If you forgot to tune in to watch the latest episode of NHPTV’s long-running “Windows into the Wild,” you missed a mighty inspirational program.
But thanks to the magic of the Internet, we’re able to repost the show here, along with some background on why this one was so special. The 26-minute segment features Manchester resident and journalist, Dan Szczesny and his hiking buddy and sidekick, Janelle Mylott, for whom Dan and his wife, Meena have become legal guardians, through one of life’s most interesting journeys.
During the course of the show host Will Lange helps set up the abridged version of what is a truly a fantastic tale, of how a young couple came to the rescue when their neighbor, a grandmother entrusted with the care of her twin grandchildren, lost her husband.
Szczesny and his wife were in the right place at the right time to step up and prove that family ties are strongest when they begin with the heart.
The result of this unique friendship resulted in the 2013 book, “The Adventures of Buffalo and Tough Cookie,” a memoir of their year-long quest to hike New Hampshire’s “52 with a view” mountains.
Along the way you will hear Szczesny describe the time someone called the cops on him for being an old man in the woods with a young girl, how they earned their trail names, and how a young and inexperienced hiker taught an old Buffalo the real gift of hiking.
Also worth the watch: Szczesny’s story about how the universe solved Janelle’s blister problem when she couldn’t find hiking boots that fit her, and the ritual that they practice at every summit, in memory of Janelle’s grandfather.
