Fedora Journey...

[Rusty Jones]

My New AB is, by all standards I'll probably ever hold, THE Indy hat, but it made me realize the long journey I've been on to get here... Here's my Fedora Journey...


1 - I moved three houses and 3 states in this hat, lost a pair and half of shoes in mud (the second 1/2 pair I lost trying to get the first pair out), and had my first kiss in this hat. there was a bully at my middle school who made fun of it once, he was across the table from me jumping up and down on a chair making fun of the hat... so I kicked the chair out from under him (trust me this guy deserved it... he didn’t even get hurt... bad) I finally retired this hat after I got chased by a dog into a river... it went like Indy's fedora at the beginning of Raiders and at the time I thought it was cool, but then I couldn’t get it shaped decently after that (eventually I fixed it but only for sentimental value, I'd moved on to fedora 4 by then)

2 - I got this 1/2 to replace the first indy fedora I lost and 1/2 because I wanted a mobster looking hat... I birdied my first hole of golf under this lid...

3 - after the indy DVDs came out I got the itch for indygear real bad and got this hat because for some reason I thought it looked screen accurate (the non teardrop crown I guess) but it didn’t last long... I beat the town checker champ one day in this hat and some guy at the mall said I looked like indy in it... I actually found Indygear.com and joined cow as "ZeusCow" in this hat a few years ago... Email confusions and a long absence made me need to create a new profile, though...

4 - this is a great fedora I got in 10th grade off the internet (I believe amazon.com still sells them)... I actually snuck out in this hat, 'borrowed' dad's convertible, met a ladyfriend and got my first [something else] in this hat. On my way home, I realized i Had to put gas in the car, so I pulled in the station, and was followed in by a cop (I didnt have a licsense at the time... BAD idea...) well I panicked and went striaght to the restroom, and though to myself, "oh god, he's gonna ask to see my liscense because I'm a teenager out at 3 AM........ what would indy do?" I pushed out the bash, pulled the brim up, purchased another 'protection device' from the gentleman's machine, burst out of the bathroom, walked to the attendant, and said "Zwanzig Geld uber Schleishfach numer drie, Bittte." which is german for something like 20 money over locker number 3... please.. I gave the gas station attendant a 20, and got a REALLY weird look from her and I'm assuming from the officer but I didnt look aroudn to see. I put about 19 dollars in the tank, and drove home... realized I put too much in, and arranged a second encounter for the next night so I could burn off the extra fuel (my dad only drove it every once in awhile)

5- My dorfman was one dissapointment after another for the most part until I rebashed it... it appeared on stage with me in To Kill a Mockingbird and helped me win "Best costume of the dorm" when I dressed as indy for a costume party at summer-pre-college-theatre-school-thing I attended... (NC Governor's school.... if anyone's familiar)... I also got moderately lucky that same night and was, for the first time, called "hot..." (the actual words were: "You're dressed as indiana jones right, That's hot") so it may have just been the way I was dressed that was hot :c) but hey, "I dont like fast women!" (that quote applies to that night, if you catch my drift there... ;c)

6 - This is a light gray hat I rescued from a trash can in my theatre group's costume lab, I rebashed it with a teardrop crown and have worn it on and off since... I once avoided arrest in it at 4 in the morning with a couple friends... and thanks to this hat and a homemade mask, the Wake County Police Department now knows me as "Zorro" (That story is actually much more interesting with just those facts... rather than the details, so I'll leave it at that...)

In conclusion, It's been a long road to the ultimate indy hat, and I have high adventure hopes for my new Adventurebilt...

PS: I'd love to hear about anyone else's fedora journey or adventures... I had a lot of fun reminiscing tonight...

[Strider]

Don't know how I missed this thread.

I've been lucky, I've only had to go through a few hats before I got to the AB. My first wool Dorfman ws great for awhile, until I got caught in a rain storm once. I eventually ended up giving it away to a neat kid by the name of Adam. Here is a link to that story.

The next hat I got, a Peters Bros. Custom Indy, I bought off ebay. It was a nice hat and all, I really didn't have a problem with it. I wore it, it felt fine, looked pretty good to me at the time, and I liked it. That hat served me well; here is a link to the story that goes with that hat. It's the second one down on the page. Probably the most "Indy-esque" thing I will ever do, and one of the most heart pounding situations of my life.

Then, I got a hat from Lee Keppler. I liked it when I first got it, and it looked pretty neat. Lee was kind enough to meet with me in person to deliver this hat, since we live relatively close to each other. This hat suffered the same fate as my Dorfman, unfortunately. Got rained on, pretty badly, and tapered so horribly, that I was forced to sell it on ebay at a pretty decent loss. That's not to say anything against the quality of the hat, mind you. The reason it tapered is my own fault, in not knowing how to properly store a felt hat that has been soaked. Up until it got rained on, it was a neat hat.

After that, I finally ordered the first of two Adventurebilts that I have ordered over time. I ended up selling it, because I was in need of the money, but then sold an item on ebay for a large sum. I wish I'd known that was going to happen, because I would not have sold the hat, had I. I took the money I recieved from my auction and bought a new AB, which is the one I currently own. My second one has seen some fun times, too. Steve did a wonderful job on the re-block, and cleaning, and it looks fantastic.

Good thread, Rusty.