https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/ Recent content in Walking In Space on Rich Holmes Hugo -- gohugo.io en Fri, 27 Feb 2026 19:26:25 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2026-02-27_earthwalk-day-1497-27-february-2026-15017-km-new-mexico/ Fri, 27 Feb 2026 19:26:25 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2026-02-27_earthwalk-day-1497-27-february-2026-15017-km-new-mexico/ Three notable milestones today. The first: For the first time I’ve gone on not zero, not one, but two bike rides in February. Once again it was a good deal colder than I like for riding, but warmer than it’s been, and no precipitation, and the roads were clear, so I went. The second – well, I suppose it’s a kilometerstone. I crossed the 15,000 km mark. I estimate I’m still less than halfway through the total planned EarthWalk distance! https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2026-02-23_earthwalk-day-1493-23-february-2026-14966-km-navajo-meteorite/ Mon, 23 Feb 2026 21:27:09 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2026-02-23_earthwalk-day-1493-23-february-2026-14966-km-navajo-meteorite/ I’m (virtually) within the Navajo Nation, a few km past an utterly unremarkable piece of desert land that was the destination for Leg 59. Nothing to see there, but there was once, and we’ve seen it. Or them. Two chunks of what presumably were once a single piece of nickel-iron material that hit the Earth at some unknown time in the past: The Navajo Meteorite, the third most massive known IIAB iron meteorite. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2026-02-03_earthwalk-day-1473-3-february-2026-14774-km-meteor-crater/ Tue, 03 Feb 2026 23:35:37 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2026-02-03_earthwalk-day-1473-3-february-2026-14774-km-meteor-crater/ Meteor Crater, a.k.a. Barringer Crater, is both a meteor impact crater and a weird circle on the map. Actually rather square, as circles go. Meteor Crater The crater is 1.2 km in diameter and 170 m deep. 50,000 years ago a meteorite about 50 m in diameter slammed into our planet here and was mostly vaporized. This impact eventually brought about the creation of a visitor center on the north rim, attracting 270,000 visitors each year. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2026-01-30_earthwalk-day-1469-30-january-2026-14742-km/ Fri, 30 Jan 2026 20:07:41 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2026-01-30_earthwalk-day-1469-30-january-2026-14742-km/ I remember 10 Jan 1982. I was living outside Chicago, and that day, per the National Weather Service, an all time Chicago record low of -32°C (-26°F) was set. The Weather Service page I found doesn’t show the wind chill that day; my recollection is -63°C (-81°F), but take that as mere rumor. Anyway, it was cold. I’ve been thinking about that because Saturday’s high temperature in Syracuse was 7°F (-14°C). https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2026-01-18_earthwalk-day-1457-18-january-2026-14654-km-lowell-observatory-mars-hill/ Sun, 18 Jan 2026 22:38:22 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2026-01-18_earthwalk-day-1457-18-january-2026-14654-km-lowell-observatory-mars-hill/ As promised, a very short leg. I arrived today at Lowell Observatory’s Mars Hill campus. This is the original Lowell site, established in 1894 by Percival Lowell. Lowell was convinced of Giovanni Schiaparelli’s claim to have observed linear markings on Mars, which he had called canali, meaning “channels” in Italian, but mistranslated into English as “canals” — implying canal builders, i.e., Martians. Lowell built the observatory in large part to study the Martian surface, and was firmly convinced he could see a network of canals. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2026-01-16_earthwalk-day-1455-16-january-2026-14632-km-lowell-discovery-telescope-and-lowell-discovery-anderson-mesa/ Fri, 16 Jan 2026 20:48:27 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2026-01-16_earthwalk-day-1455-16-january-2026-14632-km-lowell-discovery-telescope-and-lowell-discovery-anderson-mesa/ Six days ago I reached yet another observatory facility… and I have to admit I didn’t know that until today. I wasn’t really aware of the existence of the Lowell Discovery Telescope, formerly the Discovery Channel Telescope, and it wasn’t on my list of destinations. This scope is part of the Lowell Observatory, which I knew about, but I didn’t know it had three campuses. Fortunately the LDT was right on the route I was following, so I (retroactively) made a stop there, ending Leg 55. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2026-01-02_earthwalk-day-1441-2-january-2026-14503-km/ Sun, 04 Jan 2026 08:20:27 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2026-01-02_earthwalk-day-1441-2-january-2026-14503-km/ On north into Payson. 2025 is over, and I’m fine with that. December was… acceptable. Average daily steps were in a dead heat with the previous two Decembers and substantially above December 2022. I got only one bike ride in, though, so average distance was low, only slightly above 2022 — even though I had two rides that month. For the year I had fewer steps and less distance per day than 2022, 2023, or 2024. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-12-26_earthwalk-day-1434-26-december-2025-14462-km/ Fri, 26 Dec 2025 21:05:24 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-12-26_earthwalk-day-1434-26-december-2025-14462-km/ Continuing northwest, I’ve passed through San Carlos Reservation, past Globe, AZ, on up to Tonto Basin, site of the Tonto Basin Feud and setting of Zane Grey’s To the Last Man, later published in its original, longer form as Tonto Basin. I have to give you these literary references because there certainly isn’t much else to say about this hike. Lots of scrub and distant mountains, that’s about it. As for real life, I’d waited all month for temperature in Syracuse above 4°C, no rain or snow or icy roads, and little to no wind. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-12-12_earthwalk-day-1420-12-december-2025-14344-km/ Fri, 12 Dec 2025 22:35:58 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-12-12_earthwalk-day-1420-12-december-2025-14344-km/ I hiked something marked “Crest Trail 130” on the map northeast from Mt. Graham to US 70 at Pima, then headed northwest on 70. That took me onto the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation and to Peridot (Tséé Dotłʼizh), my current location. I’ve been making pretty good distance when you consider weather — rain, snow, wind, cold — has kept me from walking on four days these past two weeks, and as for bike rides, forget it. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-11-28_earthwalk-day-1405-28-november-2025-14236-km-mount-graham-international-observatory/ Fri, 28 Nov 2025 00:30:40 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-11-28_earthwalk-day-1405-28-november-2025-14236-km-mount-graham-international-observatory/ Happy Thanksgiving! Before making the turkey and the pumpkin pie and the roasted carrots and the gravy (my son made the rest) I got out for a walk and it took me to the end of Leg 54. Destination… an (wait for it…) an observatory. Mount Graham International Observatory. Are you getting sick of observatories yet? Tough. This is Arizona. Mount Graham is the home of the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, the Submillimeter Telescope, and the big one, the Large Binocular Telescope. