And A Little Theology, Don't Drown It May be Deep

Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Piper is at his best explaining why God put us here in the first place. The title is a negative way of saying, Be Sure Your Life Counts."



Even though it is a short book, don't plan on a fast read. Savor it and take time to meditate on your single passion to live for.


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Fun Reading, If You Can Keep From Worrying

Extreme Measures: A Thriller by Vince Flynn

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
This one is a page turner. It is hard to put down. A third terrorist cell is on its way to the US. Can Rapp and Nash intercept them or will the senate judiciary committee chairman have her way and toss our heroes in the clink, for using extreme measures?



This may help explain the somber look on Obama's face when he exited his first briefing with the president. He needs our prayer because while the book is fiction, the issues are not.






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A Little Global Warming in a Snowstorm

Red Hot Lies: How Global Warming Alarmists Use Threats, Fraud, and Deception to Keep You Misinformed by Christopher Horner

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Christopher C. Horner gives evidence that the whole Global Warming "Crisis" is a political ploy. He documents how scientists who do not fawn over the politically correct line are shut out. This includes their being disinvited from summits, conferences, etc., because this isn't about the environment it is about government.



Oh, and money! While environmental enthusiasts point out any contribution global warming skeptics receive from any energy producer they neglect to point out that the global warming crisis is a 6 billion dollar a year industry that would disappear overnight if there were no "crisis."



While this is not a book dedicated to Global Warming statistics, it uses plenty of them while making the point that the whole "crisis" has as its goals, 1.) bigger government; "the Koyoto Protocol is the first component of an authentic global governance." (former French president Jacques Chirac) and 2.) Money as described above.



Those of you my dear readers who have been convinced by the Al Gores of this world will never believe me, so read this book. I gave it only 4 stars because some of the writing is difficult to follow mainly due to the detail he gives some of the issues.



It is definitely a must read for anyone who is truly interested in truth, not propaganda.


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The Dream That Lives On

I know you couch potatoes will have trouble believing this, but even after two aborted attempts to hike the Appalachian Trail (AT) the dream still appears at the strangest times. We are resigned to the fact that we won’t be hiking on the AT anymore. Short of a knee replacement I will never have the knees to do it. We waited too long to try.
The next best possibility is not practical either. While I can hike a week or maybe two at a time, we live too far from the trail to hike it a few miles at a time. So that won’t happen either. We had our shot and we were shot down. Over three different hikes, we managed just about 800 miles. We are going to have to be satisfied with that.
Knowing and submitting to the facts doesn’t keep the dream from reoccurring. Today after lunch I was going out to the deck to sit in the sun for my vitamin D fix. (Dr.’s Orders not laziness) I decided to take a cup of coffee, but I didn’t want to make a pot so I settled for a cup of instant. When I sat on the deck, in the cool air, a slight breeze causing the remaining leaves to fall, and sipped the instant, it felt like an afternoon on the trail.
The only coffee we had while hiking was instant. I almost never drink instant any other time. But when I took the first sip I was transported back to the trail. I spent the first 5 minutes of my vitamin D time daydreaming and wishing. It is crazy.

In Memory, Tony Hillerman 1925-2008

I lost a friend this week. He died at age 83 of Pulmonary distress. He was a friend I never met, but spent many hours enjoying his storytelling. I will miss his engaging tales of life in the Four Corners area. Most of my Utah friends will say, “Tony who?” Most of my New Mexico friends will agree. Tony Hillerman was a great story teller.

Tony Hillerman was a journalist who decided that if he was going to make up stories he might as well sell them as novels. He wrote mystery novels with a twist. The twist was the primary mystery solvers were two Navajo Policemen, Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Sergeant Jim Chee. The books contained insights into the life and culture of the Navajo. One article said that an early book agent told Hillerman he should lose the Indian stuff.

Reading a Hillerman mystery was about traveling the Navajo Reservation and the area around it, Albuquerque, Farmington, Gallup. I can see in my mind’s eye Jim Chee’s trailer house down on the San Juan River in Shiprock. The reservation roads to the trading posts, the mountains, the canyons, the sheep meadows are not understandable to those whose life has been spent in the city. I have driven on many of those roads and hundreds more like them in the four corners. I could lose myself in a Hillerman book and day dream my way back to a simpler life.

Fiction is not my favorite read. But over the years there have been three authors whose books I bought on the day they were released. (Well at least on the day they showed up at Sam’s Club or Costco.) I didn’t even wait for the paperback version. Now one of them is gone. I will miss Tony Hillerman and the adventures of Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn.

Oh, the other two authors for those of you who don’t know are John Grisham and Tom Clancy.

USA Today with Biblical Understanding

There is an Interesting article on page 9d of USA Today, Tuesday October 28, 2008. It is about the discovery of Egyptian artifacts in a copper mine in Jordan. The article is about King Solomon, the Old Testament kingdom of Edom, copper mines, and Pharaohs.

