Tag: Ohio

I’m up early and feelin’ good. So good that I’ve decided to go for a two-mile run. What inspires this plodding hiker to speed up his pace today? There’s just something magic about the trails in the woods of Highland Hills Park. My wife and I discovered these trails a couple weeks ago, hiding right under our noses at the end of our street. We’ve already walked the trails four or five times since. On a solo trek last week, I surprised myself—and my doctors—when I broke into a jog. It’s not that I am …

May 14, 2020 For the sake of some exercise and free vitamin D, Bonnie and I have been getting out for some walks in our neighborhood, basically our first miles together since we finished the 1,440-mile Buckeye Trail last fall. Hiking the trail was a great adventure, but now it’s nice to take a lazy stroll and just reminisce about our journey. “Only 14 miles to the car,” I joked today. A couple miles later I said, “Only 12 to go!” The beauty of it was that I was kidding. I was merely bringing back …

June 28, 2013 In a few short years he became a legend on the Buckeye Trail. In those few short years he also became a dear friend–actually more like a brother–to me, and I’m sure some other fellow hikers and people Poppie met along the trail feel the same. On June 25th, 2013, he left us for a new trail. “Gone Hiking” were the final words Poppie (aka Bruce Purdy) left on his blackboard when he retired from teaching three years ago. He was serious about those words. I met him only two days later …

March 15, 2013 The other day I saw a TV commercial about diet and weight. What really grabbed my attention was that they were charging $19.99 for a bottle of tablets to make you gain weight–No, wait! If you ordered right then you could get a second bottle free (except for shipping and handling) and gain twice as much. Happy, non-paid non-actors proudly showed their new, curvy physiques, all thanks to the high-calorie weight-gain tablets. You can go that route if you want, or you can do what I did: hike the entire 1,444 miles …