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-11-14_earthwalk-day-1392-14-november-2025-14090-km/ Fri, 14 Nov 2025 19:44:05 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-11-14_earthwalk-day-1392-14-november-2025-14090-km/ It hasn’t been a good couple of weeks. Especially this past one where it rained or snowed every other day. Forget about bike rides. But it’s been relatively civilized: I went through Patagonia, Sonoita, and Whetstone, past Kartchner Caverns State Park, and on through St David. The latter is only about six miles southeast of Benson, AZ, a familiar name to fans of the gonzo 1970s science fiction movie Dark Star. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-10-28_earthwalk-day-1375-28-october-2025-13938-km-fred-lawrence-whipple-observatory/ Tue, 28 Oct 2025 19:15:13 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-10-28_earthwalk-day-1375-28-october-2025-13938-km-fred-lawrence-whipple-observatory/ I reached another observatory today: The Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory on the summit of Mount Hopkins. I covered the last 34 km on my bike today, having replaced the leaking inner tube over the weekend. The real world route was a lot flatter than the virtual climb up the mountain; I wouldn’t have done that on a bike, I don’t think. The observatory was built originally in the 1960s and named in honor of astronomer Fred Whipple in 1981, and it includes the MMT Observatory with its 6. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-10-24_earthwalk-day-1371-24-october-2025-13874-km/ Fri, 24 Oct 2025 20:45:44 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-10-24_earthwalk-day-1371-24-october-2025-13874-km/ Not a very good couple of weeks. There was one rain-out last week and three this week. I’d wanted to go on a bike ride last week but found the air had deserted one of the tires. So I’m not getting there fast. At the moment I’m south of Tucson, heading roughly east on a road that does have Street View imagery — but there’s not much to see in it. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-10-12_earthwalk-day-1359-12-october-2025-13801-km-kitt-peak-national-observatory/ Sun, 12 Oct 2025 18:29:12 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-10-12_earthwalk-day-1359-12-october-2025-13801-km-kitt-peak-national-observatory/ As forecast, I completed leg 53 today, arriving at Kitt Peak National Observatory. This is a pretty huge facility, more domes than a state capitals’ convention. There are more than twenty optical telescopes, including the Mayall 4 meter, at one time the second largest telescope in the world, and the WIYN 3.5 meter. There also are two radio telescopes. Back I go down the mountain. A map showing my progress is here, a spreadsheet with progress detail is here, and a Google Earth KMZ file is in this Google Drive folder. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-10-10_earthwalk-day-1357-10-october-2025-13789-km/ Fri, 10 Oct 2025 19:29:05 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-10-10_earthwalk-day-1357-10-october-2025-13789-km/ I’ve been heading south from Tempe, into the Tohono O’odham Nation. I’m very close to my next destination; I don’t expect to make a lot of distance tomorrow, but I’ll probably get there Sunday. South of Casa Grande it’s been pretty much nothing but rough desert terrain. You have to zoom Google Maps in quite a lot before any “roads” show up, and they’re just unnamed tracks through the desert. Now I’m climbing upward in the Quinlan Mountains. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-09-29_earthwalk-day-1346-29-september-2025-13599-km-arizona-state-capitol-and-some-meteorites/ Mon, 29 Sep 2025 20:22:53 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-09-29_earthwalk-day-1346-29-september-2025-13599-km-arizona-state-capitol-and-some-meteorites/ At one point I decided the minimum length for a leg is 7 km, based on that being around 10,000 steps, roughly a day’s walking. Any destinations closer together would be considered joint destinations for a single leg. But today I was on my bike, and I blew past both the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix and the Buseck Center for Meteorite Studies in Tempe, about 18 km apart. I’m calling them joint destinations for Leg 51. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-09-12_earthwalk-day-1329-12-september-2025-13332-km-arizona/ Fri, 12 Sep 2025 19:49:59 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-09-12_earthwalk-day-1329-12-september-2025-13332-km-arizona/ Today my virtual self arrived in Big River, California, and then crossed the big river — the Colorado — into Parker, Arizona. I first entered California on 24 September 2024. Then I went into Nevada for 11 days, returning to California on 28 October 2024, and I’ve been there since then until today. In total I spent 342 days in that state, by far a record — previously the highest was 96 days in Idaho. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-09-03_earthwalk-day-1320-3-september-2025-13199-km-old-woman-meteorite/ Wed, 03 Sep 2025 18:00:51 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-09-03_earthwalk-day-1320-3-september-2025-13199-km-old-woman-meteorite/ I’m at the end of Leg 50. There doesn’t appear to be much here, mainly because there isn’t much here. Nothing to see, really; but this spot, in the flat desert, is as close as Google Maps’ walking directions will get me to the discovery site, up over there in the Old Woman Mountains, of the Old Woman meteorite. We saw that rock back in June on display at the Desert Discovery Center. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-08-22_earthwalk-day-1308-22-august-2025-13042-km/ Fri, 22 Aug 2025 22:40:59 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-08-22_earthwalk-day-1308-22-august-2025-13042-km/ My route these past two weeks took me east on Route 78, then south on BLM 191, a dirt road unknown to Google Street View but apparently part of the 1,950 km Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail. That turn seems to have kept me from encountering the Republic of Slowjamastan, a 0.045 square km nation where Crocs are illegal except on National Wear Your Crocs In Slowjamastan Day. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-08-11_website-move/ Mon, 11 Aug 2025 11:28:25 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-08-11_website-move/ Due to problems with the .xyz TLD, I’ve moved my website to https://richardsholmes.com. The old domain name is supposed to redirect there, though so far that isn’t working. previous: Earthwalk Day 1294 (8 August 2025), 12,868 km next: Earthwalk Day 1308 (22 August 2025), 13,042 km https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-08-08_earthwalk-day-1294-8-august-2025-12868-km/ Fri, 08 Aug 2025 21:34:09 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-08-08_earthwalk-day-1294-8-august-2025-12868-km/ The American Travelling Morrice ended on Sunday and, as predicted, my walking distance was relatively paltry during the preceding week. My bicycling distance was nil. So July was not a great month from that point of view. And this week, besides my needing to recover from a week of dancing, we had rain on Wednesday, so August isn’t off to a great start either. But I did get a 42.5 km ride in today. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-07-25_earthwalk-day-1280-25-july-2025-12757-km-san-diego-air-and-space-museum/ Fri, 25 Jul 2025 22:22:30 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-07-25_earthwalk-day-1280-25-july-2025-12757-km-san-diego-air-and-space-museum/ Wednesday’s walking took me to just 400 meters shy of the end of Leg 49. Thursday and today were not great days for distance — I was occupied with setting up the American Travelling Morrice, which is going to eat into my distance over the next week too — but they totaled 9.4 km, so yeah, that leg’s over. The destination was the San Diego Air and Space Museum. Their collection includes the command module from the Apollo 9 mission. