This morning, I had a brief get-together with an old friend from my days as Players Recreational Sports Editor at Dutchess County’s Finest Daily Newspaper.
Ralph Ferrusi writes the hiking column for the Poughkeepsie Journal. He puts his heart and soul into that piece each week, and it shows. He has a loyal following – his old editor being one of them. Ralph needed me to vouch for something on his behalf, and I was more than happy to do it – mostly so I could see my old pal again.
Ralph’s the man I want to be in 30 years (sorry, buddy, but I do think you’ve got close to 30 years on me!). He has written a book and is working on another. He hikes. A lot. The dude did the Appalachian Trail – twice! – and still maintains a healthy chunk of the trail up on Stormville Mountain near where he lives. He rides his bike. He cross country skis. For a short time, years ago before I knew him, he was a pretty fair runner as well – I think he told me he was sub-40:00 for 10km on the roads.
Anyway, Ralph drives a Smart Car, and he is pretty proud of it. OK. I’ll wait. Are you done snickering yet?
Well, let me tell you: The Smart Car is really COOL! Ralph took me on a short spin, and the thing has a lot of room inside and a lot of pep under the hood (well, the engine is in the trunk, but that’s another story).
Anyway, my interactions with guys like Ralph and outdoors columnist Bill Conners are among the things I miss most about being in the daily journalism grind. So it was good to see my old pal, who is truly a SMART MAN.
Sorry. I could not resist.
2 comments:
I remember standing next to Ralph at the starting line of a 10K, something like 30 years ago. We were the only two guys in the race running in cut-off jeans for shorts.
Check out this link and you'll see why I'd never want to be in a smart car.
http://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/2009/04/iihs-crash-test-smart-fortwo-vs-mercedes-benz-c-class.html
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