16-177

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!

16-176

Mile 498.  A late night loop around La Verkin for Tortoise, accompanied by the inspiring words of Jeffrey Holland ...

Cheerio!

16-173

Mile 485, June 21.  Tortoise started his morning by virtually duplicating his walk of the previous evening.  Amazing how much different things can look at sunrise compared with sunset!  The picture above was taken near the rim of the canyon on La Verkin's 560 West Street, looking down at the Virgin River near its confluence with La Verkin Creek and Ash Creek.  Walking thought was provided by Boyd Packer ...

Cheerio!

16-172

Mile 481.  Tortoise walked in a large loop of La Verkin as the sunset waned and the moon rose.  He was accompanied by a walking thought by Henry Eyring ...

Cheerio!

16-170

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!

16-169

Mile 471.  The morning dawned beautiful and inviting.  Tortoise set off on the large loop through Confluence Park by walking up Main Street to the highway, then through Spanish Gardens and Riverwoods to the north park entrance.  The location pictured above is near the beginning of the Confluence Trail as it follows La Verkin Creek.  From there he followed his usual path to the south trailhead on State Street.  Accompanying Lou was the day's walking thought by Henry Eyring ...

Cheerio!

16-168

Mile 466, June 16.  This morning, Tortoise went northbound through a mile or so of Confluence Park before climbing out and looping back by way of the store to bring home some cream cheese.  Multitasking at its best!  Lou also had ulterior motives to lengthening his walk a bit ... he was reminded last night that his Ragozzine grandchildren would like him to take them on the two mile round trip walk up the Virgin River from the end of the Zion National Park shuttle to where the trail becomes the river and a fun, scenic place to play in the water.  Well ... that being the plan, Tortoise decided to pick up his daily pace so that he could complete his fifth time walking 500 miles since January 2014.  Not so bad at an average of about an hour a day.  So stay tuned to see if he pulls this off -- there are still 32 miles to be walked in 7 days in order to be ready to do that.  

Today's thought heard while walking was by Dieter Uchtdorf, and yes, it involves flying ...

Cheerio!