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-07-14_earthwalk-day-1269-14-july-2025-12645-km-palomar-observatory/ Mon, 14 Jul 2025 20:25:48 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-07-14_earthwalk-day-1269-14-july-2025-12645-km-palomar-observatory/ Leg 48 ended today with arrival at a truly iconic place. When I was a kid, my parents took me to the Corning Museum of Glass where among other things I saw a huge piece of glass — a disk 5.1 meters in diameter. This was the result of the first attempt, in 1934, to cast a blank for what would be the world’s largest telescope mirror. But part of the mold broke during the pouring. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-06-25_earthwalk-day-1250-25-june-2025-12460-km-big-bear-solar-observatory/ Wed, 25 Jun 2025 20:42:56 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-06-25_earthwalk-day-1250-25-june-2025-12460-km-big-bear-solar-observatory/ Another leg done; I arrived today at Big Bear Solar Observatory on Big Bear Lake. This is an observatory built for study of the Sun, and it contains what was until 2019 the highest resolution solar telescope in the world (and is still the largest such telescope outside Hawaii and China). I say it’s on Big Bear Lake, but it might be more accurate to say the main building is in Big Bear Lake, or at least pretty much surrounded by the lake. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-06-18_earthwalk-day-1243-18-june-2025-12379-km-desert-discovery-center/ Wed, 18 Jun 2025 20:33:24 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-06-18_earthwalk-day-1243-18-june-2025-12379-km-desert-discovery-center/ Another leg done. Today’s walk took me to the the Desert Discovery Center. This is an education center in Barstow, California mainly having to do with desert life, which isn’t really our remit. But they have on display something that is: the Old Woman Meteorite. It presumably is called that because it was discovered in the Old Woman Mountains, which presumably are called that because they include the Old Woman Statue, a rock formation which presumably is called that because it resembles an old woman. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-06-10_earthwalk-day-1233-10-june-2025-12269-km-two-spaceports/ Sun, 08 Jun 2025 21:45:37 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-06-10_earthwalk-day-1233-10-june-2025-12269-km-two-spaceports/ Yesterday I completed leg 44, arriving at Mojave Air and Space Port. This was once a civil airport, then a WWII Marine Corps Auxiliary Air Station (MCAAS), then a Navy Air Station (NAS), then a MCAAS again, then a civil airport again. It acquired its present name in 2012. This is the field used by Scaled Composites for its suborbital crewed spacecraft operations. It was the launch and landing site for the first privately funded human suborbital flight, that of SpaceShipOne on June 21, 2004. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-05-27_earthwalk-day-1221-27-may-2025-12132-km-mount-wilson-observatory/ Tue, 27 May 2025 20:11:50 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-05-27_earthwalk-day-1221-27-may-2025-12132-km-mount-wilson-observatory/ Well. I mentioned a week and a half ago I was recovering from a medical procedure and that would be curtailing my activities for a few days. About a week ago I resumed walking with a relatively short walk on a level path along the Erie Canal… and I somehow strained a calf muscle. No idea how, just all of a sudden it was hurting. So I took the next three days off, and by Friday last week it felt fine, which was good, because I was heading off that day to the Marlboro Morris Ale for a weekend of dancing. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-05-16_earthwalk-day-1210-16-may-2025-12090-km-meteorites-and-spacecraft-and-rovers/ Fri, 16 May 2025 18:02:47 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-05-16_earthwalk-day-1210-16-may-2025-12090-km-meteorites-and-spacecraft-and-rovers/ Over the past couple weeks I continued east and then south. All on foot until Monday when I went on a bike ride, 39.1 km, that took me to the end of Leg 40. That is, to the University of California, Los Angeles, and more specifically the Geology Building, and even more specifically, the UCLA Meteorite Collection. This is one of the largest meteorite collections in the United States, with over 2400 samples, including a 162 kg fragment of the Canyon Diablo meteorite. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-05-03_earthwalk-day-1196-3-may-2025-11965-km/ Sat, 03 May 2025 15:58:45 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-05-03_earthwalk-day-1196-3-may-2025-11965-km/ Continuing on, I’m staying close to the coast. Indeed, mid last week I arrived in Santa Barbara and soon after came within sight of the Pacific Ocean for the first time. Getting from there to Ventura on foot is, very literally, not straightforward; southeast of Dulah, Frontage Road gives out and State Beach Access Road starts up — but a railroad track and the Pacific Coast Highway lie between them. In practice you probably can dash across both but Google Maps doesn’t allow it. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-04-18_earthwalk-day-1182-18-april-2025-11818-km/ Fri, 18 Apr 2025 18:32:18 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-04-18_earthwalk-day-1182-18-april-2025-11818-km/ I just walked past Ostrichland USA. A map showing my progress is here, a spreadsheet with progress detail is here, and a Google Earth KMZ file is in this Google Drive folder. Present coordinates: 34.599°N, 120.128°W. previous: Earthwalk Day 1178 (14 April 2025), 11,786 km: Vandenberg Space Force Base next: Earthwalk Day 1196 (2 May 2025), 11,965 km https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-04-14_earthwalk-day-1178-14-april-2025-11786-km-vandenberg-space-force-base/ Mon, 14 Apr 2025 19:06:41 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-04-14_earthwalk-day-1178-14-april-2025-11786-km-vandenberg-space-force-base/ [Vandenberg] Space [Force Base] is big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it’s a long way down the road to the chemist’s, but that’s just peanuts to [Vandenberg] Space [Force Base]. Space Launch Complex-6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California More quantitatively, Vandenberg is 40,104 ha (99,099 acres) in area. It’s been a military base since 1941, was an Air Force base from 1956 to 2021, and has been a Space Force base since then. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-03-28_earthwalk-day-1161-28-march-2025-11607-km/ Fri, 28 Mar 2025 21:39:02 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-03-28_earthwalk-day-1161-28-march-2025-11607-km/ I’m continuing south southwest, past Tulare and skirting Corcoran, and after that through a largely desolate area. My path took me through the Kern National Wildlife Refuge and now — well, it appears I’m in the North Belridge Oil Field. Pretty empty around here. A map showing my progress is here, a spreadsheet with progress detail is here, and a Google Earth KMZ file is in this Google Drive folder. Present coordinates: 35. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-03-14_earthwalk-day-1147-14-march-2025-11496-km/ Fri, 14 Mar 2025 21:18:14 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-03-14_earthwalk-day-1147-14-march-2025-11496-km/ February was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad month and the first week or so of March wasn’t much of an improvement. Bad weather in February knocked a few days out and a cold put me out of action for nearly a week. Ice deposits made walking treacherous especially on the recreational trails. Average steps and distance for the month were both record lows. By March I was starting to feel better but then I lost a weekend to a trip to Massachusetts and another day to a trip to Cooperstown. