“you did forget your pack!”

Episode 66 on YouTube

melissa my head hurts

Episode 65 on YouTube

the us zoological breeding facility?

Episode 64 on YouTube

I know, I know, 13.9 is certainly more than 9 that we talked about last night, but it was a good thing and a good day for a hike. We woke up late, around 7:30, and didn’t start hiking until just before 9. James and Holly were out first, and the tearing down of camp was fairly uneventful, except for the old woman from Europe on the other side of the campground who didn’t realize that if she could see us when she was using the bathroom, we could most certainly, and tragically, see her! Our first leg of the hike today took us up our biggest climb, only about 1400 ft, and was broken in the middle by crossing ME 17, a picturesque little 2-lane with great views of the surrounding mountains. This morning, we didn’t get great views though, as the rain that came through last night was trying as hard as possible to stay around. The best it could muster was a fast moving cloud cover and some mist off and on, but it was certainly more dreary than the last few days. Once across the highway, we saw 2 signs, the first of which contained a description of the upcoming section of trail. It promised rolling and relatively mountain free hiking all the way to Rangeley, with nothing higher than 3000 ft in elevation. Since we were already @ 2500ish, that was certainly a good thing to hear. The second sign was an advertisement for Gull Pond Road, a hostel near town with over 500 ft of lakefront property overlooking Gull Pond, which is one of the prettiest places we’ve seen lately. The sign promised clean rooms, great service, and the privacy of a room to ourselves. Stubbs liked the sound of that and we decided to try and push on into Rangeley. It turned out the trail was just as enjoyable as the first sign had promised, and after only 3 breaks for the day, we made it to the parking lot on Rt. 4 before 4 p.m. That worked out to an average of over 2 mph for the first time since before New Hampshire. Today’s hike was beautiful and very easy by comparison to the rest of the state thus far. Stubbs had good strength today and I think the idea of some time off tomorrow really pushed her forward. Once we reached the parking lot, we tried to call and get a shuttle for the 8.5 miles to town, but we didn’t have any cell service at all. There was, however, a man and his son in a minivan at the other end of the lot, waiting on the rest of their family and watching Garfield on their DVD player. I asked about the nearest place for cell service (while Share went hiking up the road with her phone over her head) and the guy, Derek was his name, offered to let the 4 of us pile into his van and he’d give us a lift to town. We were most grateful and enjoyed the scenery into Rangeley (and Stubbs picked up some headphones and enjoyed a bit of the Garfield movie!). Once in town, Derek hooked us up with some Gatorade (Thanks again, Derek. You’re a good man!) and we headed over to Asian Express, a highly acclaimed Thai restaurant in town. We called the Gull Pond Lodge before going inside and arranged to be picked up later when we gave Bob, the owner, a call. Dinner was delicious, with fried rice, Thai noodles, sweet and sour chicken, and chicken curry. It didn’t exactly come in hiker portions though, so we left with our stomachs longing for more. Our walk through town yielded several chances to further appease our appetites, and we opted for an ice cream joint next to a little BBQ stand. While the other 3 of us went to order dessert, James went for some BBQ and came out with the best looking 1/2 lb. hotdog I’ve ever seen! I had 3 scoops of chocolate chip black raspberry and Stubbs ordered a banana split of monstrous proportions! After finally reaching our fill, I called Bob and he said he’d be right over to the ice cream place to pick us up. Almost an hour, and two calls to the lodge later, we still didn’t have a ride. To make a long story short, Bob went to the wrong ice cream stand and then proceeded to every other restaurant in town, looking for us. He finally came back, with Bus Driver to help identify us, and we got our ride to the lodge @ long last. It is a beautiful lake here @ Gull Pond and the sunset over the water from the driver seat of a kayak was amazing! The lodge itself would never make an issue of Good Housekeeping, but it’ll do for the night. We’ll probably spend some time in town tomorrow and may opt for a motel tomorrow night, as the whole private room thing didn’t pan out. As I type this, Stubbs is asleep in the bunk above me, Bus Driver is across the room in another bunk, next to another bunk occupied by Lady Cluck, who we were delighted to see tonight for the first time since New Jersey. SuperChunk is also here and we’ve had a great evening hanging out with them, along with Sunny and Share. The only real problem at the moment is the nearby box fan that is pointed directly at me. The air feels great, but Bus Driver smells like a possum crawled up his nether regions and died! The combination of that smell and a properly functioning box fan makes me wish I was a little more congested than I presently find myself! I think I am fighting whatever it was that Mel had a few days ago, but I’m still able to smell things that the good Lord never intended us to smell before the fall of man! All in all though, it was a good day and we were able to get in some relatively enjoyable miles. Now, however, I think its time for sleep. Thanks again for all your comments, and I found out through one of them that we have now hiked the same distance as between Nashville, TN and Los Angeles, CA. Wow, what a cool thought. Here’s hoping your night smells a bit more gas free than mine! God bless.

