The old cliché "It's a small world" held true on my recent trip to the Northwest Territories. Not only did my fishing guide Carlos Gonzalez spend part of his youth in Macomb Park in Schuyler Falls, N.Y., a place I know well, but I experienced an even stranger meeting before I arrived in Yellowknife.

I drove the MacKenzie Highway from Grimshaw, Alberta to get to Yellowknife, a 632-mile trip (see the upcoming August 17 Spectrum for details of that trip). While in Grimshaw, a small, out-of-the-way farming community about 400 miles north of Edmonton, I was about to gas up my rental vehicle at an Esso station and asked the guy on the other side of the pump if I had to prepay for the gas like we do in New York.

"I don't know," he replied. "I'm from New York."

"Whereabouts?" I asked him.

"Saranac Lake," he answered.

"I don't believe it; I don't live far from there," I replied.

When I told him my name, he said he had been reading my columns for years. Then he stood up and I noticed the Adirondack Daily Enterprise T-shirt he was wearing.

"I'm Peter Crowley, the managing editor of the Enterprise," he said. "I've wanted to meet you for a long time."

I was flabbergasted. I too had been reading his paper for many years. We then talked for a good half hour and he introduced me to his wife Michelle who had driven to Grimshaw from Saranac Lake -- it took 6 days -- with their two young children, Rose Mary, 6 and Eleanor, 4.

It turned out that Michelle had grown up in Grinshaw, and she and the family were visiting relatives. Peter had flown out from Saranac Lake via Boston.

I photographed the Crowley family at Mile Zero. We talked some more (gossiped was more like it), then they took off south and I drove north toward the Northwest Territories. It was a very unusual encounter, considering it took 3000 miles of travel for Peter and me to finally meet.

Field Notes

Since I've been gone (I left early July 15) on my trip, the Wildlife Photo Gallery submissions have multiplied, but I intend to do something about it -- special gallery segments in upcoming weeks featuring more than one of the outstanding photos I've received. I really appreciate your support of the Gallery. Please be patient as it will take time for me to catch up on my correspondence.