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-02-21_earthwalk-day-1126-21-february-2025-11343-km/ Fri, 21 Feb 2025 19:05:04 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-02-21_earthwalk-day-1126-21-february-2025-11343-km/ As of last Saturday, it had been something over five years since the last time I came down with a communicable illness. That streak ended Sunday, and I’ve felt crappy all this week. Three home covid tests have shown negative, no fever, so I guess it’s just a cold, but a fairly bad one. Meanwhile we’ve had snow and the temperature hasn’t gone north of -5°C (23°F). So not much walking. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-02-05_earthwalk-day-1110-5-february-2025-11260-km-owens-valley-radio-observatory/ Wed, 05 Feb 2025 20:33:19 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-02-05_earthwalk-day-1110-5-february-2025-11260-km-owens-valley-radio-observatory/ I arrived today at the Leg 38 destination: Owens Valley Radio Observatory. This facility goes back to 1958, when a 9.8 meter antenna that had been installed at Palomar Mountain was dismantled and rebuilt at Owens Valley along with two new 27.4 m telescopes. Six 10.4 meter dishes were added to the site in the 1980s and 1990s. Research at Owens Valley includes study of a variety of astronomical phenomena. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-01-24_earthwalk-day-1098-24-january-2025-11175-km/ Fri, 24 Jan 2025 19:32:15 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-01-24_earthwalk-day-1098-24-january-2025-11175-km/ It’s been cold in Syracuse, and we’ve had some snow, and the recreational trails are icy and hard to navigate, but the suburban streets are as uninspiring as ever, and my knee has done some hurting lately. Excuses, excuses. Anyway, I’m (virtually) out of Yosemite National Park, just past Mammoth Lakes, heading southeast. 83% of Leg 38 is behind me. I’d show you the photo I took on one of my walks, of a pileated woodpecker, low on a tree trunk, tapping away and not particularly concerned about my being about six meters away, except I didn’t take the photo because it was cold and I didn’t feel like taking my gloves off. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-01-10_earthwalk-day-1084-10-january-2025-11072-km/ Fri, 10 Jan 2025 23:27:08 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2025-01-10_earthwalk-day-1084-10-january-2025-11072-km/ Mountains again. I’ve just entered Yosemite National Park, and in fact am on a hiking trail; it’s marked Old Tioga Road on Google Maps but it’s barely if at all visible in the satellite images (and no, there’s no Street View). Really, of course, I’m in Syracuse, and it’s winter, off to a more typical start than the preceding several winters. I think in the past week and a half I’ve used the snowblower more than I did in the entirety of last winter. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-12-27_earthwalk-day-1070-27-december-2024-10957-km/ Fri, 27 Dec 2024 19:20:30 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-12-27_earthwalk-day-1070-27-december-2024-10957-km/ Two weeks, so far, of heading east and a little north. I came out of the mountains across one of the most startling changes in topography I’ve ever seen. Topography change I couldn’t just walk east on Route 130 into Patterson, though. No, at least Google doesn’t think so; I was routed 4 km south, then 4 km east, then 4 km north again. Looking at the Street View imagery I guess it’s clear why: The bridge over the aqueduct has virtually no shoulders whatsoever, and the posted speed limit is 45 MPH (72 km/h). https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-12-10_earthwalk-day-1053-10-december-2024-10825-km-lick-observatory/ Tue, 10 Dec 2024 18:28:16 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-12-10_earthwalk-day-1053-10-december-2024-10825-km-lick-observatory/ December’s weather has been unkind, but today in Syracuse it got up to 10°C for the first time since late November, and it wasn’t raining. Gloomy overcast, but, you know, December. And worse is forecast for the next week or so, so I took a my first bike ride of the month. Had my ride been on my virtual route heading away from San Jose, it would have involved a slog right up a mountain: https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-12-02_earthwalk-day-1045-2-december-2024-10741-km-nasa-ames-research-center/ Mon, 02 Dec 2024 20:43:00 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-12-02_earthwalk-day-1045-2-december-2024-10741-km-nasa-ames-research-center/ And that is a wrap on Leg 36. All 14 km of it. No, it’s not the shortest leg of the tour. We’ve already had one shorter, from the Museum of Science and Industry to the Field Museum in Chicago, and I expect there will be about seven more that are also shorter (and that doesn’t count destinations under 7 km apart, which are deemed multiple destinations for a single leg). https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-11-30_earthwalk-day-1043-30-november-2024-10725-km-stanford-dish/ Sat, 30 Nov 2024 17:31:27 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-11-30_earthwalk-day-1043-30-november-2024-10725-km-stanford-dish/ I’ve spent the past two weeks virtually walking from Fairfield southwest to Vallejo, then turning south. Across the Carquinez Strait on the bridge carrying Interstate 680 — but there does appear to be a pedestrian lane, separated from the high speed traffic with concrete barriers. Not the most rewarding walking path around, but Google Maps says it works. From there south to San Ramon, then southwest through Hayward to Newark, and across San Francisco Bay on the Dumbarton Bridge to Palo Alto. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-11-15_earthwalk-day-1028-15-november-2024-10579-km/ Fri, 15 Nov 2024 18:35:16 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-11-15_earthwalk-day-1028-15-november-2024-10579-km/ Things have changed. I’m walking and biking through (virtual) civilization. Proceeding generally southwest from Sacramento, I’ve gone though Davis, Dixon, and Vacaville, and am now in the middle of Fairfield, California, headquarters of the Jelly Belly Candy Company. I’m going very southwest now, following the right of way of the old Sacramento Northern Railway where it’s been converted into the Fairfield Linear Park, cutting a very straight path through the city except where it was forced to jog around a gas station. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-11-10_earthwalk-day-1023-10-november-2024-10510-km-california-state-capitol/ Sun, 10 Nov 2024 16:57:24 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-11-10_earthwalk-day-1023-10-november-2024-10510-km-california-state-capitol/ I arrived today at the destination for Leg 35, the California State Capitol in Sacramento. Guess what it looks like. Yep. California State Capitol, also California State Capitol, ca. 1926 Yeah. Exciting. Sacramento’s a good sized city, 35th largest in the US and growing fast. There’s a good long Wikipedia article, which I sum up as follows: It’s a city. I mean, is there anything really interesting about it? Not that I can see. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-10-28_earthwalk-day-1010-28-october-2024-10333-km-californiagain/ Mon, 28 Oct 2024 20:45:03 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-10-28_earthwalk-day-1010-28-october-2024-10333-km-californiagain/ I’m back in California. I was only in Nevada for 11 days. That was enough. Now I’m in South Lake Tahoe, heading southwest. I haven’t reported on any wildlife sightings in a while, but there have been some in recent weeks. A few snakes: Number One Snake Number Two Snake Number Three Snake a frog: Stache frog (who knew frogs got mustaches?) and, from another kingdom entirely, a fungus family portrait: https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-10-23_earthwalk-day-1005-23-october-2024-10293-km-nevada-state-capital/ Wed, 23 Oct 2024 20:53:49 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-10-23_earthwalk-day-1005-23-october-2024-10293-km-nevada-state-capital/ It got up to 26°C (79°F) today, and tomorrow’s high temperature forecast is 12°C (53 °F), so I got on my bike for what may be my last ride in shorts for a while and rode to and beyond the destination of Leg 34: the Nevada State Capitol. That’s in Carson City, one of the largest state capitals at 380 square km area because in 1969 Carson City merged with Ormsby County. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-10-18_earthwalk-day-1000-18-october-2024-10191-km-nevada/ Fri, 18 Oct 2024 23:40:42 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-10-18_earthwalk-day-1000-18-october-2024-10191-km-nevada/ As of yesterday, I am in Nevada, my 23rd state. I spent 23 days on my first entry into California. I’ll be back in that state again soon. Today is EarthWalk day 1000. That is all. A map showing my progress is here, a spreadsheet with progress detail is here, and a Google Earth KMZ file is in this Google Drive folder. Present coordinates: 39.855°N, 119.935°W. previous: Earthwalk Day 993 (11 October 2024), 10,139 km next: Earthwalk Day 1005 (23 October 2024), 10,293 km: Nevada state capital https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-10-11_earthwalk-day-993-11-october-2024-10139-km/ Fri, 11 Oct 2024 22:55:48 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-10-11_earthwalk-day-993-11-october-2024-10139-km/ I’m not sure I’m supposed to be here. My virtual self is virtually heading south, close to the Nevada state line, and right now I’m very near an Army air base. From the satellite views it looks like what I’m on barely qualifies as a track, let alone a road, and the boundaries of the Army facility are not at all clear. If you don’t hear from me again for a while, I’m probably in virtual jail. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-09-26_lets-not-go-there/ Thu, 26 Sep 2024 19:43:33 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-09-26_lets-not-go-there/ It didn’t occur to me to include the following places in my route plan until well after I’d started. Now I’m not going back to the ones I’ve already passed, and I don’t want to include the others without including them, so I don’t plan on visiting any of them. But I probably should have included: Sun, West Virginia Mercury, Texas Venus, Nebraska Earth City, Missouri Mars, Pennsylvania Ceres, Georgia Jupiter, Florida Saturn, Indiana Uranus, Missouri Neptune, West Virginia Pluto, Mississippi Eris, Ohio (Or somewhere like them; many of these are only one of several places with the same or similar name. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-09-25_earthwalk-day-977-25-september-2024-9922-km-goose-lake-meteorite/ Wed, 25 Sep 2024 21:04:39 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-09-25_earthwalk-day-977-25-september-2024-9922-km-goose-lake-meteorite/ Virtual me rode my bike into the northeastern corner of California, my 26th state, yesterday. That was 42 days spent in Oregon this time, 71 days total when you add in the earlier entry en route to LIGO Hanford. Today I walked a bit further and arrived at the destination for Leg 32. It’s a pretty nondescript piece of desolate, scrubby land, on a road forsaken by the Street View car, but like Oregon City it’s the discovery site of a significant meteorite. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-09-06_earthwalk-day-958-6-september-2024-9641-km/ Fri, 06 Sep 2024 19:17:10 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-09-06_earthwalk-day-958-6-september-2024-9641-km/ Having gone south from Salem, Oregon for a couple weeks, past Eugene, I’m now going more southeastward, stopping today not too far from Diamond Peak. If you don’t like tall evergreen trees, Highway 58 is not for you. If you get bored looking at the tall evergreens on your left, you can, for variety, look at the tall evergreens on your right. Some way ahead is Diamond Peak Lookout Point where you get close enough to have Odell Lake on your right instead of the evergreens; in the Street View pictures the distance is foggy, but perhaps on a clear day you can see Diamond Peak which is, I’m guessing, covered in tall evergreens up to the altitude where it transitions to being covered in nothing whatsoever, except maybe snow. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-08-19_earthwalk-day-940-19-august-2024-9422-km-oregon-state-capitol/ Mon, 19 Aug 2024 19:49:30 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-08-19_earthwalk-day-940-19-august-2024-9422-km-oregon-state-capitol/ A lot of these legs have been long, arduous treks. Leg 31, not so much. It was rainy yesterday and today in Syracuse, but just a little drizzle this afternoon, not enough to impede my walking. So I covered enough distance to (virtually) arrive at my next destination, the Oregon State Capitol in Salem, OR. And I don’t know if I like it much, but much respect for not looking damn near indistinguishable from almost every other state (and national) capitol building in America. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-08-14_earthwalk-day-935-14-august-2024-9357-km-willamette-meteorite-site/ Wed, 14 Aug 2024 19:32:34 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-08-14_earthwalk-day-935-14-august-2024-9357-km-willamette-meteorite-site/ Yesterday I took a bike ride. It was, by just a few hundred meters, the longest I’ve done in recent years, about 41.1 km. And it took virtual me across a state line. I left Washington, where I’d spent 60 days, and made my second entry into Oregon, crossing the Columbia River on the aptly named Oregon-Washington bridge from Victoria, WA to Portland, OR. Today I walked about 7 km to arrive at the end of Leg 30. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-07-29_earthwalk-day-919-29-july-2024-9168-km-washington-state-capitol/ Mon, 29 Jul 2024 20:07:18 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-07-29_earthwalk-day-919-29-july-2024-9168-km-washington-state-capitol/ Real life me is back home. As expected, I mostly didn’t cover my usual distances while away, though on Wednesday I took a walk on the Delaware-Raritan Canal trail that, along with a lot of walking back and forth at camp, resulted in a record-destroying 22,142 steps for that day. That, not too surprisingly, was also the day I ended Leg 29, with virtual me arriving in Olympia, Washington, the state capital. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-07-19_earthwalk-day-909-19-july-2024-9099-km/ Fri, 19 Jul 2024 21:21:19 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-07-19_earthwalk-day-909-19-july-2024-9099-km/ Too busy to write much, but there isn’t much to write. I’ve been continuing west and a little north. A week ago I was just maybe 20 km south of the summit of Mount Ranier. Now I’m between McKenna and Yelm, approaching Olympia. At my typical pace I’d finish this leg by about Monday, and normally I’d hold off on blogging anything until then. But I’m spending next week on the American Travelling Morrice so (a) I don’t expect to keep up my typical pace (steps while dancing don’t count, they don’t get you anywhere) and (b) I may not have a chance to post to this blog until after I get back. