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Speaker 1: It was a Saturday morning in February twenty and fifteen.

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My husband and I decided to take a day trip

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to Lake Pleasant, which is northwest of Phoenix, Arizona. We

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had purchased a very nice Ram power wagon not long before,

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so we thought we would take it for a nice

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ride and have a picnic. We arrived at the lake,

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rode around and checked out a few different areas, and

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at at about two pm, we found a nice area

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and decided to have our lunch. As we were eating

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and enjoying the view, we got to talk in about

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a place called a Crown King that we thought wasn't

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too far away. We had always wanted to visit, but

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it never made it there. We had been members of

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a four wheel drive group a few years back that

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had planned a couple of trips to Crown King, but

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seemed it wasn't meant to be. A brush fire had

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stopped one of the trips, and I don't recall what

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stopped the other. After we ate, we decided to do

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a bit more exploring. As we were driving down a

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not so good dirt road, we saw a sign that

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red Crown King. We knew it was the back way

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in and we agreed to check it out. We set

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the GPS and headed into what was for us unknown territory.

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This was around three point thirty in the afternoon. We

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noticed that we were the only ones headed in the

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direction that we were going. There were several off road

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vehicles going the opposite direction, and we noticed that they

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were traveling at a high rate of speed. It was

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like they had to be out of the area before dark.

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We thought that seemed rather bizarre. We crossed a small

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muddy wash and at the time neither of us said anything.

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Thinking back, it was very strange because both of us

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had seemed some thing on each side of the truck,

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while we didn't mention it or stop to take pictures.

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We still can't figure out. There were huge footprints in

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the mud. They were well over a foot long and

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at least seven inches wide. The tracks were very clear,

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even the toe prints were visible. By now, we had

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traveled quite away. GPS was still telling us that we

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were on track, but the not so good road was

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getting much worse. We went through a narrow area with

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dry brush on each side. My husband shed a few

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tears as we heard that dry brush scraping down the

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sides of that new power wagon. We had definitely given

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it what we call the Arizona pin stripes. It was

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starting to get dark, but there was no sign of

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our destination. We had only brought enough food for our picnic,

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and all that was gone. The original plan for the

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day was to check out Lake Pleasant, have our picnic,

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and after a bit or sight seeing, we'd planned to

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stop at a restaurant somewhere on the way home. That

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wasn't happening by now. All we had was a half

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a bottle of water and about a half tank of

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gas in the ram. We were watching the GPS closely.

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Now it showed our destination was just a few more miles.

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We were so happy. It was late and we were hungry,

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and neither of us had been to the restroom in hours.

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We hadn't seen anyone since before dark, and as I mentioned,

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they weren't going our way. Finally, the GPS said, you've

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reached your destination. It was the most lonely lost feeling

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as we talked a hill to what we thought would

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be Crowned King, only to find dead bushes and trees

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and nothing else. GPS was worthless. We were for the

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first time in our lives. Lost, we kept going, trying

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to find our way out and back to civilization because

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there was no turning back. We were getting low on

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gas and had made so many turns we wouldn't know

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which road would take us back to the lake. We

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were counting on the way out if we could find it,

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being closer than the route we'd taken, but where was it.

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We took a different service road that looked promising, but

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they either came to a dead end or they led

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us to another road. We had entered into an area

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where there were pine trees. Now we were not real

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happy at this point, and we were still lost. We

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had our half bottle of water, but not knowing how

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long it would be before we got out of there,

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we saved it. Plus we needed to use the restroom,

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but it was so pitch dark out there we weren't

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about to get out of the truck. We were driving

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down the dirt road with our brights illuminating both the

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road in front of us and some area into the

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pines at our sides. We rounded a slight curve and

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what we saw will be etched in our minds forever.

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This took place in twenty fifteen, but the memory is

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as vivid today as if it happened last night. It

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was now, by the way that we decided to tell

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each other about the large tracks that we had both

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seen earlier, but it failed to mention. Sitting on the

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ground kind of behind a tree, and not a small

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pine tree, mind you, was an ape like figure. We

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could see half of its back in its arm and

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part of its right thigh. It seemed to have its

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legs pulled up against its body. We could also see

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the right side of its head. The part of its

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shoulder that we could see stuck out from the tree

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about two feet sitting on the ground. It seemed to

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be from ground to the top of its head as

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tall as me, and I'm five foot five inches tall.

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I couldn't tell how muscular it might or might not

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have been, but it was well filled out out and

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very big. We got closer and it turned its head

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more to the left, away from us. It had silver

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gray hair that looked about the same length all over.

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Because of the gray, we thought it might have been older.

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There was no mistaking what it was. These lights were

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bright and we were only about twenty five feet away.

