December 28, 2015 The Christmas season is, without a doubt, my favorite time of the year. Despite the standard wars and violence always to be found somewhere on the planet, love, joy, and peace flourish during Yuletide as in no other season. Most everyone gets excited. Especially kids, merchants, and no one more so than Christians. No surprise since the birth of Christ is what started it all. Christmas lovers like me flash the Christmas message from our dwellings and anything else we can hang lights on. We go out of our way to spread …

by guest blogger Bonnie Spencer   Part 1, Part 2 November 7, 2015 Day 9: Island MetroPark to Canal Lock Park in Tipp City (16.1 trail miles) It had been a week since our last hike and we were ready to get back on the trail. We would have a long day, not only from the trail mileage but also due to extra shuttling. Our plan was to break the hike into two segments. One reason was so that CW wouldn’t have to drive out of Dayton at the end of the day in rush-hour …

by guest blogger Bonnie Spencer   Part 2, Part 3 October 13, 2015 I must have been out of my mind when I said I would go with CW on his 150-mile Buckeye Trail circuit hike this year. Last year Jim and George backpacked the Wilderness Loop with him. This year there wasn’t anyone who could spare the time needed to cover such a distance. CW changed his original plan of continuing from the Wilderness Loop and decided to do a segment of the trail closer to home and largely on bike trails. I think …

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 August 26, 2015 The Final Leg When I was still in school, Dad took me to see the giant coal shovels operating in eastern Ohio. They had names like Silver Spade, GEM (Giant Earth Mover or Giant Excavating Machine) of Egypt, and Mountaineer, all of them now extinct. The AEP (American Electric Power) has reclaimed 60,000 acres that were strip-mined by these and other shovels into an outdoor recreation area known as ReCreation Land. They planted over 63 million trees, created hundreds of …