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-07-05_earthwalk-day-895-5-july-2024-8916-km/ Fri, 05 Jul 2024 19:26:14 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-07-05_earthwalk-day-895-5-july-2024-8916-km/ I’m heading mostly west, a little north, across Washington. This week I passed right through downtown Yakima. That glimpse of urban landscape was short lived. Not far beyond, I’m back in rural areas, heading into the Cascade Range. Tonight I’m near the very small city of Tieton. June was a pretty good month. Average steps per day slightly up from May and slightly higher than June 2022, much higher than 2023. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-06-24_earthwalk-day-884-24-june-2024-8786-km-ligo-hanford-observatory/ Mon, 24 Jun 2024 22:47:28 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-06-24_earthwalk-day-884-24-june-2024-8786-km-ligo-hanford-observatory/ Yesterday I managed to stop my walk about 300 meters short of my Leg 28 destination. Today I got there. A week ago Friday I crossed the state line into Washington. I would have blogged that but Friday I also departed for a real life weekend event, and by the time I got back I figured I might as well wait until I reached the end of the leg, but then that took longer than expected due to the heat wave in my real life location. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-05-31_earthwalk-day-860-31-may-2024-8522-km/ Fri, 31 May 2024 19:32:20 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-05-31_earthwalk-day-860-31-may-2024-8522-km/ Cutting northwest across northeastern Oregon. I’m now just south of Hutchinson, which just barely exists: The Hutchinson post office opened in 1900 and closed in 1902. There’s nothing but farms visible there in Google Maps satellite view. In May my average steps per day was a little above that in May 2022 and 2023, though lower than February through April of this year. But that’s in part because of four bike rides that helped put my average distance per day higher than the previous three months and in a dead heat with the previous two Mays. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-05-16_earthwalk-day-845-16-may-2024-8366-km-oregon/ Thu, 16 May 2024 19:29:22 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-05-16_earthwalk-day-845-16-may-2024-8366-km-oregon/ I’m in Oregon now, bicycling over the line this afternoon. This is kind of momentous: Having started about 28 months ago in a state that borders on the Atlantic Ocean, I’ve now arrived in one that borders on the Pacific. I’ll get much closer to both oceans before I’m done, but that’s something for now. My second entry into Idaho lasted 58 days, which added to my first entry comes to a total of 96 days in that state — by a solid margin the largest amount of time I’ve spent in any state so far. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-05-07_earthwalk-day-836-7-may-2024-8273-km-idaho-state-capitol/ Wed, 08 May 2024 10:39:56 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-05-07_earthwalk-day-836-7-may-2024-8273-km-idaho-state-capitol/ My bike’s been to the shop and back, twice: Now it’s tuned up, with a new chain, new brake cable, new bottom bracket, and new pedals. Took it out for a short ride the day I picked it up and a longer ride the next day, which took me past the end of Leg 27: the Idaho State Capitol in Boise. State Capitol, Boise, Idaho in the 1940s Which looks a lot like the United States Capitol, doesn’t it? https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-04-19_earthwalk-day-818-19-april-2024-8071-km/ Fri, 19 Apr 2024 22:38:02 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-04-19_earthwalk-day-818-19-april-2024-8071-km/ More southwesting through the mountains. Current virtual location is near Sunbeam, Idaho, on a road that does have Google Street View, but the imagery is 17 years old. No complete rain-outs the past two weeks, though one day’s walk was truncated by weather. Another day fell victim to a trip to Gilbertsville, NY to put up posters for our upcoming morris dancing tour, and another had very limited walking because I was driving 12 hours to get to a favorable location to sit and watch the sun disappear. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-04-05_earthwalk-day-804-5-april-2024-7938-km/ Fri, 05 Apr 2024 21:45:16 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-04-05_earthwalk-day-804-5-april-2024-7938-km/ Well, this month is starting off about as bad as any EarthWalk month ever has. I didn’t get my bike back until Tuesday, and not only has it not been biking weather since then, three out of the five days in April so far have been chilly and rainy, keeping me indoors. Tomorrow should be walkable, I think, and things definitely should improve by Sunday (for however long). March wasn’t bad. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-03-22_earthwalk-day-790-22-march-2024-7838-km-into-idaho-again/ Fri, 22 Mar 2024 21:44:10 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-03-22_earthwalk-day-790-22-march-2024-7838-km-into-idaho-again/ Idahoveragain! On Tuesday I crossed back into Idaho from Montana. This time I’m heading southwest. I spent 61 days in Montana. I’ve had three bad weather days the past two weeks, and few good biking days — and no bike rides at all, because the bike really needed a tuneup and a new chain and tires. So it’s in the shop. If it gets done soon, as they said it would, I may be able to get one more ride in this month in between the snow and rain and wind and cold days. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-03-08_earthwalk-day-776-8-march-2024-7733-km/ Fri, 08 Mar 2024 18:48:07 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-03-08_earthwalk-day-776-8-march-2024-7733-km/ February went quite well, as winter months go. One bike ride and only a couple of rainy days, so distance was well above January or previous Februaries, and daily steps was by a comfortable margin the highest of any month in the EarthWalk so far. I’m heading southwest on the non Street View Route 569. I passed through the town of Deer Lodge, MT and near Anaconda sometime this past week, but there’s a lot of nothing around me now. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-02-23_earthwalk-day-762-23-february-2024-7584-km-montana-state-capitol/ Fri, 23 Feb 2024 19:40:41 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-02-23_earthwalk-day-762-23-february-2024-7584-km-montana-state-capitol/ I’ve arrived in Helena, the capital of Montana and goal of Leg 26. The State Capitol was completed in 1902, but by 1912 had been expanded with two new wings. It looked like this then: Montana State Capitol, Ca. 1915 postcard view, with the State Seal. and it hasn’t changed much since. Helena’s not a big place. Population 32,091 as of 2020, the fifth smallest state capital. Even in Montana there are five larger cities. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-02-22_im1-on-the-moon/ Thu, 22 Feb 2024 18:39:25 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-02-22_im1-on-the-moon/ It’s official: An American spacecraft has landed on the moon, the first since Apllo 17. The Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission put their uncrewed Nova-C lander, Odysseus, on the lunar surface at around 6:30 pm EST (23:30 UTC). The landing site is Malapert A crater, only about 300 km from the South Pole — which means, had this occurred during my MoonWalk, I very probably would not have added it to my itinerary because it would have taken a long time to walk there and back! https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-02-09_earthwalk-day-748-9-february-2024-7462-km/ Fri, 09 Feb 2024 20:54:00 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-02-09_earthwalk-day-748-9-february-2024-7462-km/ Phil, never mind six more weeks of winter. Tell me, when do we get the first six weeks? We’ve had ridiculously little snow so far this winter in Syracuse — little compared to what we usually get, which is a lot compared to most places. In fact, it’s time to stop comparing to usual and start comparing to the record low. As of today we’ve had 70.9 cm (27.9 inches) this winter. