Running On Empty

By Jackson Browne


Todays Lunch the famous pizza, which has no dairy, no meat but tastes pretty good.
Nothing but Net

my path up the mountain
Brandy sporting her new shirt
and the back

My best friend on the path each day I call him "Johnny"
marking my territory on the 2 mile marker

The view at the overlook, the road you see is next to the path, the elevation from the road is what we walk.

Picture Day

holding up the rock
The Hiking 101 group
What I see everyday


TODAY"S PATH
< Elton Concert

"I got a Nikon camera

I love to take a photograph

So mama don't take my Kodachrome away"

Paul Simon

There are probably better ways to sort and arrange these pictures but I'm still learning so bear with me here.

First day back and my old nemesis the old lady of the path actually looked happy to see me trudging back up the hill, not that she even said hello but I could sense a slight curl in the 5th or 6th wrinkle around her eye that seemed approving to me. And the owners were able to run me down but it was alot further up the hill so some more and welcome progress.

The food has not changed eggs, turkey bacon, toast monday, pancakes tuesday. Veggie burritos monday lunch, turkey sandwiches tuesday lunch. Dinner monday was chicked with the purple mashed potatoes and dinner tuesday was the lasagna or whatever layered noodles with no dairy chesse and no meat is called.

The new group of campers has a high percentage of teachers as it is spring break but that also means there will be a big turnover next week. In fact I think there will only be 3 stayovers this week when the average has been in the 15 range. I know the place is overflowing with people and pretty much booked through the summer. There are also four or five couples here this week including one living out of a trailer in the parking lot.

Today we hiked a part of Tuacahn which is in the same area as the normal hike but off the path. It was considered very, very moderate by the guide but I work on a slightly different grading system. It was somewhere between "kicked my ass" and "made me want to die" My shoes, socks, feet and legs were covered with the red dust that these red rocks produce. I was able to ascetain this because I was always looking down to make sure I was walking on some solid ground. Level ground would have been a nice change but I guess that's what makes it hiking. I was really, really happy to see the van today.

I have done a bunch of lap swimming these last two days. thw weather has been close to 80 degrees and the pool is so beautiful and refreshing. And for the first time in my 5 weeks there was someone else in the pool doing laps as well.

I have another movie recommendation for you guys. And while I am almost ashamed to admit this, when I was in vegas I made some time for a movie and saw "The Bank Job" It was my favorite movie so far this year. Well acted and a slightly altered tale of a 70's bank heist in England. I am sure you would all enjoy it. Hope all else is well Have a great week Peace, Jim

Back at the Ridge

"I'm Leaving Las Vegas

Lights so bright

Palm sweat, blackjack

On a Saturday night

Leaving Las Vegas"

Sheryl Crow

Hi People.

Back in the great town of St George, Utah. My friend the mountain gladly awaits my return and lots of new friendly faces tonite at dinner, that have no idea what they are in for :)

I just thought I would do a short wrap up of Vegas. Let me start by saying that you can certainlly tell that spring has arrived. All the tell tale signs are there. Spring breakers on the streets of Vegas with monster frozen drinks, it's staying light so much longer, only nine inches of snow fell on madison this week and of course the most obvious sign of spring....the duke basketball team failing to play to their seed and heading back to Durham a week earlier than expected.

Vegas was fun, come on it's vegas. But let's be realistic it's not the place to try to stay on 1200 calories a day. You really need a kitchen to pull that off and alot less choices than you get in Vegas. That being said I am happy with my progress in vegas. Lots of things that seemed very far away last time I walked them seem much closer now. All the calories I consumed last week were in the form of food and not booze. I got to see Elton live in concert.

here's the setlist out of order.

Bennie and the Jets, Rocketman, Goodbye Yellowbrick Road, Dont Let the sun go down on me, Someone saved my Life tonight, Philadelphia freedom, Pinball wizard, Candle in the wind, Saturday Night's all right for fighting, I believe in love,I'm still Standing,Your Song,Tiny Dancer, Daniel, The Bitch is Back.