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We drove on there was no way we were going

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to stop for a better look or pictures. I'm pretty

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sure we were both in shop. We just kept moving

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on down the road. About a mile with the ac on,

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the noise of the truck engine and the radio turned up.

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All of a sudden, above all the noise we were making,

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there was this indescribably loud, grunting roar. It was unforgettable.

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It was the type of sound that makes the hairs

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on the back of your neck stand up. We didn't

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slow down, we just kept driving. But now it was

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around midnight, yet to find our destination, and we really

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weren't caring now. We just wanted to find the highway.

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We wanted to find civilization. Finally, a bit after one am,

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we saw a small settlement. It was just a few houses. Oddly,

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at roughly one point twenty am, every house had what

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appeared to be every light on. We remarked on how

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peculiar that was. About ten minutes after that, we finally

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found a highway, and a few miles later we found

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a place to eat. We were in such a state

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of shock that all we could do was sit there

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and try to process what we had seen. It occurred

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to us that we had been lost for almost ten hours.

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The next day, I looked up bigfoot sightings around the

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Prescott Crowned King area. I read several posts and stories.

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One of the posts said, if there have been bigfoot

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sightings near your home, leave all your lights on all

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night and they won't come into your area. Could this

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possibly be why the little settlement had all the lights on.

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We have since wanted to go back in the daylight

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to check out where we had seen it. We haven't

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as of yet. We don't really tell this to very

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many people. You know, all those weird you've lost it

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looks you get. However, my husband and I know what

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we saw. We have always been believers in Bigfoot, and now,

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beyond a doubt, we know they exist. They are out

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there and thank you for reading my story. For unclear reasons,

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it appears that the thirty third year of a man's

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life may be fraught with darkness and peril. After all,

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Biblical accounts inferred that the itinerant preacher from Nazareth was

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betrayed for a measly thirty pieces of silver during his

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thirty third year of life. King Richard the second of

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England and also King Charles the Fourth of France also

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met an untimely demise at the age of thirty three,

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as well as the late great soul singer Sam Cook

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prior to his planned a military incursion into the Sauty Peninsula.

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Alexander the Great died in Babylon on the threshold of

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his thirty third year. As for me, I was thirty

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three years old in nineteen ninety, and sadly my life

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was upside down at that time, two years out from

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my divorce, which was largely a consequence of my own misdeeds,

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I was finding little if any pleasure in life. My

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behavior had become reckless and irresponsible. I had dated many

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women at the same time during that era, with complete

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disregard for their own emotional needs. Frankly, I was a

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cad and an apparent dangerous one. At that I would

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press the bounies of my own health and well being

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by taking out my nineteen sixty eight Big Blocks Shelby

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on Interstate ten in the wee hours of the morning

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near Pacacho Peak and hold down the accelerator pedal until

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the speedometer was buried well above the one hundred and

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forty mile per hour mark. Rest assured this car was

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and still is powerful enough to transport me to another

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realm of existence with utter disregard for earthly remains. At

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the time, I just did not care about myself or

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perhaps anything else for that matter. The only thing that

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seemed to give me any meeting was my work, and

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perhaps that is why I took on assignments and projects that,

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in retrospect, were not particularly beneficial to my spiritual well being.

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In nineteen ninety I elected to farm myself out to

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offer expertise in medical legal malpractice matters. In the fall

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of that year, I was scheduled to render medical opinion

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concerning an unfortunate case of a man who had a

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delay in diagnosis of cancer and this led to his

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premature demise. His estate had sued the doctor who had

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committed this alleged omission, but before the matter went to trial,

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the defendant, who was only a few years older than me,

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had subsequently died from cancer. Also, is there such a

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thing as karma? What do I know? All I can

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tell you is that God in his universe often works

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in strange and mysterious ways. Frankly, as both the plaintive

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and the defendant in the matter were now dead. I

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should have resigned from the entire case, but I had

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signed a contract, so I was obligated to hold up

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my end of the deal as a medical expert witness.

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The trial would be in northern New Mexico, not far

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from the Colorado border. The plan to fly into Albuquerque,

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rent a car, and drive up for the trial to

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render my opinion concerning the case. As stated, I was

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out of sorts and I did not want to be alone.

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I took a girlfriend with me, who had spent her

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entire life in the Southwest but had never been to

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New Mexico. I promised her that if she went with me,

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we would do some sight seeing. We arrived in Albuquerque

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during the first week of October and subsequently rented a

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car at the airport. I took my girlfriend on a

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tram ride up the top of Sandea Peak, where we

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made reservations to eat dinner at the restaurant at the

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top of the mountain. The tram ride at Sandea Peak

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has the second longest non supported cable run in the

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entire world. Although it was late in the afternoon, we

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still had two hours before our dinner reservation, and this

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gave us some time to hike along the crest trail

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at the top of the mountain. We hiked north towards

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the Kowanas Stone House, which was a structure built by

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the C. C. Sea Boys way back in nineteen thirty

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at the beginning of the Great Depression. I'm not certain

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if that stone house had ever been served in any

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meaningful purpose during its nearly one hundred years of existence,

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but it is a tremendous place to watch the sunset.