3000 years after Solomon died archaeology is discovering one of the mines that contributed to his great wealth. I am continually amazed at the discoveries in the dirt of the middle east, findings that lend credence to the Bible.

Of course this discovery proves nothing. I don’t need it to prove anything where my faith is concerned. Just the fact that competent archaeologists find in their digs the very things you would expect them to find if God’s word had any historicity.

The Bible tells us that Solomon was one of the wealthiest men in ancient history. But when offered wealth by the Lord, he instead chose wisdom. Thus we hear “The Wisdom of Solomon” referred to as a positive thing whereas we rarely hear of “The Wealth of Solomon.”

This wise man concluded his treatise about life by saying “The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13 NASB)

What's That Again?

The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History by Thomas E. Woods Jr.

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
While I am not naive enough to accept everything in this book at face value, it does have an interesting alternative look at some of the major events in American History.



I was especially interested in the articles on the Civil War, (which the author points out wasn't a true civil war) WWI and the intentional methods of Woodrow Wilson to manipulate us into joining the war, and the chapter about the causes of the great depression.



The book is weak at the point of references. While the bibliography is a long one, the text is not footnoted.



Read it, you may just learn, or rather relearn some of your own history.


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Head GO! vs Heart NO!

I first became aware that there is a difference between being a head fan and a heart fan during the Western regionals for NCAA basketball back in the 90's. The tournament was held in the "Pit," home of the UNM basketball Lobos. One of the teams to make it to the regional was the New Mexico State aggies.

On my way to the game my friends asked me, "So who will you be pulling for, the Aggies or UCLA"?

My head tells me it would be a great thing for the state of New Mexico basketball if the aggies could pull off a win against the heavily favored Bruins. "I will be pulling for NMSU", I confidently responded. But inside the pit, when the aggies ran out onto Bob King Court in their fringed warm ups, I immediately switched allegiance. I have pulled for the aggies in the newspaper, and even cheered them heartily on television, but my heart would not allow me to pull for them in the Pit. No way Jose.

I have the same problem today with BYU and Utah. While undoubtedly they are Mountain West Conference leaders, along with TCU, and it helps the conference where the BCS is concerned for the Utes and the Cougars to win outside the conference, my head says GO! but my heart says NO!

I try, I really try to pull for the Utes. And that is the truth. How awesome that the Mountain West Conference is 6-1 against the PAC 10. If I could just wake up in the morning and read the scores and see that Utah beats OSU 31-28 my head can say, “YEA” But if I watch the game as soon as I see that stupid helmet with the feather Logo or Swoop that ridiculous feathered mascot, or hear “I’m a Utah man sir” I immediately revert to what I was born to be.

Funny isn’t it? My head says "GO"!, my heart says "NO"! I have the exact opposite reaction to the Texas Longhorns. I don’t want to pull for them. My head doesn't care if they ever win a game, but when they run on the field and I see that awesome Longhorn Logo, Bivo the majestic live longhorn steer, and hear “The Eyes of Texas are upon you” my heart says “hook em horns"!

I am just being honest here. It is something I do not fully understand. I may never have a Lobo football team to be proud of. But I am a Lobo none-the-less and three teams Lobos don’t pull for, New Mexico State, BYU, and Utah. “I’m a Lobo fan sir, I’ve been one all my life.” And that, is the rest of the story.

Isaac's Storm

Isaac's Storm: A Man, a Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History by Erik Larson

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
As hurricane Ike hurtled toward Galveston I was reading this book about the 1900 Hurricane that virtually destroyed the same city.



Isaac Cline was the representative of the US Weather Service stationed at Galveston. The book is about him, the weather service, and the hurricance. Weather prediction was in its infancy and Isaac was attempting to learn the science.



It is a story of Government impotency that gives perspective to Katrina.


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Beethoven's Hair: An Extraordinary Historical Odyssey and a Scientific Mystery Solved by Russell Martin

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
In 1827 a budding musician cut a lock of hair from the body of a recently deceased Ludwig Von Beethoven.



In 1995 two Americans employed scientists to open a simple locket that contained a lock of hair, purportedly from the great musician, Beethoven.



This book deals with two questions. 1. How did this lock of hair make the journey from early 19th century Vienna to a late 20th century London auction house, and 2. what does the examination of the hair tell us about the life and death of Beethoven.



The first question is enhanced when one considers the history of 20th century Europe and the Nazi attempt to eliminate all things Jewish.



The book has a varied pace, sometimes very slow and cumbersom, at times as quick paced as a mystery. I gave it a 3 star rating (out of a possible 5) because of the slow pace and because after reading it, I now know trivia so trivial it will never even show up on trivial pursuit.


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Anonymous Comments

One thing that has always bugged the daylights out of me is people who are so cowardly as to make anonymous comments. It began early in the pastorate. An envelope without a return address came in the mail. Being young and inexperienced I opened it to find a 5 page letter. The writer proceeded to complain about everything under the sun. They didn’t like me, they didn’t like the church, they were very critical of everything and they didn’t sign the letter.

