July 28, 2009 I got up early to take a hike I had done numerous times as a teenager, only this time, at 50, I would only be going one way … descending Pikes Peak, Colorado Springs’ most famous landmark and America’s mountain. Katherine Lee Bates was inspired on her trip up the Peak to write America the Beautiful. I knew that I was in no shape to hike up it, but I had no idea I really wasn’t in shape to hike DOWN it either!

Pikes Peak is a 13.5 mile hike, one way, and the longest base to summit 14ner of the 56 peaks in Colorado that exceed 14 thousand feet. I had hiked it up and down in a day numerous times 30+ years ago. I knew that the hike down is tough on the body. But I thought I could do this.

It was a great day. I have some video I will put together and post later. Here are the pictures from this day.

Here is a picture of a snow-capped Pikes Peak from Pikes Peak Avenue, downtown Colorado Springs. I took this March 14, 2004.

Entering Manitou Springs that morning. 6:35 A.M.

The Cog Railway depot. Hoping at this point to get on as I had to go standby.

Didn’t take too long before we were above timberline, approximately 11,000 feet.

Arrival Summit Pikes Peak, 14,110 feet. It was just after 9 A.M. Cold. Upper thirties and with the wind chill it had to be in the twenties. My teeth started chattering! Hadn’t experienced that since moving from Colorado over 2 years prior.

The photo op. In the backpack was 4 bottles of Smart water, warm-up pants (which I threw on shortly after this), power bars, blueberries, rain gear.

The trail head.

Clouds forming. Just starting.

Read on ….

At 13,300. Starting to feel better. Summit in background.

Met a number of nice people this day. This guy had an unbelievable story. Something about doing this for his parents who had passed. He was not prepared. Had survived the night at the A-frame after getting drenched in a thunderstorm. Notice shoes! He was out of water and food. I gave him one of my Smart Water liters and the rest of the blueberries. He was very appreciative.

12,700 ft. 4 miles from the summit. It has taken me almost an hour and a half to this point. I started to realize I had really underestimated how long this was going to take me. Although, it was at this elevation I started feeling a lot better. Only 9.5 miles to go.

Really awesome to be literally in the clouds as they started to form.

Looking back up the trail.

By the time I got to timberline (about 11 thousand feet), the clouds were moving in. The concern for hikers of 14ners is lightening. I was relieved to be below timberline.

The A-Frame.

Peaceful trail. Approx 10,800 ft.

I did not have a map with me. First, I had been on this mountain and trail many times before. And with directions such as these, who needs a map! Notice the arrow to the Springs.

Barr Camp! Half way point. 10,200 ft. Nice accommodations for overnight stays.

Finally, the first site of the end. Below you can make out the Cog Railway station. Unfortunately, I still had about 4 miles to go, with the final 3 miles coming down Manitou Mountain, a steep final part of the trail. Lots of switchbacks that took me forever.

Two major thunderstorms with hail and over 7 hours later, I got back to the car. I didn’t take any pictures of the last part as I was exhausted! And I had to book it to Denver to catch my return flight that night back to Phoenix. I had less than 3 hours to get there. I took a shower, 800 mg of ibuprofen, and threw my drenched clothes and shoes in my bag.

I am so glad I made time to do this hike. It brought back so many memories. On another post, I will talk about my unsuccessful attempt to find the Penny Tree, the stump I used to place coins in on every climb. The last time I saw it was back in the early 1980s. That forest has seriously changed since then!

I hope to someday and return to ascend the Peak. That will take some training.

For now, my descent provided me the opportunity to see America’s mountain once again.

50! Twenty-nine for the twenty-first time!

Looking at that number is surreal. What comes to your mind when you look at “50″?

So what is planned? Well, actually nothing! LOL

Kind of pathetic in a way. But on the other hand, I decided not to make the day itself the focus but the year. This year is going to be significant. My 50th year will be one of consequence and importance.

