories burned on both walks was 593.  Please click below for maps, another picture, and today's walking thought by Boyd Packer that included "do you think a vote to repeal the law of gravity would do any good?"

Cheerio!

14-297

It was an excellent two walk day.  There was a 1.67 mile walk halfway to work that had a nice hilly 4.1 tortoise rating, followed by a late night walk up a hill in La Verkin so Lou would have more than two miles for the day.  Once he got going, he kept going, so the total for the day was a respectable 3.23 miles.  Please click below for maps and today's walking thought by Howard Hunter, "The world would greatly benefit if ..."

Cheerio!

14-296

These new homes are going to get a great scenic view of Zion National Park and more, don't you think?  This picture was taken at the beginning of Tortoise's walk halfway home from work.  The totals of that, and the walk halfway to work in the morning, was 3.39 miles with 228 feet climbed in 1:03:29 hours.  Tortoise rating was 4.4 this morning and 5.1 this evening.  Lou (Tortoise's name, thanks to Doug Jr) burned a total of 531 calories on today's walk.  To learn more about Lou, please check out the updated masthead at the top of this blog.  Due to technical difficulties with HTML coding, there will be no maps today.  For two walking thoughts, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-295

There were four short walks today.  The flowers shown above looked extra nice on the last of the four.  They totalled 5.22 miles with 424 feet climbed in 1:41;40 hours, with 826 calories burned.  Tortoise ratings were 4.0, 4.8, 3.8, and 5.4.  Please click below today's walking thought, which includes the quote “If you live up to your privileges, the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates.”, by Dallin Oaks.  Maps of each walk are also included.

Cheerio!

14-294

It was a two walk day for Tortoise today.  He drove his dear lady to the Las Vegas airport so she could visit our daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren far, far away.  Too far.

A short distance from the airport is this fine trailhead pictured above, located just south of Sahara on Lamb.  Tortoise parked nearby and headed out.  First order of business was to cross Lamb on the bridge pictured above and head west to the US 95/I-515 freeway, which was where Tortoise left the Flamingo Arroyo trail on his last adventure on it back on July 25 (It's worth clicking on that link just to see the picture of the Mighty Turtles one more time!).  Once that was done, he retraced his steps and then continued east with a plan to go as far as Nellis and return.  Tortoise made it most of the way before construction forced a retreat.  When you click below to continue reading, you'll see a picture of that along with other pictures, a description of the day's second walk, plus maps of both walks.  And today's walking message by William Bradford.  It includes the thought "Nothing suits the devil better than to become a silent partner with us."

Cheerio!

14-274

It was a two walk day for Tortoise today.  He had a little time after work and before dinner and evening appointments, so he headed to the Sullivan Virgin River Soccer Park (where they now have a sign showing where three beautiful soccer fields will be constructed, so progress is being made) to see how far the Virgin River Trail goes ...

The answer is in the picture above.  About three quarters of a mile of freshly paved trail upstream from the soccer park, a beautiful wood bridge is being constructed.  More trail can be seen beyond the bridge, which will be exciting to go walk once the construction is done ... probably any day now as they were putting the finishing touches on the bridge today.

For maps, pictures, and details of both walks, along with today's walking thought by Rulon Craven, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

14-218

Say Hi! to Doug Jr who joined me for a walk along part of the Mayor's Loop in St. George this afternoon, starting at the Vermillion Avenue trailhead in Bloomington Hills and continuing 1.11 miles with 96 feet climbed in 25:06 minutes.  Thankfully it was only 93 degrees at 3 pm when we did it.  Always nice to walk with Doug Jr, thank you for coming!

I did a second walk around 10:30 pm when I finished working, this one up the hill to the road leading into Hurricane Middle School from 600 North.  This one was 2.49 miles with 179 feet climbed in 45:46 minutes.  The tortoise ratings of the two walks were very similar at 4.6 and 4.7, and 575 total calories were burned between them.  For maps of both walks and more, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!