John Mills, Jr. |
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| Somewhere in Utah - 7/9/1980 (photo by Rex Halfpenny) |
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| West Plains, Missouri - 12/25/1980 (photo by Scott Davis) |
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| John Mills, Jr. & Philippe Vermeyen Harpers Ferry, West Virginia - 5/9/1981 (photo by ??) |
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| Canadian Pete, John Mills, Ben Lazarus, Chad Harris with John Stout as "The Starter" Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah -- June 30, 1980 -- (photo by Rich Warnick) |
| Commentary from John Mills: Yes..."Ruby's Inn", as I recall. I remember being talked into a rather grueling event -- running/speed-walking the rim trail (photo above) -- a few miles below the rim from Rainbow Point all the way back to the "Inn"! We (Pete McIntire, Ed Deschesne (not in photo), et.al.) were supposedly training for a marathon we never ran: the Pikes Peak marathon! (Canadian Pete and Bob Ronemus did eventually run the Pikes Peak marathon later in August.) |
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HikaNation Memories
| From Facbook, August 25 - 28, 2020 |
| Keith Wright to Lyle Bialk: Hello Lyle. I can still remember when you joined us on HikaNation while we were having our first "FEED" in front of the Best Western at Bryce Canyon Utah. Nothing like getting out of the cab with your backpack and then sitting down to a very delicious beef dinner. I can still taste it! |
| John Lamar Mills Jr. to Keith Wright: Yes..."Ruby's Inn", as I recall. I remember being talked into a rather grueling event -- running/speed-walking the rim trail (Canadian Pete, John Mills, Ben Lazarus, Chad Harris with John Stout as the "starter") -- a few miles below the rim from Rainbow Point all the way back to the "Inn"! We (Pete McIntire, Ed Deschesne, et.al.) were supposedly training for a marathon we never ran: the Pikes Peak marathon! |
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William Ewart to John Lamar Mills Jr.: Actually both "Canadian Pete" and Bob Ronemus ran the Pikes Peak marathon in August 1980. We hitchhiked from Dove Creek to Colorado Springs while the main group took a side trip to Mesa Verde. While Pete and Bob ran the marathon, I spent the time watching movies at various theaters. We hitchhiked back to Dove Creek and then resumed hiking to catch back up to the group in Silverton. |
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John Lamar Mills Jr.: Thanks William...you've just refreshed my memory of why I did not do it with them! I had finished Dark Canyon ahead of the group & on my 1st of 2 rest days on the Elk Plateau (Abajo..."Blue Mtns., outside of Monticello), I decided to go for a run to train for the marathon. As luck would have it, I sprained my ankle, the worst injury I suffered the whole trip. Since I knew I would never be able to go back & re-walk the next few days from that remote location, I hobbled out of there, using a stick, with Mike Halm accompanying me part of the way. When the group left Monticello (after Rich Warnick & I had been invited up to Salt Lake City by Jerry Evans, our Utah coordinator, for a few days), following Al Frost thru some canyon lands south of Monticello, we were behind the group & Rich & one of Jerry's sons had to walk the highway into Dove Creek. My still sore ankle, however, would not permit me to walk on it & thus, for the only time on the entire hike, I was forced to ride in Monty's van (I later, while the group was laying over a week in Silverton/Durango, took a bus back to Monticello from Durango & rewalked the highway 36 miles from Monticello thru Dove Creek, 25 miles, spending the night there, then another 10 miles before hitchhiking back to Durango). Anyway, I was still not healed when we were in Dove Creek but still managed to hobble along with the group when Gudy chartered that school bus to take us to Mesa Verde! I finally began to hike again from the Dolores river campsite over the Rico-Silverton trail & into Silverton (with Keith, Linda, & the late Phil Atkins, as I recall. I remember Linda, at some point, telling Phil to "Can it", lol). So that is why I wasn't able to do that Pikes Pk. Marathon with Pete & Bob! The memories are flooding back! |
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John Mills email to William Ewart November 24, 2008 |
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Hi Bill Ewart, Your website recently received a hit from someone that you & others probably assumed had "fallen off the edge of the earth", or more appropriately, kept on walking and drowned in the Atlantic Ocean. Actually, I'm still alive and kicking (and hiking!) in Tucson, AZ, where I have lived with my family for the last 7 1/2 years (my wife's family is from here) after spending 16 years of my life in the San Francisco Bay area. I have made numerous visits to the Washington D.C. area (Alexandria, VA), but mostly to visit family there. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to simply google HikaNation to find out if anyone had had the idea of creating a website with their photo collection (and possibly other hiker's photo's as well). Last Thursday night, although I didn't access the website until the next day (which I had off from work), my 17-year old daughter Hannah, a freshman at the Univ. of AZ here in Tucson , had the idea of googling HikaNation and ended up emailing to my cell phone a picture she found of me on that website (actually a picture of you in front of the West Virginia sign at the RR crossing over the Potomac river at Harpers Ferry-I just happen to be on the extreme left of the picture having taken or about to take the same picture). I hadn't given "the hike" much thought over the last 7 1/2 years (my own slides have been in "hiber"nation for atleast 10 years) but I spent 4 hours last Friday going over your pictures and going down memory lane. Unfortunately, and certainly not by choice, I haven't been able to attend any of the reunions (except Arkansas's White Rock Mtn. in 1982) at Cape Henlopen or the last one at Cumberland Falls S.P. in Kentucky. If anyone is planning one for 2010, I'd certainly like to know and be there if possible. Most of all I just wanted to (belatedly) thank you for sharing your pictures with everyone else, all the hard work that you put into the website, and for refocusing my thoughts on such a memorable event in each of our lives. The only hikers I have been in touch with since the hike ended are Ed Deschesne, Phillippe Vermeyen, Jerry Benson, Rex Halfpenny, Rich Warnick, Butch Henley, Stacey Waring, Cindy Bain, Lyle Bialk, & Jeannie Harmon (all a long time ago in the years immediately following the hike), and more recently, Keith & Linda Wright and Joe Schute. "Walking Bob", if he is still alive, may still live in Bisbee, AZ, not far from here, but I haven't been in touch with him. So I guess I have a lot of catching up to do! I only have knowledge of 3 people having passed away since the hike ended-- John Stout in the late 1980's, I think (not sure) Monty Montgomery, and, as I learned upon visiting the website,sadly at the same age I was at the time (my birthday is only 8 days after his), Randy Blymire, your fellow "recording artist". If anyone else has passed away, I would be interested in being brought up to date. Thats about it from here-I'm going to list my email and snail-mail addresses and you're welcome to share them with anyone interested in contacting me. Again, thanks for sharing your pictures-they make a great collection. Maybe someday soon I"ll scan my own (before the color dye in the slides fades!) so that I at least preserve them for posterity. HikaNation Forever! & Happy Trails, John Mills jmills54@comcast.net (2008) jlmills121554@gmail.com (2018) |