headed to get something to eat

Episode 63 on YouTube

We were jolted awake this morning around 7 by the sound of a loud conversation outside our bedroom door. Sunny and Share were on the bunk bed in the corner and Stubbs and I had the full bed next to the door. On the other side of that thin piece of wood, standing on the 2nd floor balcony, was Joel, the owner of the place, and he was having a lively conversation with people out in the street regarding shuttles to and from the trail. We were too tired to really care, but then we heard him refuse to give someone a ride because there were 4 hikers in the room next to him that were supposed to be up for a 7 a.m. shuttle. The knowledge that we were the only 4 hikers in any room even remotely close to him was reason enough for me to crawl out of my sheet and blanket cocoon and slowly stumble out the door to greet our loud proprietor! Apparently, even though we had never even discussed a time to leave this morning, he had gotten it in his mind that we were going to be up and gone by 7. I kindly let him know this was not the case and we were planning to head back to bed. After a couple meager attempts at making me feel bad for having him come in so early, which of course wasn’t true, I went back to the room and he went on his merry way. By this point though, we were all 4 awake and decided to get moving so we could make the 8.7 miles we had planned for the day before it got too late. Even with this decision made, it by no means meant we were in a hurry. Sunny took another shower, Stubbs checked out her computer stuff, I changed clothes in the closet, and Share did whatever it was that she does! Finally, we were packed and out of the Andover Guest House (I gave the wrong name last night) by shortly before 9. We walked the 200 feet or so across the street to eat @ the General Store for the 3rd time in 21 hours! This morning, Stubbs had a huge bowl of oatmeal, 2 eggs, and toast. I had 3 pie-sized blueberry pancakes, bacon, and 2 eggs (needless to say, our first climb was a bit rough on old Mr. Bones!). We weren’t sure how we were going to cover the 9 road miles back to the trail after finding ourselves outside of Joel’s good graces, so I explained our plight to our waitress/hostess/cook/cashier for the morning and she volunteered the young couple in the booth across from our barstools to take us! Turns out the girl is her daughter and the guy is apparently a boyfriend (either that or she is WAY too friendly with her siblings!). They grunted their willingness to take us back to South Arm Road and we climbed into the back of a black Chevy truck and were on our way. The ride back to the trail was long, bumpy, and required us to shut our eyes at times to avoid getting them filled with all the horse feed that was flying off the bed of the truck, but we finally made it, and it was free of charge! We started our hike up Old Blue Mt just before 10:30 and decided we’d do our best to stretch 8.7 miles into as much of the day as possible. Our first climb, 900 ft in 0.6 miles was a real kicker, but the remainder of the 2200 ft to the top was fairly uneventful. We did pass a southbounder who told us the shelter we were planning to stay in for the evening, Bemis Mt Shelter, didn’t have a reliable water source, and neither did the 3 miles on either side of it. This presented a bit of a problem and we chose to solve it by ignoring it and hoping it would go away! After about the 4th person who told us the same thing, we opted for a different tactic. From our vantage point along the trail where we stopped for lunch, we surveyed the next few miles of terrain, looked at our book, and decided we had no other choice but to push for our campsite here along Bemis Brook. It put us above 12 miles for 4 out of the last 5 days, and most people only do 8-12 miles per day through this section, but we really had no choice but to go where we could find water. So, with legs still a little worn from our long day yesterday, we pushed on. The climbs over the small peaks of the Bemis Range weren’t exactly heart pounding, and we were happy for a little more gradual trail. As we walked, the 4 of us talked religion, politics, history, literature, and a little bit of everything else. We certainly don’t see eye to eye on every issue, but it is nice to be able to dialogue, agree to disagree, and still be friends. We hope to stay in touch with James and Holly (Sunny and Share) for the rest of our lives, as they have become dear friends. The final mile down to our campsite was a descent of almost 1000 ft over the once again nasty terrain we’d been used to for the last few days. Stubbs set the pace and beat everyone to the bottom, took off her boots, put on her Crocs, and headed to the stream to rinse off without saying a word. I could tell something was up, so I followed soon after and found her sitting on a rock in the middle of the creek, a rag soaked with icy cold water resting on her sore knee, and crying harder than I’ve seen in a while. I asked her softly what was wrong and she said through her tears that she’s hated the last few days and isn’t having any fun at all with the pain she has been suffering through. We had planned to do less than 9 miles today but ended up going well beyond that by necessity. As such, it was just a little too much for her to make it through and remain emotionally intact. We talked for a bit, decided to sleep in tomorrow (without the possibility of Joel interfering), and only shoot for 9 miles to a pond with a swimming hole. We’ve heard it is a great place to watch for moose as well, since they seem to have eluded us to this point. The next day we’ll have about 5 miles into Rangeley and plan to take the rest of the day off there. The only thing that might change this plan would be if the weather was nasty tomorrow. Then we’d push into town tomorrow night and take the day off on Sunday. We’ll just have to play that by ear. After our talk @ the creek, we came back up, informed Sunny and Share of our plan, set up camp, cooked dinner, and talked a little bit about original sin and predestination! We were in the tent before 8 yet again, and now we’re both slowly drifting off to sleep and trying to ignore the dull aches and pains that have become our constant companions. Thank you all so much for your encouragement and kind words. It really means a lot to us. We wish we could respond to everyone personally, but just know that you are all greatly appreciated! Aside from a few moments here and there, and I mean this with all my heart, we really are in good spirits and are looking forward to completing something that few ever get the chance to finish. God bless you and may you have a splendid day tomorrow! Good night.

