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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!

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Mile 591.  Such a glorious walk!  Tortoise was joined by seven of his grandchildren, plus Fredericksen, Wounded Duck, and Darin on a walk down La Verkin Creek from the Confluence Trail to the Virgin River.  Just upstream on the Virgin River is a sizable sandbar that Lou's grandchildren think is the greatest island playground around!  

After two lovely hours the happy crew returned home.  That walk was 1.6 miles, so Tortoise did a supplemental walk "around the block" to the nearest ballfield and back so that he would complete at least two miles for the day.  On that one, he was accompanied by thoughts from David Bednar ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 522, July 4.  Hope you had a happy Independence Day!  Lou believes this is a record for the most grandchildren and family in general to join him and his sweet lady in the La Verkin parade.  Each child had their own bucket of candy to share along the way, and it was great fun for all to wish everyone a Happy 4th!  Tortoise started walking with Floryne from the house rather than fight the parking wars.  When the parade was over and the pause for the flag ceremony and other activities complete, the two of them then retraced their steps home.

The day's thought was by David Bednar ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 500, for the fifth time since January 2014, on June 25.  As mentioned last week, Tortoise purposely picked up his pace about a mile a day to reach this today when he thought he was going with his grandchildren on the riverwalk at the end of the Zion Canyon road today.  As it turned out, his newest granddaughter, Leah, had a tough night, which meant Leah's mother Sarah had a tough night, which meant Grandpa Tortoise was taking four of his grandchildren with him without Sarah's help.  So, it was decided to take them to Tortoise's version of Grandpa's Pond -- playing in the rocks and shallow water of La Verkin Creek about a quarter mile down from the creek trailhead in Confluence Park.

This time, the children were in an exploration mode.  And the water was extra calm, which helped a lot.  They wound up going down the creek to the Virgin River, which they liked even better that day, making sandcastles in an "island" (a sand bar).  A wonderful time was had by all!  The thought of the day was by Thomas Monson ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 477.  Tortoise is happy today.  He has family gathered to spend Father's Day weekend with him, always a fine treat!  Wounded Duck wanted to walk with Tortoise, and he loves trails that go uphill, so they headed up to the Overlook for some fine views and good company.  But ... how wounded does Mr. Duck look up there in that picture?  Sounds like he should be named the "formerly wounded Duck", but, he insists the wounded description is still valid. 

Smiles were had all around, and what else matters, really?  The day's walking thought was provided by Thomas Monson ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 420.  Another quality walk with Becca, pretty much the same path as last night, except this time we circled around the church instead of simply turning around.  Thank you, Becca!  

The day's touching walking thought was by Craig Christensen ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 417.  The journey home was completed yesterday.  Family came to welcome the Ragozzines home and to enjoy Memorial Day together.  In the relative cool of the evening, Becca joined Tortoise on a walk to the church at the corner of Main and State Road 9 and back.  That is always a treat!  The day's walking thought was by Ann Dibb ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 415.  Day 3 of the trek west took the happy crew through walking stops in Amarillo, Texas, a rest stop about halfway between Tucumcari and Santa Rosa, New Mexico, and the Coronado Center mall in Albuquerque on their way to Gallup, New Mexico.  For all you Route 66 aficionados out there, yes, that means The Mother Road was followed all afternoon!  The day's walking thought was by Quentin Cook ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 413.  On day two of the trek west with the Ragozzines there were rest stops with walks in Pearl, Mississippi and Canton, Texas in addition to other rest stops in Grambling, Louisiana and Arlington, Texas.  Pictured above is the Krystal in Pearl.  The power of suggestion is strong, as the caravan passed multiple Krystals as it entered Jackson.  Good thing, as no more were viewed the rest of the way west.  Tortoise walked with the children around this parking lot, and later around a Texas sized truck stop in Canton.  Then it was on to dinner at Rudy's barbeque in Arlington, through major road construction in Ft. Worth, before ending for the day in Wichita Falls.  Enough mosquitoes were on the loose that evening that swimming in the hotel pool was cancelled and Tortoise's final walk consisted of laps down the second floor corridor, down the stairs, along the first floor hallway, up the stairs, repeated eleven times.  Yes, Tortoise did enjoy the walk, and smiled!  The day's thought was by Dieter Uchtdorf ...

