The attempt of the greatest distance travelled for an AH meet.So, as the title says. How's that?
Last year in spring we had a huge rout in this community over a thingy called the 12 hour rule. I never bothered but many of my friends in AH did, with known results. A merciless swing of the ban hammer knocked the dwindling numbers further down. Yet, my best friend in AH, Bluberry, was not only banned from game and BBS, he was also called out in public on this forum as a hacker without any possibility to defend himself. Something that I did not see coming from the BBS administrators and I still consider it as cheap. But that's another story.
Well, life went on and while I was able to remain a member of the game ( having stayed out of all the 12 hour banter and most of the rest ) I never lost contact to Bluberry since. I missed him in game, and still do so to the day. But our friendship evolved beyond AH.
This October I receive a text from him:
"Can you take some days off?"
"How's that?" I ask back and I receive an invitation, at no expense, to spend a week's vacation in Montana for some hunting and fishing. Whatta??? I was baffled.
I live in a little country called The Netherlands. Few of you might ever have heard of it and probably less could point it out on a map. Flat as a pancake and we still wear wooden shoes. The most common thing about the Netherlands is going out for a lunch or dinner with a friend or buddy " Going Dutch" which means you split the bill in the end.
So on a cloudy October Tuesday I boarded a flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis, on to Salt Lake City and arrived, close to midnight, after 17 hours of travel in a place I never heard of called Missoula, MT.
And there we met for the first time, Bluberry and me.
For the next week, I was treated like a king. I did not have to worry about anything. All was taken care of, I am still astonished by the way it was.
I resided in a beautiful cabin on my own, incredible food, drinks, booze as much as I could hold, guns, ammo, fishing rods, guides, you name it. I spend a total of $141 in 10 days, mainly on gifts for my wife and kids. I also was honored to be invited for a stay at Bluberry's parents home for two days.
Never ever anybody in my life has presented me with an experience like this.
I will be in debt to him forever.

So, hackers are friends. Not in all cases, but in this one, definitively. And maybe this is the farthest ever travelled for an AH meet up.
Whoever likes a little impression, check the video. I am the one with the beard.

Cheers
