Where is Spring?

Photos from my long run yesterday, March 24 in rural Idaho.

A 10-Mile Run with a View of the Grand Tetons

This shot has been cropped and modified as far as contrast and color to show the Tetons better. The telltale three spires are in center of photo. These mountains are 90 miles away. I took this on my ten-mile run this afternoon--a day when the air was clear as a bell. The photo below shows the same scene, with the Tetons a little left of center,.

Wind turbines.

Looking toward town from the top of the hill. At center and left center are two volcanoes in the Arco Desert. Below, also looking down, but more northwest.

A cold and very clear winter day today. I ran up to the top of the foothills above Ammon, and from the top could see all the way to the volcanos to the north and the Tetons to the east. To give you an idea of distance, the volcanoes are a good fifty miles away and the Tetons a good ninety miles away. We are in Idaho but the Tetons are in Wyoming.

Six-Mile Run, Dec. 27: A Cold, Snowy Day

Right: The runner thaws out after his run.

To Bone and Back

...Bone, Idaho, that is. Population, about three or four. Today was the annual to Bone and Back Race sponsored by one of the hospitals here in town. For the seventh year, my wife's former boss, Dr. Tim Taylor fielded an eight-person team for the 40 mile relay race across the sagebrush and the hills to Bone. For more on the race, click here: http://www.toboneandback.com/index.asp

We had a lot of fun, everybody got sunburned to some extent, and nobody expired on the course. Here are some photos from the event.Dr. Tim "Toolman" Taylor reaches the top of the 6,500 foot hill outside of Ammon and Idaho Falls. This leg takes incredible stamina, with a vertical climb of several thousand feet in five miles.The team cheers on a team-mate on the course. L-R: Lindi, Megan T., Treasa Taylor, Geri Morris, Trent Walker, Tim Taylor, and Janet. Trent fearlessly takes a hill. Jennifer Walker makes good time on the course as a hot sun beats down.

Lindi Merritt, comes down the hill past the Ammon Cemetery on the last leg of the race.Strategy session. Our strategy--slow but sure. Lindi, Treasa, Tim, Janet, Geri

My wife Geri runs steadily along through the middle of nowhere near an old ranch.

Yours truly, feeling pain near the top of a steep incline.A team victorious, at least as far as it is concerned. L-R: Lindi Merritt, Megan Taylor, Tim Taylor, Janet , Geri Morris, Rob Morris. Missing are Trent and Jennifer Walker.

Our time was 7 hours, 19 minutes, 26 seconds.Energy past and present. An old farm truck and a wind turbine on the way to Bone.

Lovely Day for a Virtual Run in the Country

Hay stacks and tractor
Newly-planted fields, with Taylor Mountain in background.
Old storage shed on farm.
Anybody for snowmachining? Wait a minute...the truck and machine have been sitting there for twenty yearsStarting to climb to the top of the hill. Quiet, peaceful, except for the occasional motorcyclist.

On top, looking out over the Snake River Plain.Starting down off the hill. Notice the snow.

Looking over the edge of the hill. Motorcycles do hill climbs on it.
Trail running and target shooting do not mix. A fired, but unspent, high caliber bullet on the path.
Still life: Deer carcass with beer can and other trash.

Coming down off the hill.

Farm machinery. I almost got nailed by a car that was passing illegally right about here. *&^$%

Ah, a warm spring day...the first of the year. It's been a long winter here in Southeast Idaho, and I'm assuming some of my readers haven't been on a long run for a while either, so I took my camera and snapped photos every so often along my eight-mile jog. My destination was a large hill about four miles from my home in Ammon. To get there, I run along a series of old country roads, past cattle farms and hay farms, then climb through a new subdivision of upscale homes and onto a steep sagebrush rise. This gets progressively steeper until I reach the top, where I can see for twenty miles, all the way across the Snake River Plain. Then it's time to go back down the other side and back into town, a little sore but feeling great and reinvigorated. So lace up your shoes and come along for a run in the country.