[at-l] Felix Story: Re: Daylight Saving Time

[rcli4 at comcast.net]

That's what I was looking for.  It just don't get much better then that.
Try to match that Ms. Rawling.

Clyde
 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Kent Gardam <kent_gardam at yahoo.com>
> If I might be so bold as to diseminate the literary efforts of others, well, not 
> really "others", it is Felix afterall; here's one I particularly liked:
> 
> Felix J <athiker at smithville.net> wrote:  Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2007 20:11:56 -0500
> From: Felix J <athiker at smithville.net>
> To: AT-list <at-l at backcountry.net>
> Subject: Re: [at-l] Daylight Saving Time
> 
> SUNDOWN
> Sundown got his name from his habit of showing up well past sundown. As 
> he made his way into the shelter, it looked like he would earn the right 
> to keep it one more day. Dusk was becoming a memory. The air was cool 
> and moist above the churning waters of Laurel Falls. I moved my stuff 
> closer to "my" corner.
> "Where have you been?" I asked. "I've been here over an hour."
> "I missed the turn-off for the Trail down at that parking lot. There was 
> a dog barking at me and I was watching him and just kept walking. I'll 
> bet I went over a mile. Then, I had to find the Trail in the dark."
> The flame of my candle flickered as Sundown pulled stuff from his pack. 
> He nearly blew it out completely when he dropped his Therm-A-Rest into 
> place. "What time is it, anyway?" he asked, shaking his sleeping bag 
> from its stuff sack.
> "Almost 8:30," I said, which was a guess. "Hey, where did you take your 
> 'Zero Hour'?"
> "What zero hour?" he said as he pulled his feet from their boots.
> "You know, the Daylight Savings Zero Hour. I took mine at Moreland Gap 
> Shelter. It was actually kinda nice to kick back."
> "Daylight Savings Zero Hour? What are you talking about?"
> "Today is the first day of daylight savings time," I explained. "Since 
> the clocks 'spring forward,' hikers have to sit in the same spot for one 
> hour because that hour doesn't really exist. Today essentially only had 
> 23 hours. Surely you've heard of it."
> The concept was apparently foreign to him. He was rendered more or less 
> motionless as he tried to figure it out.
> "Seriously," I said. "Every spring, when the clocks change, hikers have 
> to sit in one spot for exactly one hour. Otherwise, they'd be an hour 
> ahead of where they should be. That'd mess everything up. That's 
> probably why you got here so late. You hiked through the hour that 
> didn't exist, even though you didn't go anywhere."
> A couple moments of silence and handfuls of M&Ms later, Sundown said, 
> "What happens in the fall? What happens when you set your clocks back?"
> "In the fall, you have to hike for half an hour, turn around and hike 
> back. Or, I suppose you could hike for a whole hour and then turn 
> around. I guess it depends on what time zone you're in. Either way, you 
> have to hike for an hour that you don't go anywhere. Because that day is 
> twenty-five hours long and you'd end up an hour behind schedule if you 
> didn't hike for an hour to nowhere. See?"
> I don't think he saw. I'll give him credit for trying, though. As he 
> started his stove, he'd start a question, and then stop. He either 
> couldn't figure out what the question was, or figured out it wasn't a 
> question at all.
> "So, if the hour...." Silence. "So, if the hour didn't exist, then what 
> happens to what you do during that hour?"
> "Well, in your case, you made up for it by getting lost for an hour. In 
> my case, I rested and read graffiti on the wall of Moreland Gap Shelter. 
> There were some doozies, too."
> Sundown cooked in silence, either trying to understand what I was 
> saying, or figure out if I was telling the truth. It didn't matter 
> either way.
> "You know how sometimes you experience what they call 'déjà vu'? That's 
> the stuff that really happens in those hours that don't happen. Then, 
> when they do happen, they seem to be familiar." The more I explained, 
> the more I began to believe it myself.
> I went back to reading Jack London's "To Build a Fire." I figured I'd 
> let Sundown digest his Lipton and 'Zero Hour' lesson for a while.
> Before I knew it, I was waking up, my eyes adjusting to the first light 
> of day. Sundown was sliding his arms into the shoulder straps of his pack.
> "Where you going?" I asked.
> "I wanted to get an early start. Gonna see if I can make it to Iron 
> Mountain Shelter before dark. Catch ya later, man," he said as he 
> crunched off into the frost.
> I took my time getting ready to leave. The cold April morning made 
> staying in the sleeping bag as long as possible seem like the right 
> thing to do. I checked the register as I waited for coffee water to 
> boil, and read Sundown's entry:
> April 6th
> I don't know if I was here or not. If somebody figures it out, let me know.
> --Sundown
> --------
> Felix J. McGillicuddy
> ME-->GA '98
> "Your Move"
> ALT '03 KT '03
> http://Felixhikes.tripod.com/
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