Eric Renderking Fisk chronicles the changes to The Gettysburg 2002 page through the years.
Behind The Code: Gettysburg Summit 2002
Eric Renderking Fisk - 2002/2007/2011 
August
2007.
Few weeks ago I had to let go of the old Gateway2000 machine that was running on Windows98 that I've had for more then 9 years. There was a long process of cleaning out the hard-drives, looking at the work I've done in the past couple of years and trying to figure out what to save and what to delete. One of the first things I went through was marked "Gettys" which contained the original version of this web page. Which also happens to be the very first web page I've ever done in my entire life.
I opened the file up in FrontPage and I was amazed at how incredibly simple and unsophisticated this page was. And how there really wasn't a lot to it, not much text... even by my standards. What was also in this folder was a Word For Windows document that I used to write the post I made the Monday morning after I got back from my trip out to Western Pennsylvania, the text was originally posted on "Club Obi-Wan" in a thread I can't find and don't know if it exists any more... I merged that file with some other pictures I had to create this new page for The Fedora Chronicles.
Since
I've recovered that file from my old computer (which has remained turned off for
many months if not for more then a year over the past two or three...) I've been
thinking a lot about how this community and collecting IndyGear has changed in
the past 5 years. It's just not the same hobby that it used to be. Many of the
people who I knew when I first started in earnest back in 2001 aren't there any
more, and other people have arrived and became what I call "Cornerstone"
members. Some of those Cornerstone members are folks from the North East area
such as "binkmeisterRick" and
"Curator Rick" Leisenring, a world renowned
expert on Gettysburg with a screen credit to a film about this very place and
event... (The Civil War, not this summit.)
There have been a few other summits in Gettysburg, none of which I've been to and I feel as if I let Neo and Captain D down. But just as I wish and I hope there will be again in the near future, I hope these guys and others from Indy Gear continue to gather whether I can be there or not since this is a great group of guys who deserve my support.
This
was a very short but important event for me. It put names and faces to people
who I knew for a short while but got to know very well. After this event, I felt
as if I wasn't as alone or as crazy as I thought since I started collecting and
wearing what some call "IndyGear" since the early 1980's. I think it was the
first real "IndyGear" Summit, and I'm proud to have made it. And I hope to see
these guys again, soon.
Here's to future gatherings, and here's to those who remember those who fought and sacrificed for what they believed in, regardless of the era...
Editor’s Note February 2011
This would be a great place for a side note and a couple of words
about the recent past. Somewhere between 2001 and the beginning of 2004
was or is the high-water between “IndyGear” and myself. There was a sense of
genuine exuberance knowing that there were more than a handful of us who
were trying to perfect our own replicas of Harrison Ford’s clothes from
“Raiders Of The Lost Ark,” something that I’ve been trying to do since
1982 since seeing that film during a matinee showing during winter or
spring break when I was in Junior High. I made a handful of close
friends during peak years on IndyGear, some of whom I still keep in contact with and
contribute often to The Fedora Chronicles or The Electric Speakeasy.
Since 2004 I made some bad errors in judgment and ruined some otherwise strong friendships. I had this idea for doing some things in conjecture with a site ran by Aaron Gantt; The Indy Experience, and Mike Marosy and the rest of the IndyGear team. That was never going to happen but I pushed it. Some words were exchanged on both sides that shouldn't have, there were some misunderstandings of what I was tying to do and as a result there was some alienation that as of yet haven't been resolved.
I would enjoy having the opportunity to do all of this over again,
know then what I know now. I would do it all with a little less angst,
less anger, less “tough love” and a lot less scotch. When I read the
posts I wrote during the time of day or night when I was most likely
having my Johnny Walker over crushed ice it’s like reading something
written by someone else. I could have and should have handled the
situation better.
I never should have tried to affiliate myself with IndyGear or other
sites, instead I should have been content to do my own thing and let the
work speak for itself.
Doing “Gettysburg Summit 2002” and writing this “Behind The Code” is
one attempt at starting over. This is the work that I love, one of the
real reasons why I started The Fedora Chronicles. As I wrote in the
introduction to
“Around The World” there had been a vacuum of sites devoted to our
adventures, travels and accomplishments. Where is “our” fan page? Where
is the website that celebrates us and what we’ve done? There are a lot
of talented and courageous people out there who deserve something more
than what existed before. I wanted to change that.
Reworking The Gettysburg Summit 2002 page was bitter sweet to me and
I wish that I could relay this message to the younger me in those
pictures from almost 10 years ago. It’s the work that’s important,
stupid. Not the accolades, recognition, affiliation or acknowledgment
from other webmasters. It’s what the readers of your own site that
counts, nobody else’s.