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The entire trail loop was only about one point seven

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miles long, and the hiking trail was not a particularly

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arduous endeavor. On the hike towards the old stone structure,

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we passed many people who were heading back to the

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tram to depart the mountain. We were not particularly concerned,

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as we were readily enjoying the aspen trees which were

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now exhibiting their bright yellow fall foliage. Much to our surprise,

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when we made it to the Kawanas House lookout, there

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was no one there. We had the whole place to ourselves.

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We stayed at the look out until the last ray

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of sunlight peered over the top of the nine mile hill,

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which was about twenty miles in the distance. Once the

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sun had set, it was time for us to return

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to the trail head and head for the restaurant. As

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we walked back to our destination, it got dark rather quickly.

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For all the world, we were most likely the very

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last people hiking on the Crest Trail at that time.

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In the middle of our return journey, we passed through

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a heavily forested area. To our left, which was an

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eastward slope of the mountain, there was a steep drop

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off that rolled away at approximately a sixty degree angle.

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That entire area was filled with thick brush and broken

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limbs and fallen trees. That is when it happened. Forty

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feet behind us and to the left on the downward slope,

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something came crashing through the brush. We could hear the

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snap of fallen tree trunks breaking. On a curious note,

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whenever we stopped, whatever was following us beside the trail

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would stop. Also, I was absolutely certain that we were

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being stalked by a bear. I would still profess that

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theory except for one unsettling fact. Periodically, large stones were

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hurled at us. Most were the size of baseballs, but

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one was as large as a loaf of bread. The

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stone would land at a distance of five or perhaps

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ten feet behind our steps. To this day, I'm not

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certain if whoever or whatever was throwing those stones was

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highly inaccurate and missed us by fair margin, or perhaps

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more likely, it was only trying to encourage our departure

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from the forest at an expedient pace. Whatever we were

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dealing with, it was clearly not a bear, as these

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creatures are incapable of throwing objects. As previously stated, I

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was embedded in a rather reckless and impact ruous time

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in my life. On several occasions, I would turn towards

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the thicket to verbally challenge whatever was stalking us, utilizing

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harsh threats and perhaps even professing unpleasant invectives that had

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rudely questioned the paternal lineage of the lurking menace in question.

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In retrospect, this was probably not a particularly good idea,

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and I was admonished by my girlfriend from my feeble

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attempts to provoke whatever it was that was trying to

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usher us from the premises. Within a few hundred yards

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of the restaurant and the tram left. The forest had receded,

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and whatever had elected to rudely escort us off the

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mountain never did reveal itself. My girlfriend and I decided

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not to stay for dinner, and we hastily departed from

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the top of the mountain. We headed back to Albuquerque proper,

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as we had a long drive ahead of us in

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the morning to get to the medical malpractice draw that

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would take place in northern New Mexico. It is often

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said that wisdom is acquired by the one learning from

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his or her own mistakes. I dispute that adage. I

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believe wisdom is garnished by learning from the mistakes of others. Now,

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remember another event that had occurred in New Mexico on

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January first in nineteen eighty six. The day before, on

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December thirty first, nineteen eighty five, the nineteen fifties pop

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singer Ricky Nelson had died in a plane crash west

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of Texarcana. As I was a fan of the do

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wop in nineteen fifties music in general, I was rather

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distraught about his passing. On January first, the day after

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Nelson had died, I decided to take a long drive

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to Mount Taylor, which was fifty miles west of Albuquerque,

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just to clear my mind. I was warned that the

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road was under safe and unfit for two wheel drive vehicles,

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but I failed to listen to this sage advice. The

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person who had issued this warning to me had previously

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broken down halfway up Mount Taylor. Has stated one should

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learn from the mistakes of others. I had attempted to

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drive up to the top of Mount Taylor on a

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forest dirt road in a two wheel drive sedan, and

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I promptly broke down about halfway up the mountain. I

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waited four hours until someone else had come by and

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was able to successfully contact a tow truck on my

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behalf to get me out of there. I recalled that

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it cost me a small fortune in towing fees. While

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I was waiting for the tow truck, I saw what

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I thought was a black bear standing behind a tree,

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periodically peeking at me from about one hundred and fifty paces.

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Looking back now on that more remote event, I'm wondering

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if what I saw was not a bear after all.

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Not bears hibernate in the winter. Mmm.