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-01-21_earthwalk-day-729-21-january-2024-7293-km-beaverhead-impact-structure/ Sun, 21 Jan 2024 19:20:29 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-01-21_earthwalk-day-729-21-january-2024-7293-km-beaverhead-impact-structure/ I’ve reached the endpoint of Leg 25: The Beaverhead Impact Structure. This is the second largest impact structure yet identified in the United States. (We’ll get to the largest one eventually, be patient.) Per the Earth Impact Database it is 60 km in diameter and was created about 600 million years ago — though the Crater Explorer site says 100 km diameter and an age anywhere from 500 to 1000 million years. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-01-18_earthwalk-day-726-18-january-2024-7267-km-montana/ Thu, 18 Jan 2024 18:50:14 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-01-18_earthwalk-day-726-18-january-2024-7267-km-montana/ I’m done with Idaho. For now, that is. I haven’t yet visited its capitol, and it kind of stands between me and Washington, so I’ll be back, but for now I’m in Montana. Idaho was 38 days of basically walking north, getting me into what looks to be one of the most isolated areas I’ve been to so far. We’re way off anywhere the Street View vehicle’s been, people, and about 23 km from the nearest town — Lima, MT, population 212 (and steadily declining). https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-01-01_earthwalk-day-709-1-january-2024-7132-km-2023-and-beyond/ Mon, 01 Jan 2024 23:08:03 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2024-01-01_earthwalk-day-709-1-january-2024-7132-km-2023-and-beyond/ Here’s today’s walk: Walking route, 1 Jan 2024 I’m been banging on the spreadsheet trying to get it to properly deal with the new year as well as the two previous. I think it’s right now. It tells me December was a pretty good month — down in steps per day and distance per day from November, but decidedly up from last December. It helps that I went for another bike ride on one of the warmest days of last month — which was Christmas. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-12-22_earthwalk-day-699-22-december-2023-7030-km/ Fri, 22 Dec 2023 17:45:22 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-12-22_earthwalk-day-699-22-december-2023-7030-km/ Making my virtual way north through Idaho. I skirted Malad City and Arimo, then marched right down Center Street right through McCammon. Past that, according to Google Maps, I went parallel to the rather one dimensional Indian Rocks State Park, but according to this site the park closed 40 years ago. Today I’m just east of Inkom, a city, it says here, whose population in 2010 was 854 and which is home to the world’s smallest airport. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-12-11_earthwalk-day-688-11-december-2023-6937-km-idaho/ Mon, 11 Dec 2023 21:04:48 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-12-11_earthwalk-day-688-11-december-2023-6937-km-idaho/ I accidentally my longest bike ride in… decades? On Saturday. In December! It got up to around 13°C (57°F). Sounds fairly warm but there was some wind and I decided to wear my mittens — a decision I do not at all regret. I didn’t set out to go so far, just did a modification of a route I’ve done before, and I didn’t realize how far I’d gone until I checked my log after the ride. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-12-01_earthwalk-day-678-1-december-2023-6826-km-ive-returned-to-syracuse/ Fri, 01 Dec 2023 21:12:39 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-12-01_earthwalk-day-678-1-december-2023-6826-km-ive-returned-to-syracuse/ See? A map showing my progress is here, a spreadsheet with progress detail is here, and a Google Earth KMZ file is in this Google Drive folder. Present coordinates: 41.097°N, 112.007°W. previous: Earthwalk Day 673 (26 November 2023), 6789 km: Utah State Capitol next: Earthwalk Day 688 (11 December 2023), 6937 km: Idaho https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-11-26_earthwalk-day-673-26-november-2023-6789-km-utah-state-capitol/ Sun, 26 Nov 2023 19:46:20 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-11-26_earthwalk-day-673-26-november-2023-6789-km-utah-state-capitol/ Here, look at this. Does this look like a state capitol to you? Utah State Capitol Yeah, it does to me. I mean it screams State Capitol. State Capitol of Utah, in fact, located in Salt Lake City, completed in 1916. I arrived there, virtually, today, bringing an end to Leg 24. I’ve been to SLC once in real life — where by “been to” I mean “spent an hour or so in the bus station, en route from Banff National Park to Denver”, back in 1981. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-11-10_earthwalk-day-657-10-november-2023-6630-km/ Fri, 10 Nov 2023 21:51:42 -0500 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-11-10_earthwalk-day-657-10-november-2023-6630-km/ Very little to say about the past two weeks. Pushing west across Utah. A lot of wide open not very much. Duchesne was the one real town I went through. It says “Strawberry” near my present location on the map, but whatever’s in Strawberry, it hasn’t been enough to get the Street View car to turn off Route 40. Steps and distances per day in October were pretty close to typical. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-10-26_earthwalk-day-642-26-october-2023-6472-km-utah/ Thu, 26 Oct 2023 17:00:32 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-10-26_earthwalk-day-642-26-october-2023-6472-km-utah/ I’ve (virtually) parted company with US 40 and, indeed, with anything involving pavement apparently, and as of today am in Utah. My 17th state. I spent 54 days in Colorado. The nearest town is back in that state — Dinosaur, CO. Where I really am, along the Loop the Lake trail, there are fungi: Mushrooms Mushrooms A map showing my progress is here, a spreadsheet with progress detail is here, and a Google Earth KMZ file is in this Google Drive folder. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-10-20_earthwalk-day-636-20-october-2023-6410-km/ Fri, 20 Oct 2023 18:24:58 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-10-20_earthwalk-day-636-20-october-2023-6410-km/ I’m continuing to walk virtually along US Route 40, currently roughly in a southwest direction. Today’s position is fairly near a place called out on Google Maps as Elk Springs, but there doesn’t seem to be anything there other than a couple houses. Otherwise lots of scrub, not much else. The last thing I passed through (earlier this week) that I’d regard as a populated place, however small, was the unincorporated community of Maybell, population 76 as of 2020. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-10-06_earthwalk-day-622-6-october-2023-6245-km/ Fri, 06 Oct 2023 19:50:34 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-10-06_earthwalk-day-622-6-october-2023-6245-km/ I’m about a third of the way through Leg 24. I’m heading northwest away from Denver, just short of Steamboat Springs, close to Rocky Mountain National Park, where I hiked really, not virtually, for a few days back in 1981. Last month was right in line with expectations, with steps and distances matching pretty closely to both the month before and a year ago. Only 5 bike rides, versus 8 the month before, but the distance was still respectable. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-09-18_earthwalk-day-604-18-september-2023-6006-km-colorado-state-capitol/ Mon, 18 Sep 2023 19:15:27 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-09-18_earthwalk-day-604-18-september-2023-6006-km-colorado-state-capitol/ And that’s it for Leg 23. I told you it wasn’t far. Then again, if you took a look at a map, you’d see the Colorado State Capitol in Denver is only 43 km from the Colorado Air and Space Port, and you would not be surprised I’m done already. Colorado State Capitol, 1906 You can tell it’s a Capitol. In fact it resembles the US Capitol building. Intentionally, it says here. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-09-15_earthwalk-day-601-15-september-2023-5980-km-colorado-air-and-space-port/ Fri, 15 Sep 2023 19:24:46 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-09-15_earthwalk-day-601-15-september-2023-5980-km-colorado-air-and-space-port/ Leg 22 is done: I’ve arrived at the Colorado Air and Space Port (CASP). First I had to arrive in Colorado. I did that only a couple of days after leaving Cheyenne, having spent 32 days in Wyoming. From there I headed south, to a point east of Denver. CASP is… a general aviation airport. It has flying schools and clubs. It does not have a major rocket launching facility. Or a minor one. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-08-31_earthwalk-day-586-31-august-2023-5795-km-wyoming-state-capitol/ Thu, 31 Aug 2023 22:11:38 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-08-31_earthwalk-day-586-31-august-2023-5795-km-wyoming-state-capitol/ Today’s bike ride brought me to the end of Leg 21: The Wyoming State Capitol in Cheyenne. Cheyenne was named the temporary state capital in 7 May 1869. Maybe they’ll make it permanent someday. Neil Diamond lived in Cheyenne as a child. Construction on the capitol began in 1886, four years before Wyoming became a state. It took that long to finish it, so that was some good planning, I suppose. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-08-23_chandrayaan3-lands/ Wed, 23 Aug 2023 09:02:31 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-08-23_chandrayaan3-lands/ Back in 2017 when I started my MoonWalk, I expected to consider modifying my route to add in several landings taking place after my start. Turns out I added only one: CSNA’s (China) Chang-e 5. In April 2019 SpaceIL’s (Israel) Beresheet crashed. In September 2019 ISRO’s (India) Chandrayaan-2’s Vikram lander crashed. Those were the only attempts during the MoonWalk other than CSNA’s Chang-e 4 on the far side, successful but too far to walk to. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-08-18_earthwalk-day-573-18-august-2023-5632-km/ Fri, 18 Aug 2023 19:07:33 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-08-18_earthwalk-day-573-18-august-2023-5632-km/ A quick update. I’ve been in Wyoming a little over two weeks, heading south. I’ve done four bike rides in that time so am making good time, and am about to enter Fort Laramie. That’s about it. A map showing my progress is here, a spreadsheet with progress detail is here, and a Google Earth KMZ file is in this Google Drive folder. Present coordinates: 42.259°N, 104.515°W. previous: Earthwalk Day 556 (1 August 2023), 5419 km: Wyoming next: Chandrayaan-3 lands https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-08-01_earthwalk-day-556-1-august-2023-5419-km-wyoming/ Tue, 01 Aug 2023 20:58:17 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-08-01_earthwalk-day-556-1-august-2023-5419-km-wyoming/ As mentioned previously, between rain, injury, AQI, and a week on the ATM, July pretty much sucked for number of bike rides (3), average distance per day, and average number of steps. Maybe August will be better. It’s starting better: I did a bike ride today. 29 km, well above the 5 km I needed to cross my next boundary. After 39 days in South Dakota this entry, and a total of 80 days in that state, I’ve crossed over into Wyoming, heading south on US Route 85. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-07-26_earthwalk-day-550-26-july-2023-5358-km-sanford-underground-research-facility/ Wed, 26 Jul 2023 20:20:59 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-07-26_earthwalk-day-550-26-july-2023-5358-km-sanford-underground-research-facility/ It’s another of those substandard months. A couple days off due to rain. Then I twisted my foot and had to take more time off. Recovery came just in time for another AQI spike. Now I’m spending a week in Massachusetts with the American Travelling Morrice which leaves me with limited time for walking (and my bike’s back in Syracuse), and no, I don’t wear the pedometer while I’m dancing. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-07-07_earthwalk-day-531-7-july-2023-5179-km/ Fri, 07 Jul 2023 20:26:43 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-07-07_earthwalk-day-531-7-july-2023-5179-km/ It’s July, so I’ve gotten through a not particularly great month. I did end up with more than 10 km average distance per day, just slightly less than May, but distinctly worse than June 2022. And that was because of 5 bike rides, but I had more than the usual number of non-walking days, so my average steps per day was way down. Partly that was due to rainy weather, in contrast to May — in fact we had two days in June each of which had more rain than the entire month of May. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-07-07_here_we_are_again/ Fri, 07 Jul 2023 16:39:46 -0400 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-07-07_here_we_are_again/ Well. I’m trying something else for my blogs, again. I found some faults with WriteFreely and write.as. For one thing I could not get ActivityPub federation to work properly — that is, it worked more or less correctly on the writing.exchange Mastodon server, but on vmst.io and mastodon.social I could follow my blogs but new content simply did not appear in my Home feed. For another thing, I use MathJax, especially on my Mathematrec blog, but in WriteFreely it’s basically impossible to proofread MathJax — because it doesn’t render it until you publish. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-06-23_earthwalk-day-517-23-june-2023-5086-km-south-dakota/ Fri, 23 Jun 2023 23:34:52 +0000 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-06-23_earthwalk-day-517-23-june-2023-5086-km-south-dakota/ Here’s a mildly momentous occasion: I’ve entered South Dakota. Yes, I’ve done that before. But that’s the point. This is the first time this Earthwalk I’ve re-entered a state I’d been in before. I’m about 160 km further west than I was when I left SD, though. Near the town of Lemmon. Per Google Maps’ directions I’m at an intersection the Street View car hasn’t been to, having come south from Lemmon on what’s evidently not much of a road. https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-06-14_here-we-are/ Wed, 14 Jun 2023 23:26:56 +0000 https://richardsholmes.com/walkinginspace/2023-06-14_here-we-are/ Having reached the breaking point with wordpress.com (the straw being their introduction of an AI garbage content generator), I’ve moved my blogs here, including Walking In Space. It’s powered by WriteFreely. That means it can publish via ActivityPub and be followed from other Fediverse platforms, such as Mastodon. At least in theory. I haven’t seen that working yet but it’s early days. I’ve set it up with a custom domain, richholmes.