I'm looking forward to two strong weeks here and already looking forward to taking some of these habits back to Madison. I will be sneaking down to vegas for one night this weekend to see Bobby from London, and Alex from Madison. I need to give a huge shout-out to Rachel for having lunch with me at The Palm on saturday. Rachel was the fourth ridger I crossed paths with in Vegas. She looked great and I'm sure the Stanford Golden boy was happier for her attention than their amazing win. I did bump into one lady in vegas pushing a stroller and while initially traumatized by the sound of children and strollers it just made realize I'm not letting that merry band of happy people catch me this week, I'm too quick :). I hope everyone had a happy easter Peace, Jim

Fitness Ridge is everywhere

" All you need is Love,

Love is all you need"

The Beatles

So I am coming out of the Mirage at midnight monday evening and out of the corner of my eye I see them Jerry and Homa. A happy Canadien couple who spent 4 weeks at Fitness Ridge three of which coincided with me. Jerry would routinely knock out 13 miles of walking in the mornings. He looked a helluva lot happier sucking on that stoogie enjoying St Paddy's day then I ever saw him look on the mountain. And I am pretty sure it was a coincidence and not a fitness ridge spy but I am keeping a little better lookout know.

The Beatles/Cirque show Love is an aquired taste and after two viewings I don't have it. The music is marvelous but it is not enough to make up for the lack of cohesiveness and mediocre stunts. Maybe I am being slightly harsh but it's not for me, too much modern dance, too much symbolism that flys over the heads of 90% of the audience, and just too much of everything going on at once none of which is all that special. Give me Mamma Mia anyday.

Greetings from Vegas

"You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen

Dancing queen, feel the beat from the tambourine

You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life

See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the dancing queen"

ABBA

So it's monday afternoon here in Vegas. Jacky gets in at 5:45 pm and we have been apart for 5 weeks and one day. Easily the longest we have been apart. I am very excited. We are going to see LOVE tonite at the Mirage. It is the Cirque show cast to the Beatles music. I have seen it before but I thought Jacky would like to see it so we are heading to the late show at 10 pm Vegas time. I am hoping to stay awake because I have not been staying up late or sleeping late. My first night in Vegas I was asleep at 8 pm. Last night I did better making it to 10:30 but that was because I went to see Mamma Mia at Mandalay Bay. The show is based on the music of Abba and has been running in Vegas for over five years. It is well acted and just plain fun. I had a blast sitting by myself sucking down my diet pepsi. If there is any doubt I am old my show line up for this week is based on Abba, The Beatles, Elton, and The Eagles. Elton being the only one of the four with a live actual member. We are seeing his red piano show at Caesar's on wednesday. I am also taking in an Eagles tribute band called Desperado saturday night in Mesquite.

So life on the road certainly presents challenges you do not see at Fitness Ridge. You actually have to order your own food, make your own choices and be responsible for your decisions. I have been living on turkey sandwiches, subway and pretzels. I did have two fried eggs, two pieces of bacon and dry wheat toast one morning and it tasted good. I am waiting on Mrs. T for the steak night most likely tomorrow. I have gotten out and walked both days and let me say flat ground is my friend. I don't miss the hill at all. I do miss a couple of my friends from fitness ridge but I know they are working hard, making me proud back in Utah. And to the Ridge staff that is reading this nice collapse by your BYU boys here in Vegas saturday. I got a little money riding on them this week vs. A&M. Betting on BYU; is this a great city or what.

We are staying at the MGM and let me just say that this place is huge. I will get plenty of exercise just trying to walk out of here. The strip view the check-in girl raved about is the front of the Bellagio, but not the fountains, just sort of part of the place. It's not as nice as the view from the canyon and my hill but Fitness Ridge doesn't come with room service and a sportsbook to go with that view.

Finally I have some issues with my hotmail account so I am switching to gmail. If you have sent an email in the last few days I have not read it sorry. Also there is a very good chance that I do not have a number of your emails. So if you are reading this please send me an email at jimgoterps@gmail.com so I can start the new process. Thanks for your help. Sorry you guys aren't out here, this is such a fun week to be in Vegas with March Madness, St Paddy's Day, Spring Break and spring time temperatures. I'm going to enjoy my little vacation but I'm looking forward to getting back to the ridge conquering the mountain and banging out 2 more weeks. Also Fitness Ridge will be briefly on Biggest Loser tomorrow night as a prize for one of the winning people on this year's show. Hope all's well in your hometown. Peace, JimmyT.

I know what girls like

"I want to turn the whole thing upside down

I'll find the things they say just can't be found

I'll share this love I find with everyone

We'll sing and dance to Mother Nature's songs

I don't want this feeling to go away"

Jack Johnson

Who says they don't make good music anymore? The 2000's have seen an amazing renaissance of fabulous musicians making wonderful music. If you haven't made it out of the 70's or 80's do it. Embrace these fine young entertainers: Jack Johnson, John Mayer, Sara Bareilles, Dave Matthews Band, Tristan Prettyman, Jason Mraz, and Aimee Mann.

