Jim Gallien had driven four miles out of Fairbanks when he spotted the hitchhiker standing in the snow

beside the road, thumb

raised high, shivering in the gray Alaska dawn. He didn't appear to be very old: eighteen, maybe nineteen at most. A rifle
protruded from the young man's backpack, but he looked friendly enough. Gallien stopped his truck and told the kid to climb in.

The hitchhiker swung his pack into the bed of the Ford and introduced himself as Alex. "Alex?" Gallien responded, fishing for a
last name.
"Just Alex," the young man replied. He explained that he wanted a ride as far as the edge of Denali National Park, where he
intended to walk deep into the bush and "live off the land for a few months."
It was a two-hour drive from Fairbanks to the edge of Denali Park. The more they talked, the less Alex struck Gallien as a
nutcase. He was congenial and seemed well educated.
In summer the road here would have been sketchy but passable; now it was made unnavigable by a foot and a half of mushy
spring snow. Ten miles from the highway, worried that he'd get stuck if he drove farther, Gallien stopped his car. As a reward,
Alex insisted on giving Gallien his watch, his comb, and what he said was all his money: eighty-five cents in loose change. "I
don't want your money," Gallien protested, "and I already have a watch."

"If you don't take it, I'm going to throw it away," Alex cheerfully replied. "I don't want to know what time it is. I don't want to
know what day it is or where I am. None of that matters."

Before Alex left the pickup, Gallien reached behind the seat, pulled out an old pair of rubber work boots, and persuaded the boy
to take them. "They were too big for him," Gallien recalls. "But I said, 'Wear two pair of socks, and your feet ought to stay
halfway warm and dry.'"
"How much do I owe you?"

"Don't worry about it," Gallien answered. Then he gave the kid a slip of paper with his phone number on it, which Alex
carefully tucked into a nylon wallet.

"If you make it out alive, give me a call, and I'll tell you how to get the boots back to me."

Gallien's wife had packed him two grilled-cheese-and-tuna sandwiches and a bag of corn chips for lunch; he persuaded the
young hitchhiker to accept the food as well. Alex pulled a camera from his backpack and asked Gallien to snap a picture of him
shouldering his rifle at the trailhead. Then, smiling broadly, he disappeared down the snow-covered track. The date was
Tuesday, April 28, 1992.
I would have spoken to you about it, but you ………………….
He could have waited! I …………………………
They may not have seen the news yet because …………………………
You needn’t have bothered, but ………………………………….
We shouldn’t have left so late because …………………………..
Woman who only eats FRUIT says her diet has cured her migraines,
acne and constant colds - but doctors warn it's dangerous
A woman says she managed to rid herself of crippling migraines and other health problems including acne and
yeast infections - by eating only fruit.

Saša Dedić, 34, from Ljubljana in Slovenia, exists purely on a diet of fruit and some salad and says her plant-based
regime has left her a picture of health.

Her previously spot-covered skin has cleared, she has toned up although still weighs the same at 58kg. 
Now, she cringes when she thinks back to what she used to eat: 'I ate chicken, pasta, grains, grazed on sweets,
cheese and drank alcohol,' she said. 'Now, I can't imagine doing that.'

Saša is adamant she is doing the right thing – even taking her own fruit to restaurants: 'I just explain and ask for a
plate and people are generally nice,' she said.

I also suffered from almost constant colds.

Saša, who works as a translator and a healthy lifestyle coach, tries to eat seasonally and source her fruit from local
growers in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where she lives, meaning what she eats varies depending on the time of year.

As it is spring, Saša is currently enjoying more salads, although she still has up to two fruit-based meals a day.

But soon, it will be summer and there will be more opportunity to eat a larger variety of fruit again.

'Then I'll have watermelon, cherries, nectarines, peaches, melons, apricots and figs,' she said. 'I can't wait.' Come
autumn, Saša will turn to one of her favourite fruit – persimmons, or Sharon fruit.

Saša spends about five euros (£4.25) a day on fruit in Slovenia, and less in Thailand.

The extra money she saves goes on travel.

'As I buy in bulk and from local growers it doesn't cost much. I used to spend more on sweets and junk food.' Saša,
who learnt about a fruit-only diet on the internet, said she had never experienced any ill health as a result of eating
only fruit.

However, her diet has been criticised by nutritionists. 

Shani Shaker, registered nutritional therapist and director of Golin Health, said: 'Adopting a fruitarian diet may help
with weight loss in the short term but it's not nutritionally adequate on an ongoing basis and can lead to health
problems if followed indefinitely.

'A plant-based diet can lead to deficiencies of calcium, vitamin D, B12 and iron.

'This can lead to a deterioration of muscle and bone strength, anaemia, neurological symptoms such as tingling in
hands and feet, fatigue and increased susceptibility to infections.

'Also fruit contains a lot of sugar so this type of regimen would unbalance blood sugar, affecting mood,
concentration and food cravings. I'd want to understand the motivation behind adopting such a regimented diet, if
it's purely for weight loss there are much better approaches.'