Make new friends but keep the old,
One is silver and the other gold.
Our stay in Denver emphasized the importance of friends, new and old. For the first part of our stay we were with Mike Hinckley, an old friend of ours. Cindy and I thru-hiked both the Appalachian Trail in 1980 and the Continental Divide Trail in 1985 with Mike. Throughout the years Mike has remained in contact with us, as he has with many of the “old long distance backpacking crowd,” despite living thousands of miles away from most of us.
We are like family to Mike, and he to us. I’m reminded of how I get along with my brothers, also at a great distance from each other (except for Ernie, he and I both live in Norfolk). Neither the miles nor the time apart matter whenever we get together. Old friends like Mike are like your favorite sweater, always providing warmth and comfort.
New friends add spice to life, and that certainly is what Dan Brunson provides for us. We first met him in Fruita, CO, in adjacent campground sites as he was there with his roommate Chris for a golf tournament. They encouraged us to talk to colleges and that has worked out well.
We stayed with Dan during the latter part of our Denver stay. We found out he was a great cook, which surprised me because I thought he might cook like a bachelor on the go. We also found out much about golf that we did not know about. Dan shared with us a couple of things that the PGA does to better communities. They’ve raised a billion dollars over 25 years to benefit communities where tournaments occur, particularly depressed ones. They also have a program for teaching young kids some of the principles that like behind golf, like integrity and respect.
These principles are very important to Dan. He honors the game and takes a zen like approach to it. I’m a basketball fan and I have to admit to the unfortunate comparison he made between golf and many other sports. In basketball you try to get away with anything the refs will allow. Golfers police themselves in large measure, with the exceptions making big news because they are so rare.
Not as rare as good friends, fortunately, which we run into in abundance on this journey, both new and old.
