Ref Barn Blue Sky Calm - Near Avon, Montana

“Calm and inner peace…Yes, calm and inner peace were undoubtedly important, but did you need to practise yoga to achieve such things? Or was it enough just to be here….to walk along one of those paths…with the sky above you so wide and so understanding of all it witnessed? …Surely there was enough calm amd peace in this land to bring quiet and healing to every heart that was open to it?? Surely.”

- - The Joy & Light Bus Company by Alexander McCall Smith, p. 57

Frosted Walk (and Then More Reading) - Missoula, Montana

“During those long afternoon walks in nature he came to believe that one must shut the mouth and open the eyes and ears, for nature only asked of him to look, listen, and attend.

After the walks: more reading.”

 -Young C.S. “Jack” Lewis, in Once Upon. A Wardrobe, by Patti Callahan, LT p. 166

Influencing Scenery, Missoula, Montana

The influence of fine scenery, the presence of mountains, appeases our irritations and elevates our friendships. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Culture, The Conduct of Life, 1860

Unfurling Toward, Missoula, Montana

As a kid, walking the mile to town - with an older sibling, of course - was a big deal. Apparently, it was not a busy road several decades ago, as I remember dawdling along, skipping stones across lush spring ditches filled with idling water.
In winter, the snow plow threw a huge ridge of snow into the field, parallel to road. Someone invariably ran a skidoo along the top, leaving an elevated walkway perfect for small people bundled in snowsuits with only their eyes showing. (Winter walks were actually more of a waddle into town.) From our lofty height, we surveyed a rolling domain of diamond crusted fields, sparkling in the clear winter sunlight.
Memory images are not like a movie - there’s no plot, no distinct connection of why and where we were going, or how we got home. The actual journey toward is what made an impression - the discovery of along-the-way, the being in the present. And isn’t that what we need a little more of? Our lives get so busy, so scheduled and planned ahead with destinations mapped. Remember to take in the simple joys of the everyday journey - to stop and smell the roses, as it were.

I Walk For Kicks, East Missoula, Montana

Let’s be clear and up front about this (to avoid having my inbox flooded with misguided celebrity participation requests, of course) : I walk. I do not run - not even for Kicks.  But I will walk for Kicks, along with TBHE (The Best Husband Ever) and DD (Darling Daughter aka TOC - The Only Child). Well, she'll run. But we still love her.

Check out East Missoula’s official I Run For Kicks site here to see updates on today’s 5K fundraiser for school shoes for local kids in need.
Big thanks for sponsorship this year to Montana Cabinets, Runner’s Edge, Liberty Vapor, Red Umbrella Media, River of Life, and Riverside Coffee House.
And if you want to be inspired by some serious walking stats, look here at Scott’s updates as he’s Walking to Retirement.

Homestead Ghosts, Corvallis, Montana

On our weekly walks, my sister & I sometimes take the worn track up through sparse adolescent pine trees and arrive at a high pasture and this well-weathered shed. A long time back, someone was extremely industrious - picking rocks to clear the field, building fence around the hilltop view. They prob’ly never thought of a day when their efforts would become mainly picturesque.