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Mile 826.  Lou continued his walk along the Virgin River Trail, this time beginning at the Hell Hole trailhead near the intersection of Telegraph and Washington Parkway in Washington, Utah.  He walked down to the river, then upstream to its end near where Country Lane meets Washington Dam Road. We are at consecutive walking day 451.   Today's 4.31 mile walk was done in 1:27:07 hours, for a pace of 20:13 minutes per mile.  Lou climbed 228 feet, today's tortoise rating was 5.2.  Today's weigh-in:  215.8, a 2.3 pound decrease compared with Lou's last weigh-in on October 12.  More pictures await below ...

Cheerio! 

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Mile 806.  Today's walk took Tortoise to the rest of the Cryptobionic Trail.  Quite a name, don't you think?  We are at consecutive walking day 446.   Today's 3.93 mile walk was 1:26:57 hours, for a pace of 22:08 minutes per mile.  Lou climbed 189 feet, today's tortoise rating was 5.0.  Today's weigh-in:  218.1, a 3.0 pound decrease compared with Lou's last weigh-in on October 4.  More pictures await below ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 777.  Lou walked north from the La Verkin west chapel this evening, until he got to the Confluence Park trail access at the curve where the 360 West and 600 North streets meet.  From there he dropped down to the main Confluence Park trailhead, then took the Confluence and Cactus Cliff trails back to the west end of Center Street.  Tortoise used city streets to his starting point from there.  He can't get enough of the peace he finds in Confluence Park!  Walking thought was provided by Thomas Monson ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 737.  The most exciting part of this evening's walk was the beautiful sunset.  It was designed to be quick and hilly -- three laps down the hill to River Road and back up.  Walking thought tonight was by Henry Eyring ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 681.  It was 101 degrees at quitting time today, warm enough that Tortoise wanted to find a walking place that was a little shaded and mostly flat.  He chose the Virgin River trailhead at the Sullivan Soccer Park on Washington Fields Road as his starting point.  Lou walked round trip from there to the new "Hell Hole" trailhead.  He got his hill in all at once in a 12% grade near that new trailhead.  It actually isn't new, but the sign is.  

It was a nice walk, you'll enjoy the pictures and Thomas Monson's walking thought ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 615.  Lou finished his work day a little early at 4 pm, when he got his hair cut.  In between that and a 7 pm church meeting, he took advantage of the clear skies and free sauna weather and did a walk up the first mile and three-quarters of the Hurricane Cliffs trail loop towards Gould's Wash.  He had great fun with his camera, mostly pointing it in every direction from the top, and also enjoyed the walking thought by Julie Beck ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 552.  For a brief moment, Tortoise was able to keep up with this roadrunner.  Beep, Beep!  It made him smile.  The thought of this day's walk is by Boyd Packer, set in Japan just after the close of the second World War ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 531.  Day by day, step by step, Tortoise is regaining a little of his strength.  He is a gradual kind of guy!  Same path as the past couple days -- took a minute and change off the time this morning, which means his heart got worked a little more -- yay!  Today's walking thought goes back to 1973, by Ezra Taft Benson ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 513.  The trees of the Hurricane Cemetery and the soft light in the sky make a nice contrast as Tortoise walked by this morning, accompanied by the day's thought by Marcus Nash ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 489, June 22.  Tortoise thanks his children for this fine Father's Day present ... his old boots had 2,500 miles on them since November 2013, so these are most appreciated.  Picture was taken across the street from the 600 North trailhead into Confluence Park so as to record them as they were before walking through the rocks and dirt.  The day's walking thought was by Linda Burton ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 456, June 13.  Lou took the direct path on his walk home from work to get to family home evening quicker.   He always loves to take an extra moment to look at the pretty desert flowers along the way.  The thought of the day was by Todd Christofferson ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 435.  Water the garden. (Thanks, Sharon!)  Check.  Walk up and down various La Verkin hills. Check.  OK!  Tortoise is ready to go this fine Monday morning!  Walking thought was provided by Russell Ballard ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 316.  It was an unusual third day with welcome rain in southern Utah.  Tortoise had tired bones and muscles and actually didn't much feel like walking, but seeing how that is unacceptable, he walked anyway, slowed the pace a touch and enjoyed the air freshened by the rain.  This family shown above playing ball were enjoying it too.

