[pct-l] Conversation with Squeaky (very long)

[kdpo at gottawalk.com (Ken Powers)]

The more I read about Squeaky the more impressed I am.

Based on our practical experience I wanted to respond to the last paragraph 
of Dr Bob's post:

>S:  "I've kept everything low-key.  The only people that know about it are
>by word of mouth and people who use the internet or trail journals.  I
>didn't do any press releases or anything like that.  I haven't done any
>newspaper interviews.  I haven't wanted anything to interfere with what I
>was doing.  I didn't want to approach sponsors.  I just wanted to go and do
>it.  I didn't want to rely on anyone for anything.  I have no idea what
>response there will be.  When I get home, I might buy myself a Lazy-boy 
>(big
>smile).

Squeaky's approach seems very close to what we wanted. No sponsors, no 
support on the trail, no publicity. We wanted to show the hiking community 
that our hike could be done and to document our plans. If we didn't make it 
we hoped the next hikers could look at our planning and fix whatever didn't 
work. Fortunately the "did not work" parts were not significant enough to 
prevent our completion.

Keeping a low profile has definitely helped Squeaky keep his pace. We also 
wanted a low profile but felt the ADT needed the publicity. We consented to 
newspaper interviews until we started getting requests every day. We found 
that we lost about an hour a day to interviews. It didn't take long to start 
declining.

Squeaky, you will not believe the response you are going to get at Springer 
and in the few days that follow. I predict your name and picture will be 
splattered all around the world. If you like the attention go for all the 
interview requests you get. If you don't like the attention - well, you will 
still be pestered beyond your wildest dreams.

Good Luck, Squeaky! What a remarkable accomplishment!

Ken
...GottaWalk
www.gottawalk.com