We’ve almost made our goal of 10,000 feet for the week. Living near the trails would be a considerable convenience. Hopefully by spring we pull this off. Missoula here we come! (Universe, are you listening? Of course you are. We like Flagstaff, too. Just sayin’.)

Maybe it is sacrilegious to you nature freaks, but I listen to podcasts and books while running the trails, at least much of the time. Given that we evolved while wandering together, I figure podcasts are a sort of substitute for fireside conversations.

Yesterday, I was with Ed Roberson, whose Mountain & Prairie podcast has long been a favorite listen of mine. He interviews some fascinating people. They give me hope in this complicated world.

500,000 or bust means a lot of podcasts. It is rather odd to gain such a tremendous education for free when I am old enough to remember door-to-door encyclopedia salesmen.