A few of you know that there is only one thing I really want (and expect) on my birthday. It’s simply a call from my kids. That’s it. Ever since they were little and they would ask, “Dad, what do you want for your birthday?” Every year they would hear the same answer — a phone call. This was especially true after they had moved with their mom to New Mexico. And I really meant it. I wanted a phone call. That was meaningful to me.

I think every year they have always called. And this year was no different. My daughter called me just after mid-night on the 12th from Kentucky (9ish on the 11th in Phoenix) so that she would be the first, technically, to wish me a happy birthday on this, my fiftieth. I told her that didn’t count! But she insisted it did.

After talking for a few minutes we said goodbye. This was a meaningful start to this most significant day.

At first, I didn’t know what this was. It’s a 45 RPM spindle. It allowed you to play 45 RPM records on a 33 RPM record player. I’ll bet that sounds GREEK to anyone under 40. Forty-fives were records with one song on each side. Thirty-threes were the album size. At least that is how I remember it. And I don’t remember the spindles being yellow.

My Mom used to collect these! S & H Green Stamps. I remember licking them and sticking them in the book. This would have been in the early 1960s for me. I remember thinking they were pretty valuable. I don’t think they were and it took a lot of them to get things.

Metal ice cube trays. While I don’t quite remember these, I do remember the novelty of the new and innovative plastic trays in the 1970s.

Didn’t read the comic but do remember a cartoon with that green creature! Check out the price — 12 cents!

Here’s a roller skate key. Maybe because I didn’t do much roller skating, I don’t recognize this key.

The Cork Pop gun. Fun and harmless, unless you hit someone in the eye! I can only imagine the disclaimer that would probably be required on it if it was sold in stores today — I don’t think they are. I know I never saw them in stores when my kids were growing up. They would have had one for sure because DAD would want that toy!

This isn’t a check-up from the neck-up. These are realizations that start and end where it really counts, in the heart. The spiritual one.

So what would this look like or sound like? What would happen? How would it come about it? How ’bout a real event with an elderly woman, a robber, a threat, danger, money, and a defining moment. Watch it happen —

Did you get it?

It seems to be a universal law. As a matter of fact, I ran into an interesting topic on Quantum Mechanics today. Now stay with me on this. I really know nothing about it. I do know that it is a mind blowing science — pardon the pun. What I found actually explains the above principle and also, in my opinion actually gives foundation to a person’s faith because in reality, just as soon as you think you know it all, the truth is that your understanding isn’t even close.

This is what I found today that Quantum Physics proves. I apologize for what is going to be an oversimplification on my part. Basically, prior to quantum mechanics, everything that happened in our reality/world was believed to have a prior physical cause. This philosophy arose during the period of Enlightenment. This implication that every event, every action could be explained in principle from a past action and that ultimately having its origination from such a thing as the Big Bang, removes all purpose, meaning and responsibility from our reality. Everything today is just a result as part of a set chain of events.

Quantum mechanics challenges all this. The double slit experiment mysteriously showed that at the point of science trying to observe its conclusions, everything changed. Reality changed. Watch the video to get the idea.

Here’s what the bottom line is. What appears as true in our wisdom, is in fact not apparently so. The debate between the scientific, religious and spiritual world is interesting. The concepts of this science are fascinating.

From all of the noise, I see at least one thing clearly displayed. I think it was best described once as such, “Where is the wise man? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?”

Yes, we have learned and understood a great deal. But when you begin to see it in perspective, we know so very little. The Psalmist of 46:10 wrote, “Be still and know that I am God.” Now that’s a truth I believe will hold to the end.

Rule No. 1: Never lose money.

The great personal fortunes in this country weren’t built on a portfolio of fifty companies. They were built by someone who identified one wonderful business.

Wall Street is the only place that people ride to in a Rolls Royce to get advice from those who take the subway.

It is not necessary to do extraordinary things to get extraordinary results.