It upset me terribly. For one thing, I didn’t think many of the complaints were valid but I couldn’t discuss them with the complainer. I was really bothered by the whole situation. But the thing that bothered me the most was the yellow bellied writer who spouted opinion while hiding from their own comments.

I made a life decision that I followed all my years as a pastor. If a letter came unsigned, I tore it up and threw it in the trash without reading it. If a person didn’t want me to know who they were, I didn’t want to know what they thought, good or bad.

One of the reasons for writing a blog is to open communication with people I couldn’t normally converse with. Every time I write anything concerning Mormonism I get an anonymous comment. Go ahead and look through my archive of blogs. Look at the blog about Mitt. Look at the blog about the Temple in Idaho. That is why I believe the comment on my last blog has more to do with Mitt than with my position on abortion.

Either way, if a commenter doesn’t have the gumption to identify themselves, they don’t deserve a hearing. I don’t have to read them. Beginning with this post anonymous comments are no longer allowed. A commenter will have to identify themselves. It isn’t hard to do, and it doesn’t cost anything. You will have to have a Google, AOL, or Yahoo account to comment. There are some other options, but anonymous won’t be one of them.

Don’t let that stop you. I want to hear from you. But I want to know who you are.

Election thoughts

As I sit here listening to the Democratic convention my thoughts drift to my own political journey. I have trouble believing many of these speakers believe what they are saying.

I am not excited about our choices for president this year. The first time I was old enough to vote for president I was in favor of the democratic candidate. I didn’t vote because I moved in October of that year and it was obvious that George McGovern had no chance to unseat a very popular Richard Nixon. My first vote was in 1976 when I voted for Gerald Ford. Four years later I voted for Jimmy Carter against Ronald Regan. I voted for Jimmy Carter, not because I thought he was a good president, but because his presidency gave me a multitude of opportunity for spiritual conversation. His outspoken claim to be born again was a great conversation starter.

Between 1980 and 1984 it became obvious to me that there was a great divide in our country between those who called themselves pro-choice and those who called themselves pro-life. They were called respectively by their opponents, pro-abortion and anti-choice. At that time I realized that the culture war that was being fought called for a change in strategy in presidential voting. Since that time I have voted for the pro-life candidate in any election where I had that choice.

You see, I am not sure about conservative/liberal issues of economics. Reganomics sounded good, but didn’t seem to work as good as it sounded. It wasn’t until Bill Clinton became president that the government began to get control of the deficit. Now I understand the conservative arguments. I have used them many times. It took that long for the tax-cuts that Regan initiated to make the difference. It wasn’t until 1994 when Republicans took control of congress that the deficit came under control. I know those arguments, but they are opinion, they cannot be proved. I think John McCain is the most honest of the candidates ever, “I don’t completely understand how the economy works.” I am not sure any of the others do either.

It does seem that democrats are for higher taxes. But then, if we are going to do all the things for people that both Republicans and Democrats want to do, then we need taxes. The money doesn’t grow on trees. W has given Americans all the things the democrats say they need, but he doesn’t raise the money to pay for it. So we have deficit spending again. I know, it is the democratic controlled congress that passes the money bills, but it is the president that signs them.

Now that McCain has not chosen Romney for VP I will support McCain. There is one issue that I look at first, like many other Americans. I cannot vote for a President, a Senator, or a Congressman who doesn’t hold life sacred. A woman’s right to choose cannot come before a baby’s right to life.

An Unstoppable Force: Daring to Become the Church God Had in Mind by Erwin Raphael McManus

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
It took me a while to work my way through this one, not because it wasn't good, but because it inspired a lot of thinking.



The chapter on Spiritual Leadership is one every Christian leader, especially Pastors, should read. The Epilogue, chapter 10, entitled Radical Minimum Standard is a chapter every believer should read.

His statement that in today's church we live with a conspiracy of mediocrity, that we are unwitting enemies of nobility and heroism, where we choose to live where apathy is normal and average is the goal, reminds me of a statement of Billy Sunday, "most christians are so sub-normal that when you see a Christian that is normal, we think he is ab-normal."






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The Beatle Dilemma

Last night we went back 40 years to a 1968 Beatles concert. A band of Beatle impersonators were a part of the Utah Symphony’s Deer Valley Music Festival. The festival is an open air event. Spectators sit on the grassy ski run. We took a couple of quilts, (there were six of us, including my mother who couldn’t believe I took her to a Beatles concert) and a picnic dinner to eat on the slopes while awaiting the concert’s beginning.

The first sign that this was to be an adventure came on the trip from the parking lot to the slopes. It started to rain. Off and on throughout the evening it rained, until we were pretty much all wet. But the concert went on as planned.

