Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Walking and Meandering
Today is the first day of summer. We had a light frost on the windshield this morning. The weather has been great for walking though. Our annual spring fitness has seen the formation of a team. Our team, of which I am the fearless leader, is called “Lookin’ for a Fix on Route 66”. Our team goal of collective miles is Chicago to Albuquerque of which I am proud to say we have achieved with two weeks remaining to be recorded. My personal goal is to exceed the 500 miles I logged in last years’ 8 week timeframe. It looks doable at this point with five days of walking remaining in this years’ 8 week span.
We made a jaunt to the Black Hills for what I called a walking vacation. That weekend was the Crazy Horse Volksmarch and the Deadwood Marathon. I did the 6.2 miles to the top of Crazy Horse. I touched the face of the carving with my walking stick with the colored ribbons representing the four sacred directions (Black – West (Fall), White – North (Winter-Snow), Red – East (Spring) and Yellow – South (Summer)) also representing the four great races of our planet. That is a journey I have desired to make since I first learned of the Volksmarch. I didn’t enter the marathon although I have been casually training to walk that distance. We wanted to attend church at Emmanuel Episcopal in Rapid City on Sunday, which was the same time as the marathon. I did get to walk on the Mickelson Trail however which is where the race was held. I walked from Rochford to Mystic, an 8 mile jaunt. My wife got lost and it took her 8 miles to drive the same distance. There isn’t a road sign marking the Mystic stopover and there isn’t much there. Then after the Crazy Horse Volksmarch I walked from Hill City to Custer, about 16 miles. The Mickelson is the old Burlington Route from Edgemont to Deadwood. Mickelson was governor of SD in the last part of the 20th century and proclaimed a year of reconciliation between the Caucasian and Native populations in SD. He was tragically killed in a plane crash before he completed his term of office. Janklow, the infamous speeder who was bounced out of the House of Representatives after killing a motorcycle rider when running a stop sign, succeeded Mickelson, saw the completion of the trail and named it after Mickelson. I consider this to be Janklow’s one redeeming act of public service. Janklow was first a legal aid on the Rosebud Reservation, later a DA and AG, before becoming the governor. His relationship with the Native population has never been very popular.
Last week I was in Billings for work through Thursday and I was able to walk ten miles each night and some distance at noon also. I ended up with fifty miles before I left town. I made a loop twice along the eastern edge of the city on the banks of the Yellowstone, to the Heights, over the Rims and back down 27th to my motel which becomes a pre-release center next month. The second time I reversed the direction going up 27th and climbing the rims directly up the face (and finding the hidden steps.) Then on Saturday I followed the old Milwaukee route from Butte to Warm Springs. The internet said the distance between these two locations was only 21.84 miles so I thought it would be an easy jaunt. It turned out to be 31.75 miles. I made a little detour at Rocker to go to town pump and get a Jamocha shake, forgot my walking stick and had to backtrack to the truck stop after I had crossed Silver Bow Creek and gone a considerable distance down the route between the Rarus and BNSF tracks. Later the Rarus “Copper King Express” tourist train passed me going into Butte by Ramsay and then passed me on the return to Anaconda as I was midway into Durant Canyon. The trip took a total of 9 plus hours with the final portion being in high wind along the Warm Springs Settling Ponds. I had to add an extra two miles at the Warm Springs end because there was no crossing on the Clark’s Fork and I didn’t want to wade the stream. My average was still 3.45 miles an hour though.
Today is the first day of summer. We had a light frost on the windshield this morning. The weather has been great for walking though. Our annual spring fitness has seen the formation of a team. Our team, of which I am the fearless leader, is called “Lookin’ for a Fix on Route 66”. Our team goal of collective miles is Chicago to Albuquerque of which I am proud to say we have achieved with two weeks remaining to be recorded. My personal goal is to exceed the 500 miles I logged in last years’ 8 week timeframe. It looks doable at this point with five days of walking remaining in this years’ 8 week span.
We made a jaunt to the Black Hills for what I called a walking vacation. That weekend was the Crazy Horse Volksmarch and the Deadwood Marathon. I did the 6.2 miles to the top of Crazy Horse. I touched the face of the carving with my walking stick with the colored ribbons representing the four sacred directions (Black – West (Fall), White – North (Winter-Snow), Red – East (Spring) and Yellow – South (Summer)) also representing the four great races of our planet. That is a journey I have desired to make since I first learned of the Volksmarch. I didn’t enter the marathon although I have been casually training to walk that distance. We wanted to attend church at Emmanuel Episcopal in Rapid City on Sunday, which was the same time as the marathon. I did get to walk on the Mickelson Trail however which is where the race was held. I walked from Rochford to Mystic, an 8 mile jaunt. My wife got lost and it took her 8 miles to drive the same distance. There isn’t a road sign marking the Mystic stopover and there isn’t much there. Then after the Crazy Horse Volksmarch I walked from Hill City to Custer, about 16 miles. The Mickelson is the old Burlington Route from Edgemont to Deadwood. Mickelson was governor of SD in the last part of the 20th century and proclaimed a year of reconciliation between the Caucasian and Native populations in SD. He was tragically killed in a plane crash before he completed his term of office. Janklow, the infamous speeder who was bounced out of the House of Representatives after killing a motorcycle rider when running a stop sign, succeeded Mickelson, saw the completion of the trail and named it after Mickelson. I consider this to be Janklow’s one redeeming act of public service. Janklow was first a legal aid on the Rosebud Reservation, later a DA and AG, before becoming the governor. His relationship with the Native population has never been very popular.
Last week I was in Billings for work through Thursday and I was able to walk ten miles each night and some distance at noon also. I ended up with fifty miles before I left town. I made a loop twice along the eastern edge of the city on the banks of the Yellowstone, to the Heights, over the Rims and back down 27th to my motel which becomes a pre-release center next month. The second time I reversed the direction going up 27th and climbing the rims directly up the face (and finding the hidden steps.) Then on Saturday I followed the old Milwaukee route from Butte to Warm Springs. The internet said the distance between these two locations was only 21.84 miles so I thought it would be an easy jaunt. It turned out to be 31.75 miles. I made a little detour at Rocker to go to town pump and get a Jamocha shake, forgot my walking stick and had to backtrack to the truck stop after I had crossed Silver Bow Creek and gone a considerable distance down the route between the Rarus and BNSF tracks. Later the Rarus “Copper King Express” tourist train passed me going into Butte by Ramsay and then passed me on the return to Anaconda as I was midway into Durant Canyon. The trip took a total of 9 plus hours with the final portion being in high wind along the Warm Springs Settling Ponds. I had to add an extra two miles at the Warm Springs end because there was no crossing on the Clark’s Fork and I didn’t want to wade the stream. My average was still 3.45 miles an hour though.