we’re still alive and well!

Episode 62 on YouTube

an encounter with a bear! … a bluff charge?

Episode 61 on YouTube

Okay, time for a little honesty (not that everything else I say is a lie, but I guess that is a good intro to let you know what I’m about to say is serious). For some of us, going on a trek of almost 2200 miles is as easy as getting up in the morning and going to work. For some of us, day after day and mile after mile of incredibly hiking across incredibly taxing terrain with all our possessions on our backs is just a normal function of life. WE ARE NOT THOSE PEOPLE! Every day out here has been a struggle of some kind and, even though we have loved the experience and wouldn’t trade it for the world, we’re growing more and more worn down by the day. We used to put in 18-20 mile days and get up the next morning to do it all over again. Now, we honestly struggle after 10-12. Yes, the terrain is much more difficult and rugged, but we’re simply starting to feel our systems in the slow shut-down mode. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not dying or anything, we’re just feeling beat up. Our feet, hips, knees, and backs hurt a little more each day. Early on, we heard a former thru-hiker saying that most long distance trails wear you down, but the AT beats you up. We certainly agree with that statement, at least for our part of the experience! The last couple days, Stubbs has been hit the hardest. She is more sore than she has been for the better part of the trail and her muscles seem to be fighting against her. Today was a great example of this. We did almost 15 miles, most of which were fairly gradual for a change, but she was hurting the entire time. She said several times that her legs simply felt like they were full of lead, or even jell-o. On the way up from East B road, where we got a hitch into town this morning for a resupply and a burger @ the General Store, we gained a meager 2000 ft in almost 5 miles and she said the entire time she felt that she was walking up a hill 2 or 3 times as steep. I’ve had bad days too, but she was really worn out today. Not to worry though, we chatted about it, albeit a little breathlessly, on the way up the hill and she agreed to be completely honest with me if she ever started to feel like she just needed another day off. We’ve been at this thing for too long to have something go wrong with our health that would keep us from finishing. My wonderful bride has a competitive/stubborn streak in her that makes Rocky Balboa seem like Glass Joe (Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out was the best game ever!) so it was a big deal for her to be honest and let me know she was feeling like she was. So, we finished our day, arranged for a shuttle into the town of Andover, and are staying @ the Andover Inn, where she has been sleeping upstairs since shortly after 9 and I’ve been down here in the living room trying to make words flow together into sentences that are coherent, while 90,000 people are screaming maniacally on the television as Obama makes his acceptance speech (and I’m trying not to let my cynicism toward politics in general get me into a stupid argument with my good friends).

