Sunday, July 14, 2013

Reflections on "100 Missouri Miles"

Son squirrel hunting at Weldon Spring Conservation Area
I receive all of the news releases from Missouri's state parks system and every darn one of them has a link to "100 Missouri Miles," a state initiative taken up by Governor Nixon to get people to log 100 miles of some kind of exercise by year's end.  I kept thinking, this is a ridiculously low number of miles...I hope people are getting more exercise than that already!

Then I remembered an experience I had walking around the neighborhood where my wife grew up in south St. Louis County.  I was walking my dogs.  It was perhaps 7 on a summer evening.  There were no signs of life outdoors - anywhere!  Every home you walked by had this blue light haze from the television creating an eerie dancing light.  It struck me that everyone was completely detached from one another and from the outdoors. They were zombies - pale, soft, decaying.

Ironically, and we are fast forwarding 15 years, her old neighborhood now has seen a generational and economic change and there seems to be kids out playing and a few parents actually out watching them.  It is a much different feeling.

However, the Governor has struck upon a great need...the need to get people reconnected to something besides their electronic devices and the inside of their homes.  100 miles may not be much, but it may be the seed that grows into something more.  If it is only 100 miles, that will be unfortunate, but at least it is 100 miles.

You can sign up for the program at 100missourimiles.com, but you don't really have to.  You can get out a sheet of paper or a calendar and just keep track.

Fishing, hunting, and camping are some ways you can get active in Missouri's outdoors.  We have a site designed for families and individuals to assist them in learning about options available.  We's love for you to look over the amazing options you have. It is at family-outdoors.com


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