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Sunday, August 8, 2010

August 5 - 22.0 / 2,064.6

The thunder turned to rain that lasted off and on through the night. So, when I woke up my tent was wet and some water had pooled underneath. I guess I have to get better at picking tent spots. I had to face the climb over Moxie Bald Mtn in the morning since I didn't make it over the night before. I struggled due to the humidity.

The map had the rest of the day as pretty "flat." However it was really just pointless ups and downs that ran along a river. I had to cross the river twice. The first crossing was an actual ford with shoes and socks off. It wasn't difficult, just a pain. Sam and I made it to the second crossing a few miles later. We decided to take a break before crossing this time. A few minutes later a couple arrived at the opposite side of the river. Sam and I heard what sounded like soft drinks being moved around in a cooler. We looked through the bushes towards the couple and saw the lady bending over. We looked back at each other and in unison said, "trail magic." Sam yelled towards the lady asking if their was a cooler over there. She replied that there was, and it had drinks in it. We quickly put stuff back in our packs and crossed.

The lady was a little dumbfounded to see a cooler. Once we crossed, we explained that it was trail magic. By this time, Merf arrived on the other side. We yelled for her to not stop and come join us. The three of us each had two drinks. Yes, we left some. Knowing Merf wanted to go in to town too, I told her to keep up with us. We all left to hike the last few miles.

I could hear thunder approaching in the distance. I don't like to risk being in thunder storms. There wasn't a shelter near by so I asked Merf if we could set up her tarp tent. We decided to set it up between a few threes, and the three of us sat under it for the next hour as the storm went through. Luckily the lightning stayed a few miles away. We packed up the tarp and continued on. We were about two miles out when we came to a blue blaze trail which led to some ponds. I arrived first and noticed some Pepsi laying beside a fallen tree. I gave off a howl. There were three so it was perfect. All three of us decided to pack them out and drink them once we made it to the road. I had called the local hostel to come pick us up instead of trying to hitch. We made it to the road before our ride arrived.

The hostel was full inside so the three of us ended up tenting in the back yard. It was rather nice as I didn't have to deal with sleeping in a room with a lot of other people. There were quite a few people there including new NOBOs, SOBOs, and section hikers. Riverdog was also there. Sonic had gotten a hitch but neglected to tell the people what town he needed to go to. He ended up 15 miles the wrong direction. He actually ended up staying with another thru hikers mom that he had met earlier in his trip.

Merf, Samurai, and I walked to the local restaurant/bar in town. It ended up being all you can eat tacos night. All three of us decided to go that route. I had two orders of soft and one order of hard. That came out to 12 tacos total. I definitely got my monies worth. During dinner I brought up the conversation of how surreal this life has been the last few months. How am I able to be sitting in Maine looking over a lake with someone I met 3 months ago and another I met 3 days ago? Even crazier is how quickly you get to know people out here. It is almost like we were all best friends before this trip and are just picking up where we left off. It is going to be tough to go back to real life. A '09 thru hiker wrote in a shelter log the other day, "Enjoy it out here. When you're done, you're done." I think all of us are ready to be done but don't want to be done at the same time.

We then when to the only gas station were I grabbed some resupply food and a pint of Ben & Jerrys Half Baked. We then headed back to the hostel.

Most everyone was asleep when we arrived. I tried to knock out my ice cream, but I was too full from the tacos. I managed to eat half though. I was a little disappointed with myself. I got a chance to speak with my mom, sister, brother, and Michelle. It was good to hear all their voices. My dad had to work so he wasn't in Nashville yet with the rest of my family. I ended up speaking to him this morning (Aug 6).

In a food coma, I headed towards my tent for the rest of the evening.

1 comment:

  1. Talk about finishing...sounds a lot like college. You are so ready to graduate, then afterwards you realize it is a lot more fun than working.

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