You should look at stocks as small pieces of a business.

You should invest in a business that even a fool can run because someday a fool will.

With enough inside information and a million dollars, you can go broke in a year.

If calculus or algebra were required to be a great investor, I’d have to go back to delivering newspapers.

Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing.

I buy stocks when the lemmings are headed the other way.

I buy expensive suits. They just look cheap on me.

These are just some of the gems found in the book The Tao of Warren Buffett.

Here are 7 things I’ve done in the last year to create a plan of investing with the years I have ahead of me.

1. started reading about successful strategies, time proven (Anything about Buffett such as The Essays of Warren Buffett : Lessons for Corporate America and Rule #1: The Simple Strategy for Successful Investing in Only 15 Minutes a Week! by Phil Town.
2. picked out some businesses I really liked and did a little studying on their numbers
3. subscribed to an online newsletter that for the last 20 years has followed an investment strategy mirroring the Buffett way and has publically documented results that are stellar.
4. purchased 100 shares of Netflix in July. (It’s up almost 70% since that time.)
5. kept away from any advice to get rich quick or advice from anyone that is broke. (Please note I am advising you consider not my words but the words of some pretty successful guys here instead.)
6. opened a Roth IRA
7. a commitment to live frugally, avoiding new debts as much as possible
8. continue to read for investment knowledge, personal growth and inspiration (just finished Max Lucado’s 3:16: The Numbers of Hope.)

I am optimistic that staying the course with this plan will provide a retirement I can enjoy. I hope you will educate yourself and welcome your perspectives or findings. I am not suggesting there is only one way to go, but after 50 years, I find it time to listen to wise advisors when it comes to money and investing.

Do not let the years make you cynical. Stay in the game. Read, think, and be encouraged by taking steps forward.

Over the years I have had my share of investment strategies. Regretfully, when I was in my early 20s, I fell for a get rich quick scam. I invested $1200 into silver options in the early 80s. Bad idea. The “advisor” was almost guaranteeing a huge return. It was a total sham. The price began dropping right after I purchased the option. It turned out to be a total loss. As a side, a few years later I received a certified letter informing me that their was a class action suit being filed against this company for fraudulent practices. Evidently, there were some people that had lost a lot more money than I and were trying to do something about it.

As bad of taste as that experience left me with, I learned my lesson. I spent the next years putting my money on growth stock mutual funds. Not a terrible choice. These were the highest rated no load mutual funds. Those funds ended up paying off debt and funding two businesses.

As fate would have it, last year I caught this interview on television with a guy named Phil Town. He had just written the New York Times bestseller Rule #1, a book detailing how he literally turned $1000 into $1,000,000 (million). At first I thought he was just another scam artist, until I started listening to what he was saying. There was no hype, no fluff. He talked about the wisdom of investing in companies that are rock solid. Companies that had discounted prices on their stock. Companies that had a long history of great returns. It was the Buffett philosophy of buying interests (stock) in great companies. I bought the book and carefully considered its contents. It just doesn’t talk about it, it shows you how. Jim Cramer, of Mad Money, gave a glowing endorsement by writing Rule #1 may be the clearest read that tells you precisely how to do it.

It has provided a blueprint for my investment strategy for the next 20 years. From 50 to retirement. I will be sharing my success or failure here with you. I hope to encourage others that have limited time left to invest and build up their savings.

I took action last July. I had a small amount of money (2k) that I had sitting in a retirement fund doing nothing. I moved it into a Roth IRA and invested in a company I chose based on the guidelines I have recently learned.

The guidelines in a nutshell? To quote Warren Buffett, here’s the process. “Our method is very simple. We just try to buy businesses with good to superb underlying economics run by honest and able people and buy them at reasonable prices. That’s all I am trying to do.”

As of today, that investment is up 70% in the past 8 months. What is the stock? How did I come to choose it? That in a post coming very soon.