Today's walking thought is different than our usual pattern here.  It is a poem written by Bruce McConkie, set to music by John Longhurst, and sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.  Wounded Duck sent Tortoise a link to a 1976 BYU devotional address by Elder McConkie, which brought back many memories, because Lou was there just beginning studies towards a masters degree and heard it live.  It also brought back memories because Elder McConkie three years before that, in 1973, had toured his mission in London where Lou heard him speak several times in the course of a week. Lou also had a very brief personal interview with him in the Medway LDS Chapel in Gillingham, England.  .

A picture of a picture is not the greatest technology, but through the trees
is the Medway chapel, kind of gives you a feel for the location.

A better view of the Medway chapel

Elder McConkie was a large man, 6 feet 5 inches tall, and his voice matched his size.  It was full of passion and energy for his subject matter, which always seemed to focus on the life and ministry of Christ.  The full devotional address is a true classic, and Lou thoroughly enjoyed hearing it again on his walk.  However it is long for this blog post at about 44 minutes, so Tortoise hopes you will enjoy its distillation into 5 minutes of glorious song.

Cheerio!

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Today's walk was 3.25 miles on the treadmill late at night.  It had a 5.8 tortoise rating earned by climbing 343 feet at a steady grade of 2%. Average elevation was 640.  This walk burned 531 calories.  The best picture of the treadmill came at the end of a five minute cool down period, which wasn't included in the numbers shown above.  :-)  It was Tortoise's thirty-eighth 5k walk of 2016; the day's thought was by Tom Perry.

Cheerio!

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Mile 78.  Lou managed to get in his walk while it was still sunny, around 4 pm.  He then returned with new energy to the files waiting for him at his desk.  While the views and the air was sparkling, it was still cold.  43 degrees, but with wind it didn't feel that warm.  Bundled up, Tortoise felt quite toasty, thank you!  Today's walking thought is by Gifford Nielsen ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 966.  It was a tougher than usual day for Tortoise, so when all was said and done at about a quarter to eight, Lou set out on a longer than usual loop of LaVerkin to blow off steam.  And he did feel better when he was done.  Tonight's walking thought is by Thomas S. Monson ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 938.  The last remnants of sunlight glow seen at 6:20 this evening not quite a mile into Tortoise's walk.  Six months ago today, Lou started a new string of consecutive Non-Sunday walks that is still going strong and giving Tortoise something more to smile about.  Along with today's "ponderizing" walking thought by Devin Durrant ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 902.  Tortoise started walking right after the office closed.  At 5:30 he had completed his first mile, and this was the view.  It was warm and pleasant, so that part didn't seem like November.  Lou continued to do a loop up past the north Hurricane ball fields, then continued on 975 North as far as 120 East before filling in the loop back to his office.  For a map, the day's walking thought by Thomas S. Monson, and more tidbits, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 874.  Tortoise had two appointments in St. George today.  After the first one Lou had a break, so he left his car where it was parked and headed out for a walk, after which he went to the second meeting.  The walk included parts of the Hilton Drive, Santa Clara River, Virgin River, and Bloomington Hills trails, plus a few blocks of city streets to connect to the trail system.  The clear weather and hilly terrain made for great picture taking conditions, so please click below to continue reading, and enjoy ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 847.  The good Lord really is quite the artist, one who plays with the lighting along with hues of dirt, rocks, trees, clouds, and anything else He can find.  Let's highlight here this moment, there the next.  Please click below and see for yourself ...

Cheerio!