straight out of the Twilight Zone

[GrizzlyAdams]

I am not making this up...an email exchange between me and Hammock Engineer...

From: grizzly.adams.adventures in domain gmail point com
Subject: from Grizz
Date: September 28, 2007 1:01:42 PM CDT
To : Nate in domain pocketmail point com

Nate-
"GrizzlyAdams" from the hammock forums here.
The last couple of days I've been at a meeting at West Point.
I know the AT goes by close to there, over (as it happens)
the Bear Mountain Bridge (over the Hudson River)
after which the JRB hammock is named.

At at 11:15 today (Friday, 28 Sept) I was driving south on highway 9W heading to the airport,
about a mile or two on the west side the bridge, and I passed someone that might have
been you (I've seen pictures recently in the gallery for a Ed Speers hang a while ago).
My impression was of a thru-hiker, but rumor is that you're tall and I was not immediately
struck by height. The pack was on the large side but not as large as I might expect.
The hiker had a face like yours, glasses, and a handerchief on his head.

I've been reading your journal and did a mental calculation that it _could possibly_
be you. The initial undercertainties and my disinclination to approach a complete
stranger and ask if he was the Hammock Engineer kept me from pulling over immediately.
A couple miles later I figured I had to ask, just in case. Backtracking, though the hiker was
gone.

In case it was you, sorry I missed you. Seems a long shot, but...

I'm enjoying your journal. Are you typing all that out with your thumbs????

regards,
David

From: Nate in domain pocketmail point com
Subject: RE:from Grizz
Date: September 30, 2007 4:33:56 PM CDT
To : grizzly.adams.adventures in domain gmail point com

You know that had to be me. That was pretty much when I was walking down there. I took a town night and stayed at the holiday inn there. I was walking back to the trail then.

No way you could have known, but it would have been fun to meet you and chat. The more I think about it, that is pretty strange. I wouldn't expect to be driving in a car out of town and see someone I know walking down the street.

If you make it this way again let me know. I am skipping the gathering though. I want to take a couple days off in unionville and rest up. The mayor there lets hikers stay at his house.

Oh and yeah I am typing with my thumbs. I am getting better, but it still is a lot slower than a keyboard. If I do this again, or when, I am going to look into PDA phones with a seperate keyboard. I just need to find one that will let you compose emails when you don't have cell service. That was the downfall of my phone.

You know I got to say something about this in my TJ.

Nate

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