Cheerio!

16-145

Mile 405.  Walked with the Ragozzine grandchildren to the beach as the prepare to say goodbye to Satellite Beach.  How fun has it been for them to be in walking distance to the ocean!  Sure was fun for Grandpa to share this afternoon with them there!  The thought of the day was by Ann Dibb ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 324.  For a second day in a row, Tortoise enjoyed an accompanied walk with one of his children.  Now there is a true treat!  Today it was with Benjamin, and it set 2016 year-to-date records for hardest trail (with a tortoise rating of 1.3) and most feet climbed (802).  Benjamin likes to encourage Lou to get his heart rate up by adding more elevation gain to his walks, so he suspects this record won't last long.  He's already talking about new attempts on Zion's East Rim and on Timpanogos, for example.  

As with yesterday's walk, the company was excellent, and there are some lovely scenic views as well along the way from Indian Road Trailhead (just off Canyon Road at 5500 North near the mouth of Provo Canyon) to the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  Today's thought is by Bonnie Oscarson ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 321.  Tortoise had a glorious evening with Becca!  We started our evening at the Vernal LDS Temple, then we went to a restaurant neither of us had been to before on the recommendation of Becca's "native of Vernal" friend, and wrapped things up with a walk on well lit, flat, and basically quiet streets near the temple (except for a particularly pesky dog who kept trying to jump a fence to get to us).  The restaurant was great, flavorful, but not overpowering, and gentle on Tortoise's stomach.  He appreciates this in his post-radiation life.  The decor and service were delightful as well. (Not to mention the company.)  On accompanied walks, Lou listens to his thought in advance in his car -- this evening it was by Thomas Monson ...

Cheerio!

16-86

Mile 223.  Tortoise got a lovely treat this evening when Josh, Ethan, and Riley came for dinner, the Kansas - Villanova basketball game, and a walk.  Knowing Ethan and Riley would each be bouncing basketballs to the park and back, Lou did a little "pre-walk" to add some climbing to the mix by walking a half mile from his house partway up the Overlook trail and back.  He hopes you will enjoy the pictures and the walking thought by Henry Eyring ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 159.  Tortoise was accompanied on the first two miles of this walk by his old college roommate and friend, Jeff Peters ... by phone.  Jeff was driving with his wife Lynnette from Salt Lake, where they had done some family activities and visited the open house of the Provo City Center Temple.  They were on their way to Las Vegas, where their daughter Heidi will be married Saturday to Trey Tagliaferri.  Passing the exit for Hurricane, Toquerville, Zion Park, and La Verkin, they thought of Tortoise and called him as he was preparing for his walk ... so he took them along with him.  It was very nice ... and the walking thought by Carole Stephens that came in the last mile after the phone call ended fits nicely with this unexpected visit ...

Cheerio!

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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!

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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!

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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!

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Mile 1,000.  Bluejay was the closest to figure out what Tortoise was trying to do in the past few weeks on his goal for this year -- he thought Tortoise was trying to do it before December 1.  Having as much of Lou's family to enjoy it with him was his motivator to try to do it today ... before some return to their homes after Thanksgiving.  Tortoise enjoyed Bluejay's singing (see yesterday's comments) over this happy day.

Lou picked the warmest (44 degrees), calmest part of the day to do his one thousandth mile by going a half mile northeast from the Crosby Family Confluence Park with Floryne, Becca, Josh, Ethan, Kate, Riley, and Maude.  They then turned around and retraced their steps.  Lots of celebratory pictures when you click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 993.  Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!  Tortoise very much enjoyed the company of Wounded Duck on his traditional holiday morning walk, and asked him to choose today's title picture.  There are several nice ones to choose from on this fine day, between the walk down to the Virgin River and the climb to the ridge halfway to the La Verkin Overlook.  Today's walking thought is by James Hamula ...

Cheerio!

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Mile 394.  Tortoise got to walk with the special people shown above and go explore a hill with a nice view of St. George in several directions!  For more pictures, a map and details, along with the day's walking thought by Gordon B. Hinckley, please click below to continue reading ...

Cheerio!