We were up this morning shortly after 6 and hiking by 7. We did 4.5 miles by 9 and had to wait on a seldom used side road until almost 11 until only the 2nd car in 2 hours drove past and stopped to let the 4 of us into the back for a ride into town. We arrived @ the General Store, one of only 3 businesses in town, just after 11 to find out they were no longer serving breakfast and we had to settle for a cheeseburger of less than epic proportions or flavor sensations. Stubbs has officially decided that cheeseburgers are off her menu for the rest of the trip, at least from restaurants where you can buy fertilizer and ring it up on the same ticket as your meal! We walked across the street to the Andover Inn and arranged to stay for the night and then were lucky enough to grab a ride back to the trail. We did 10.1 miles from 1:00-6:30 and ended our day with a climb of 1300 ft in .9 miles up and over Moody Mountain, where the trail had recently been washed away by a huge landslide. It was tougher, in our estimation, than going up and over the Mahoosic Arm, and it was here that Stubbs started talking about how exhausted she really was. We made plans to only do 9 miles tomorrow and will probably take a nero when we get into Rangeley in a few days. When Joel, who owns the inn, came to pick us up in his early 80’s gold station wagon, we jammed to some REO Speedwagon on the way back to town and then headed back to the General Store/Feed Lot/Diner for dinner. I had spaghetti and meatballs, salad, bread, and a side of chicken nuggets (strange, I know). Stubbs had meatloaf (which resembled two pieces of something a moose left on the side of the trail), mashed potatoes, and corn. We washed it down with a pint of ice cream and some orange sherbet and headed back to the inn. After a shower and getting laundry started, she headed off to bed and I headed downstairs (by the way, I did end up in a bit of an argument over the issue of gun control, and another little one about our situation in the Middle East, so I guess I should learn to hold my tongue a little better!). This brings us to the present and I am getting ready to head off to bed myself.

I hope my description of how we are feeling didn’t give any wrong impressions. Stubbs honestly is stronger than any person I know, she’s just really tuckered out tonight. We’ll take the final couple hundred miles as they come and if we need to slow down, believe me, we are more than willing. When we finally got cell service this evening, we had 17 comments and all of them warmed our hearts and cheered us up in ways you can’t imagine. Thanks so much for all the thoughts and prayers and know we wish there was a better way to express our thanks. God bless you and goodnight!

Hello everyone, I heard from Joe this evening while he was running a few technical questions by me. While he sounded like “good ‘ole Joe” you could tell these last few days have really been wearing on them.

I would ask you to take a few moments if you get a chance and reply to his latest blog post with some comments. I know they really look forward to them each night and any additional contact and encouragement would be greatly appreciated!

I guess he was so starved for contact he decided to call me … hah … he must have REALLY been desperate. Nevertheless they could use your encouragement as they’re wrapping up the adventure!