Here is the dilemma. I like the music. Even our symphony musician friend says the music is genius. Many of the songs have words not from my world view. “I get high with a little help from my friends.” The impersonator dressed as John Lennon sits at the piano and does a great rendition of Imagine. Pretty music with artistic lyrics that fit together in a delightful way make the song fun to listen to. But singing along is difficult because I don’t believe the message in the words.

It isn’t a dilemma just for rock and roll’ers though. Several years past I went to a Garth Brooks concert where the song everyone waited for and brought the greatest response is one Garth is noted for. It too has a fun tune and witty lyrics. I don’t go to low places where whiskey drowns and beer chases the blues away, even if I have friends there, but it is fun to sing.

Puritans among us might say we best avoid all worldly amusements. There is a progression here. You could just accept the alternate world view. Or you could sing the songs while rejecting the worldview. Perhaps we should avoid the songs with a secular worldview. Any artist who sings the songs with a secular world view should be avoided. We should not partake of the genre that has the songs with the secular world view. Even a music style should be avoided, if it is a style that is used by those espousing a secular world view. That would include using the music in church with spiritual words. Then the last step, maybe we should avoid music all together.

The dilemma then is to decide where you draw the line. I suppose most of us would agree the first and the last options were going too far. Now you have to choose where along the way you will draw your line.

Talk to me. I would like to know what you think.

Oh! The concert. Even though we were all wet from the rain, and cold from the wind that followed, I think we all, from Mom and Dad to the ten year old with us had a good time. Or then, maybe I am just seeing it all through my perspective. I had a good time, the others will have to speak for themselves.

The Last Lecture

The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
When I read a small book like this, I am usually happy to find one thing worth writing in my notes/journal/idea book. In this book I wrote down 10. Great book.


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Imagine. You get the news from your doctor that you have less than 6 months to live. What would you want to say? What would you want others to know? What message would you like to leave to your kids? Grandkids?

The Last Lecture is a book by Randy Pausch, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He was asked to give such a lecture at his college. The difference, Randy Pausch had been told by his doctor that he had less than six months to live. Pancreatic cancer.

The book is his lecture with some added chapters. It is his attempt to leave a message to his three children, the oldest is only 6. The youngest is 18 months and Randy is aware his littlest daughter will have no memories of him. So he set about to make sure his children knew who he was, how much he loved them, and how much he would have like to have lived with them.

My friend Lynn has received the same prognosis. Unlike Randy who is in his 40’s, Lynn is in his 80’s but some things never change. He is looking at how he will spend the few months he knows he has left. While visiting Lynn last week a mutual friend gave him a copy of The Last Lecture. He already had it so they agreed to allow me to read it. I am thankful they did.

It is a book worth reading even if you don’t have a set amount of time left to live.

Barbs Day

All along the trail the flowers are plentiful. Even early on the trail, before there were leaves on the trees there were flowers on the ground. Bluets are delicate little flowers, blue like their name. Trout lilies are yellow flowers with spots resembling spots on a trout. The Dwarf Iris is just that, a little Iris and they have a purple blossom. One of the earliest flowers we saw and one that was impressive because of the way they covered the ground was the Spring Beauty. Several times they looked like snow on the ground.

One of Jen's favorites was the Lady Slipper. “I have heard of them all my life but this is the first one I have ever seen” she said as we looked at the pinkish red blossom. Another favorite was the Trilliam, we saw white, yellow, pink, and blue ones. The red ones have a different name though they are the same flower.

Hiking for long distances and long time allows the mind to go anywhere. Jen chose to use much of her time and her love of flowers to pray for our family. When she saw a Bluet, she prayed for our daughter Amy. When she saw a yellow flower she prayed for our son Josh who was overseas in the war zone. His wife Krista was prayed for when there was a purple flower, and our Grandson's prayer flowers were the white ones. Our son Nathan and his wife Amy were prayed for when she saw ferns.

Between the hikes, from last year to this, Jen found out that her friend Barbara has breast cancer. The most abundant plant on the trail has been the Rhododendrun. From Georgia to Central Virginia there have been Rhododendrun everywhere. So Jen decided that Barbs prayer plant would be the rhododendrun. In addition to being abundant they were tough plants growing in a difficult environment, a perfect environment to pray for Barb.

We were always ahead of the flowering rhododendrun however. We had not seen one in bloom, until today. Not far up the trail we crested a hill and there on both sides of the trail and into the woods as far as we could see, the rhododendrun was in bloom. It was beautiful. Rhodendrun blossoms look to be about the size of a softball, but when you look at them closely you see that they are made up of a cluster of much smaller blossoms.

This is when Jen told us about rhododendrun being Barb's flower. So after a few minutes hiking in the middle of flowering rhododendrun we stopped. We decided that maybe this was a day Barb was in need of our prayer, so we prayed for her and Pete. Then we dedicated the hike on this day to Barbara Straker. It became Barb's day.

