[at-l] A year ago today - hiking on the AT

[RET33@PRODIGY.NET (Robert Tomlinson)]

I was putting my pack together for a day hike through the Grayson
Highlands section of the AT and watching the TV news out of the corner
of my eye when it happened. Of course, the magnitude wasn't
immediately apparent so I went ahead and packed and listened to it on
the radio news while I drove to the trail. That was when the buildings
collapsed. Then I found out about the Pentagon and I realized that my
brother-in-law worked there. So I called my wife (in Florida) on my
cell phone, and she said she had heard about the World Trade Center
but when I said it was the Pentagon too, she thought I was making a
bad joke. I finally convinced her she should call her sister in
Washington D.C.and find out what happened and I said I would stay off
the trail until I heard back. It took a while to find out, and when
the news came it was third hand, through other relatives, that he (my
wife's brother-in-law) was OK. We found out later he was only three
doors down from the edge of the blast. So I went ahead and got on the
trail, where I met people who had been out hiking for days and while
some had already heard, some had not and thought I was a real sicko
making bad jokes on the trail. Also, it was the quietest trail I had
ever been on - no air traffic at all. I got back to civilization late
that night and like everyone else, immediately was glued to the TV, at
which time the true magnitude and implications were just beginning to
unfold.