Just saw the news on Pelican's Facebook post
I had the honor of meeting Grady when he set up a Pelican GTG/camp somewhere in the high mountains of Colorado during my cross country roadtrip on 9/1/04. He even cooked breakfast for us the following morning, and was very amused at my mom using chopsticks with bread (see pic). I was amazed by his generosity and wealth of knowledge (didn't quite know at the time just how much he knew) not to mention his eagerness to share and help...I will never forget him.
A few days later while making a stop at my aunt's place in Cupertino, CA I discovered that the left rear wheel bearing had pretty much disintegrated. I was determined to change it out myself, and even bought a bearing and an used banana arm at PartsHeaven when Grady called and convinced me that I was probably way over my head having never done it before, and that given the situation it would be best to just take it to a shop. Good thing I listened, since there ended up being a lot more that was damaged than just the bearing. After getting back home to Hawaii he sent over a couple of posters including one of his former shop, which I promptly sent back and requested an autograph. Never did get it back unfortunately, and man, I sure wish I still had it, and wish I kept in touch with him. RIP Grady, you will be missed.
camera focusing error of the sign Grady put up at the entrance :/