Keep on Barb, we are with you.

Plan C

Plan A= 2007 through hike, Georgia to Maine in 7 months. NOT.
Plan B=2008 section hike from Virginia to New York
2009 section hike from New York to Maine. NOT
Plan C=2008 slack pack or day hike as much of the remaining sections as you want to hike. Leave your camping gear in the truck and carry less than 15 pounds.

Maybe then, the weak knee will be able to handle the trail. I have to admit that three doctors and two physical therapists were right. My knee structure will not allow me to carry 40 pounds up hill and down for 2000 miles. After 8 days and 79 miles on the trail it is painfully obvious that the knee will not handle the weight. So here in Pearisburg, Virgina we are calling plan B off. Now we will be day hikers, still trying to hike the trail but hiking from road to road and eating and camping out of the truck.

The decision to make now is if traveling this way is worth passing every white slash which will still take this summer and next to complete or if we should just cherry pick the sweet parts of the trail to day hike and end the hike in Maine in July.

Jen really wants to wear the T-shirt that says, I am a 2000 miler, so we will probably try to keep going north, one section at a time. (tell me, 2007 thru hikers, did anyone get that T-shirt?)

We have some friends from Georgia coming to join us in our trek now. We will have two cars and can drive one ahead and the other to the trail head, and just leap frog them up the trail. It is not the way we would have preferred. But if we are going to get any more of it done, this will have to be the way.

Get In The Game

Flint and Jubilee are back in the game. We may not win at first, but we are at least on the move north once again. When I was in High School we had a period of time each year when you were “in training” for the sport you were playing. When you were “in training” there were certain things you did, and certain things you didn't do. If you were “in training” for basketball for example, you swore off of cokes and candy bars. Well at least you were supposed to. I dont remember a coach ever telling us that, it was just something we all talked about doing.

There is a definite “in training” for hiking. And it is obvious that we are NOT in shape. We are back where we were when we began last year. After 3 ½ days of hiking we have accomplished 33.9 miles. That is just short of our beginning goal of 10 miles per day. I was sure we could do better than that, but not yet. Tonight we are in a motel in Bland, Virginia. Tomorrow will be resupply then on to Pearisburg.

Paul the Apostle said that we should “train” ourselves for godliness. Have you ever stopped to consider what that means? How much spiritual inaction does it take for us to fall out of shape?

The Last We Saw of Giblet

Many of you remember our hiking chicken from last year, Giblet and have asked if he will accompany us on our hike this year. Giblet was very glad to get home from the trail last year, after all, she had to wade naked through chest deep snow in the Smoky Mountains, stand on her head in Tennessee and was upset that we dangled her over the edge of Fontana Dam.

When we started getting ready for the hike this year we decided Giblet must be hiding from us because we couldn't find her anywhere. A little research determined that she was last seen heading south, trying to quack, flapping her wings, and wondering why she wasn't evolving into a duck. After all, who ever heard of a hiking duck?

She needs to be worried though. In the resturant today at the Cabelas store in Nebraska we were sitting out a snow storm. (Entertainment is hard to come by in Sidney, Nebraska.) Jen went by the hot food bar and they had hot wings for sale. They were not labeled buffalo wings, or even chiken wings, they were duck wings. Just to be sure, Jen asked, are those really duck wings? The attendant assured her they were from authentic ducks.

If they start taking their wings, ducks will have to start hiking.

Oh The Places You Will Go

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”
--Dr. Seuss--

Some wonder about the brains in our head part. But our feet are in our boots and we are ready to steer them past the white blazes that mark the Appalachian Trail.

We leave Thursday for Virginia and the place we dropped off the trail. We will get back on the trail 2 days short of 1 year later. Our Thru hike has become a section hike. If we can hike three good months we will attempt to finish the trail in 2009.

If you want to follow our hike, I will post here updates on where we are and things that have happened. I will be keeping an online journal at www.trailjournals.com.

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Supposedly you can get to our journal by going to www.trailjournals.com/flintandjubilee but I haven't been able to get that to work yet. So go to the home page, go to the journals section, be sure you are on the Appalachian Trail 2008 page and scroll down. If you sort by trailname, look for flint and Jubilee, if you sort by name look for Rodger and Jennifer Russell.

This will give you an idea of how many hikers or on the trail, so see, we are not totally insane.

The Quaking Desert

At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds,the whole land quakes.
Jeremiah 8:16 HCSB



It sounded like a dull rumble coming from up the river. My first thought was it sounded like the arroyo behind our house when I was a kid. Long before flood waters would reach our place you could hear the water’s roar. I didn’t have long to worry about whether we would be high enough above the river to escape the rising water before I realized this was something different.

I could hear the distinct sound of hoof beats. Horses! This is wild horses running down the canyon.

We were camped in a narrow canyon on the Muddy River. The canyon was less than 75 yards wide where our camp set. The river and accompanying brush filled two thirds of the canyon between our camp and the river.