So I learned something about girls that I did not know and it is how to make them exceedingly happy. Everyone here at fitness ridge is hungry. And for 12 hundred calories they do an excellent job of making you feel full. But no matter what you call it tofu whip on grape nuts for dessert is in no way pie, just cause you add banana flavor or espresso flavor does not turn these dishes into banana cream pie or tiramisu. So after a few nights of tofu whip the dessert last night was chocolate covered strawberries. I have never seen the look of happiness come over the face of so many women simultaneously. I saw women licking plates. I saw women scraping other peoples plate. There is no doubt that even joking like you were stealing a strawberry would have resulted in you pulling back a bloody nub. The guys were happy but the girls they were over the moon. So diet desserts followed by chocolate covered strawberries will make the girls swoon, it's like diamonds only way cheaper.

A couple other notes from this week. First two Marylanders here this week, a 1999 Magruder grad and a Potomac resident with a son at Mater Dei and a daughter at Stone Ridge. The world is indeed very small. I was in Mesquite last night to watch the Terps lose again. I ended up going to sleep around 12:30 am which was a record by at least two hours since I got here. Morning sure came fast when you stay up late. The happy mountain assaulting owners were in Salt Lake this week so no extra help up the hill. I did see my first lizard this week and lots of bunnies. I have no idea why Easter is so early this year. Reading about Elliot Spitzer just makes me laugh man the harder the politicians seek to "save us from ourselves" the more likely it seems these same zealots are freaks behind closed doors.

There was a small prison break this week on Terriyaki bowl night. We headed to a little Mexican place in town but no chips, and somewhat sensible eating. Some of the staff headed down to Vegas today, not to gamble of course but to see BYU in their conference tourney. Speaking of Vegas I head there tomorrow. I will not miss my friend Mr. Mountain but I will be seeing him again for two weeks in only 7 short days. Vegas will be interesting especially when I am asleep every night at 9 pm. I will try to blog a little from Vegas but no big promises. I hope everyone has a great week. Peace, Jim

Week 4

"Monday Monday, can't trust that day,

Monday Monday, sometimes it just turns out that way

Oh Monday morning, you gave me no warning of what was to be

Oh Monday Monday, how yould cou leave and not take me."

Mama's and Papa's

Week 4 day 22 14 stayover and 21 new guests. Again saturday and sunday was alot of crappy goodbyes. Really the most amazing thing about this place is the fellow campers and the feeling you get all being in the same boat. There truly is power in being part of a group when you can push some people when they need it and give the others the support and encouragement they need. There is no way I could have done this without my compatriates and I can not thank them enough. I really want to give some shout outs to my special partners. Diane and Cal have been here with me every day and they both look amazing. Rachel who was a UW Badger and left sunday was a blast to have around. NY Heather is starting week 3 and is amazing on the hill and makes me laugh. And my dukie buddy Leigh Ann is starting week 2 of 4 and already looks fabulous, and is easily the coolest dukie on the planet not named Lefty Driesell. Thanks for all the help you guys have given me.

On the hill monday morning was a new personal best, a new fastest time, and a feeling that hey I have really improved. Breakfast was easily the best breakfast they serve and it is the regular monday morning breakfast. Egg beaters, two slices of turkey bacon and an english muffin. With the time change we are eating in darkness but I am happy to trade that for the extra hours of light in the evening. People are actually staying up a little later it's so much better not to see people heading to their bedrooms right after dinner.

Lunch on monday was potato/leak soup and and a boca burger burrito. Again not a boca fan at all so I picked that stuff out and and ate the rest of it. Dinner was a chicken breast and some Israeli cous-cous. First off I had no idea there was something called Israeli cous cous but it was pretty good.

Circuit training in the afternoon, stretching and some lap swimming. I went to sleep at 10 pm knowing tuesday was weigh in day

Up the hill tuesday morning no personal best for distance, much slower, but still sweaty as hell. And just for good luck I decided to wish witchy woman a good morning. I got back and did weigh in. Let me say first off that I feel like I manipulated the scale a little bit by going straight from the hill to the scale, but not enough to take the shine off the news the scale had for me. Week 3 weight loss was 15.8 lbs for a 3 week 2 day total of 41.2 lbs. Needless to say I was ecstatic.

One interesting thing going on here is a really big reality TV star is starting her second week here at the ridge. I am all about privacy so I felt compelled to not say anything about it but she has been incredibly open, super nice and said go ahead. She was the big star from a show called For Love or Money which meant nothing to me but her dad was a great NFL quarterback certainly the greatest 49er QB that predated the montana/young eras. Anyway that's enough clues if you're curious google away.

All right 4 more nights until Vegas. Part of me thinks I should just suck it up and stay here, the other 99.99% says Vegas thank heaven I can not wait. Peace, Jim