8/17/03 A hiker in his element. Rough thought: "I was standing on the top of Vermont and, despite a slight haze, could see forever in all directions. It was breathtaking and well worth all the boulders, slabs, roots, and flying things. It was early morning and I breathed in the mountain air and thought about how distant the so-called civilized world was. Although it was the 21st century, as I gazed at the carpet of grreen-clad peaks stretching in all directions below, I could just as well have been a man living centuries before. I could feel the connection." Now, when do we eat breakfast?