The sound increased in both decibel level and intensity. I began to wonder if I should get in my Tahoe or at least behind it. But I was literally transfixed. I could not move. I stood in complete wonder at the fantastic sound of the running horse herd.

And then they were there. Running between camp and river. In the pitch black darkness I could only see shadows. They ran by in waves, was it 10 seconds, 20 seconds, half a minute? I can’t tell you, only that my heart was beating in concert with the pounding hooves.

Imagine standing in the orchestra pit while the band plays the 1812 overture with the drums beating. You are at a rock concert standing in front of the bass amp and the music is pounding. You hear it in your heart as much as in your ears. This was the experience of the horse stampede.

Then they were past, and we heard the sound fade away down the river until it was only a memory. I looked and Jen, totally amazed. Wow! How awesome was that?

In the morning we saw some remnants of the herd grazing in the meadow below camp. Earlier we had seen signs that there were horses in the area, even spotting one herd the evening we were driving in. On the way out of the desert, later that day, we saw another herd lazily grazing off in the distance.



Can you just imagine the sound that early pioneers heard on the plains before the buffalo were all gone? This small horse herd was heart pounding, I can only regret that I never heard the sound of 100,000 buffalo running by. Mercy!

SNOW!

Woke up this morning, happy as could be,
looked out my window, what did I see,
sitting on my driveway, and over on my porch,
there was snow that I never thought I'd see when we left March.
(with apologies to Buck Owens)

At least I could turn the furnace up and stay indoors. I have been following in my journal from last years hike on the Appalachian Trail and it was one year ago today, April 7, 2007 that we woke up at Icewater Spring Shelter to 17 degrees in the shelter and 6 inches of snow on the ground.


We had no furnace, we had no choice, we had to get up and hike. Well, we did have a choice though we didn't consider it very long. We could have hiked back south to the highway we crossed and go back to Gatlinburg and wait the storm out. Waiting the storm out is what a lot of hikers did. But not us, we hitched up and hiked north to the next shelter, further into the Smoky Mountains.

Boy that was fun. We have it all set up now, we think. If our ailments will allow us, we will be returning to Virginia and to the AT on May 5. Our hope is to hike until the last week in July. Goals:
Jennifer: Get Across Pennsylvania
Rodger: Get To Southern Vermont
Rodger: Lose weight to 200 pounds. (I haven't weighed that since my first year in college)
Both: Just be able to keep hiking for three months.

Jen of course is a pessimist. She also isn't much in geography. She doesn't realize that it is only 731 miles from where we will be starting to cross Pennsylvania. And it is 1033 miles to Southern Vermont.

The people we were hiking with last year all made it to central Vermont by August 1.

OK, so maybe we won't make Vermont. Let's shoot for NY. Wouldn't it be great to leave the trail at the Shelter in NY where you can catch mass transit to NYC? Maybe that should be our goal.

Realistically speaking. Our goal is to remain injury free, and just hike our own hike, at our own pace, and see where we get.

I wish we could convince just one of our friends how much fun this really is.

BIG BEND COUNTRY

Big Bend National Park is not one that you hear a lot about. We had a fabulous spring vacation there last week. Of course, you have to really appreciate the desert to enjoy it much. Big Bend sits in the peninsula made when the Rio Grande makes a Big Bend along the Texas-Mexico border.

We had beautiful weather except for one night when the wind blew our camper around. The days though were warm and sunny with nary a drop of rain. There are several main areas of the Park. There is the River, the Desert, and the Mountains. The Mountains are desert mountains however, not a lot of the vegetation you are used to in mountains.


We saw a nice collection of wildlife. A beautiful red bird flew around our camp one afternoon. We later determined it to be a Vermilion Flycatcher. We saw lots of Road Runners and discovered that Chaparral does not mean Road Runner in Spanish. The Spanish word for Road Runner is Paisano. I was a little offended that I saw so many of them and they are the state bird of New Mexico—not Texas.

We saw Javalinas a couple of times. We learned that Javalinas travel in bands. We were calling them a herd, as in a herd of pigs, but we learned that they are neither pigs nor are they related to pigs. Hmmmm—they look so much like a pig.

Do you care about the animals. There was quite a bit of human activity around 1900 and it is interesting. Unfortunately the Park Service doesn’t think so. None of the signs tell much about the ranchers, miners, or farmers that tried making a go of it in that rough country. They spent their money on signs telling us really brilliant things like, “the closer you get to the rock formation the bigger it looks.” No kidding, that was the message on one of the viewpoint signs.

The pictures of our outing are posted at
http://gallery.mac.com/nathanrusell#100015
Take a look.

Computer Crash Causes Delays

Last time I was ready to post a blog my computer crashed. I lost everything on the hard drive when I had to re-format. It was the night of the super bowl. I was watching the game and the commercials. I planned to give a report and a review of the best commercials. I had them all rated. But alas, crash went the computer and I have struggled to get back on line.

Just a note, I lost all my emails prior to Feb 3 so if I owe you a response, sorry, you need to rewrite me.

My favorite commercial was the one with Shaq riding a horse as a jockey. Poor horse. I expected there to be a disclaimer, “No animals were injured filming this commercial.” The horse under Shaq must have been pretty strong. I don’t remember what the commercial was for. But it was funny.

Commercials two and three were the E trade entries starring the talking baby. If you haven’t seen any of these commercials I recommend a quick trip to youtube.com and see them for yourself.

Jen and I continue to plan and prepare to pick up the Appalachian Trail where we left it last May. We hope to get close to three months of hiking this summer. I am working with a trainer to get the muscles around my knee in shape to make the journey. We are taking a test hike in March. We are going to hike for a week in the Big Bend National Park in Texas. That should give us a good idea if the AT is even possible.

One last comment in the potpourri of thoughts tonight. I was watching a movie the other night. Some FBI agents were sitting around a room discussing the case at hand when one of them accused the other of “misremembering” events. I just noticed that my spell checker accepts it as a real word too. Maybe Roger Clemens isn’t quite as off base as everyone makes out.

Getting Ready

For those of you who think we are loony for hiking on the Appalachian Trail when we could be sitting in a rocking chair or a hot tub, get ready to send us to the loony bin. We are getting ready to return to the trail. Jen is working extra shifts in return for May, June, and July off. Our plan is to use those three months to try for another 1000 miles or so.

On my part, I have employed Mitch the Masochist to help me get my knee in shape. Twice a week I meet him at the gym and he tortures me for an hour. It is a lot like my athletic coaches used to do, except when we are done we don't get to shoot baskets or hit baseballs.

We have made a change to our water system. We are going to use a Ultraviolet Light Pen to sterilize our drinking water. It weighs a little more that 8 oz total compared to the pump and filter we carried last year. I have bought a new pack that weighs 3 pounds less than my old one. We have learned how to get by with less clothes, and we will be walking in spring and summer instead of winter so we should be lighter on clothes too.

I have a new ipod that weighs almost a full pound less than my old one. One piece of weight I have added though is a mini computer so we can maintain better communication and post our pictures and journals ourselves. It is a small computer that weighs only 2 pounds and is made for rough travel. It is an EeePC, look it up on the internet. I am using it to write this blog right now.

We are planning to go back to the place we left the trail the first of May and continue the hike until the end of July. That isn't enough time to make it to Maine, so we won't feel like we have to hurry. Maybe that combination, less weight, less time pressure, and better knee conditioning will allow us to hike for three months. I certainly hope so, and Jen is counting on it.

Snow Day

In the Uinta range we thought we would try for some powder skiing, cross country style. After 2 weeks in the haze of a Salt Lake inversion where the air is unbreathable, the temperature never above freezing we thought we would get up into the mountains. What a beautiful day. There were just enough tracks to keep us from having to break the snow trail ourself, yet it was soft and beautiful powder. The sky was a beautiful dark blue that you only find in a cold clear mountain day. The temp was around 30 with sunshine so that once you started skiing, you didn't even need a coat. Did I say it was beautiful. Let me share a few pictures with you. According to the forest service map we made an 8 mile loop. None of us think it was quite that far, but...what do we know. And here is Uma. Don't feel sorry for Uma. It wasn't this bad for 8 miles and she had a blast. That tail never quit wagging.

Here is a video of her stuggling through the snow, we had just cut this trail and so there was still a place between the ski tracks and she had to struggle through it.

Perception vs Reality

There are just some things everybody knows. Everybody knows that Colorado is America's best ski state. (Unless you live or ski in Utah and know better.) Everyone knows that Democrats believe certain things and Republicans usually believe something else. Everyone knows what young people are most concerned about these days. Everyone knows that people who live in California are the most ecologically correct citizens, just look at their laws.

Mr./Mrs. Perception--meet reality. According to Autobytel.com 40% of the people who are driving hybrids, the most ecologically friendly automobiles we have at this point in time, are Republicans while only 36% are Democrats. While this is not a significant difference, please be reminded that there are approximately 77 million registered democrats and only 55 million republicans nationwide. So if the democratic party is the environmental party, why do so many more republicans drive hybrids?

Young people are perceived as being most concerned with the environment. Of course they are the ones who have grown up with global warming preached as gospel to them since they were babies. The threat of nuclear winter that the boomer generation grew up with proved to be insufficient to justify bigger government. But reality shows that 57% of hybrid owners are over the age of 45. Yep, boomers own the most hybrids. Wait a minute! Aren't we the ones who are determined to destroy the earth and leave nothing for the generations to come?

Well, the reason for that, so we are told, is the expense of the hybrids. You have to be relatively wealthy to be able to afford one. "POP goes that perception. 35% of hybrid owners make less than $40,000 per year.

The final perception, that California, Oregon, and Washington residents are the ones who care for the environment lacks evidence as well. Only 16% of hybrids are owned by West Coasters. 31% are owned by Northeasterners, while 21% hail from the midwest. That, by the way, leaves 32% for the Mountainwest and the South.

I don't know what all that means, but I do know this. Perception is not reality, even if we think it is.

Earth's Sacred Places

I have been in many of the world's sacred places. I have stood on the temple mount in Jerusalem, a holy place for two world religions. When my friend Dave and I received permission to enter the temple compound we were constantly watched by Israeli police. We were allowed to wander at will around the grounds but we entered neither of the Mosques that occupy the space once occupied by Herod's temple, the temple visited by Jesus.



Yesterday in Rexburg, Idaho I visited one of the holy places of another world religion, Mormonism. In the brochure they gave me is the statement, "The Temple is the Most Sacred Place on Earth for Members of Our Church." We were told that it is a holy place because it says so right on the facade, "Holiness to the Lord."

I have never toured a temple before but it was much like I thought it would be. We were encouraged to find a place of peace and inspriation there. Instead I found a place of boring sterility.

And much like our tour of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem we were watched carefully by the temple police. We were picked out as possible trouble makers early in our tour. Why? Well first of all, we (my friend Dan Walker) and I were two men while almost all the other tourers were families. Second we were not in the proper attire. They should have sent an announcement with the tickets clarifying the uniform of the day was dark suit, white shirt, dark tie. Very few men were not so dressed.

Anyway, we picked up a tail at the first room we visited and were followed all the way through our tour. Dan and I both picked this tail out even though we didn't talk about it until we were once again outside. As we passed other "agents" with ear pieces and radios we could hear them speak into their microphones, "clear." I suppose we could have just been imagining things, but the other tour groups didn't have radio equipped agents following them.

There was never an opportunity given to ask questions so many of the questions I had then, I still have. I probably wouldn't have asked them anyway since they would have further identified me as an infidel, oops, I mean gentile.

While the tour guides continually reminded us that this temple was dedicated to the savior, and the fulfilment of the gospel, and throughout they have framed preschool pictures of Jesus during his earthly ministry, the only appeal to believe was given in the sealing room where we were encouraged to think of eternity with our families.

Twice we were told that heaven wouldn't be heaven without our wives and children. In the sealing room we were told that this could happen under the authority of the priesthood given to Peter when Jesus told him that his were the keys to the kingdom and restored to Joseph Smith and the church in these latter days.

I was left with a sterile feeling. Beautiful buildings, (and beautiful is in the eye of the beholder) soft words, solemn testimony, strict security, complete control, shoe covering slippers, hundreds of smiling pointing usherettes, just left me with an aching heart to share with this people the simplicity of the true gospel.

Jesus built no buildings, he never had a building program. The disciples built no buildings. Paul, in all his missionary travels never encouraged his followers to build a temple. I am not sure when Christians decided they needed buildings of their own to gather in, but it sure wasn't in the NT period. Perhaps they knew, when beautiful building are built, men have the tendency to worship the building. That tendency is not limited to Mormons either by the way.

Well, this blog is becoming a sermon. I apologize. I will conclude with this condensation.

Condensation removed by Rodger

Ooops, Another book.

My brother reminded me last night of a book I left off of my list. Bill Bryson is an author that draws me to his books. Some of them are pretty lousy, but he has some great ones too. His latest one, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is a must read for anyone who grew up in the fifties and sixties. He captures life in the fifties and early sixties through the lens of a pre-teen boy. Though he grew up in one of Iowa's larger cities and I grew up in a small New Mexico town, the experiences are very similiar.

Three other Bryson books I have really enjoyed. A Walk In The Woods, about the Appalachian Trail. In A Sunburned Country, about Australia. I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away.

Happy New Year

I posted a list of books I read in 2007 if you are interested. Actually I posted them even if you aren’t interested, you just don’t have to look at them. They are in the sidebar to the right.

In reviewing my reading there are several things I find interesting. First I read less theology and church oriented books this year than in previous years. I guess that is to be expected though right now I have 5 such books on order for reading early in 2008.

Second, I read fewer books this year than last year. Of course, for two months I didn’t read anything. The two months we were on the trail I read very little. By the time all the work was done and it was time to relax, sleep is what I wanted. Besides that, I didn’t want to carry a book. On my Ipod I did listen to a book on Texas history, but I discovered that if you are going to listen to something while hiking, music is better than reading. For the other ten months I read at about the same rate as last year.

My dad led me to a new western author, well, new to me anyway. Elmer Kelton and I read six of his books. They resemble Louis L’Amour, except they are longer and a little more literary. A little I say.

If you would like a list of the books with a short synopsis/review of each one, let me know and I will email you a copy.

Hope you have a great New Year.