Date: 2003-07-11
From: CT 55 parking lot

To: CT 55 parking lot
Miles today: 0.0

My knees will thank me for this 0 day, they haven¢t hurt this much since the early days of our hike. We are finally ding lots of ups and downs again, our knees are getting worked out, we are getting in shape again, for the mountains to come in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. I¢m taking way too much Advil for my Pains, I worry that I will do permanent damage to my liver or something¢¦ But I have to keep taking it, I can¢t walk without it¢¦ Yeah, I know¢¦ This sounds stupid. My health should come before a silly hike, I know this¢¦ But I won¢t allow pain to stop me now¢¦ God, I wonder what I would have done, if I knew now, what I would find out later¢¦. The pain would get worse before it got better¢¦ That I would take Aspirin, Advil, Tylenol, Cellebrex and a muscle relaxer, all at once a few times, just to be able to stand up the next morning and put my pack on¢¦ That I would need a minimum of 4 Advil & 2 Tylenol together (every 5 hours), just to stay asleep many nights. Sometimes it¢s better not to know what¢s coming¢¦ Just have faith that everything will work out, and move forward with life. Anyway, today is a rest day, we will go to the Post office, outfitter, supermarket, and whatever else strikes our fancy. Gretchen and Brian have been so good to us, and they don¢t even know us, they know Subman. Home cooked meals, a great place to relax, nice people to talk to & tons of birds to watch. It doesn¢t get any better than this (I¢ve seen more birds in their yard, than on the whole previous 1400 miles of hiking!). I sent an email to my friends frorm Connecticut (Lisa & Mike), I wanted to see them while I was in CT, but I don¢t think it will work out. I¢ll try to stop in on the way home from Maine, or when I go to the ALDHA hiker ¢Gathering¢ in NH this October (Awesome, I saw them in October. Didn¢t realize how much I missed them. Hi Katelyn & Matthew!). 700 miles to go, soon we will be in Massachusetts, then in Vermont. But for now, we just take one day at a time. The rest will come as they may, no rush. My pack will be a little heavy heading out tomorrow. I have 8 and a half pounds of food and 5 pounds of water. But I can¢t afford to lose any more weight, so I have to eat more. I¢ve managed not to lose any weight since Harpers Ferry (lots of town meals & visits from family helped). We relaxed today, touring Sherman CT, stopping by a little New England church and cemetery, went to a small craft fair, shopped some more, then ate steak, corn & potatoes (Yumm!!). Later we played Bop it extreme, and Yatzee (Wench cheats.. tells everyone she never played before & rolls 2 Yatzees on her 1st 2 rolls), ate ice cream, then went to bed. Tomorrow morning, we hit the trail again and head north. Subman is already in Maine with less than 200 miles to go. He said the Whites were hard, but awesome, and Maine isn¢t too hard yet. I can¢t wait to get there, he just saw Katahdin from Saddle back, how cool (it was just as cool when we got there, sitting in the sun & wind, eating lunch as we saw Katahdin for the 1st time). The weather was nice for our hike today, but rained cats & dogs at night. We should have a few hiking days ranging from 60-85 degrees, then more rain. I bounced my coat ahead, and kept my slippers & emergency space blanket (just in case, the weather is unpredictable). Boy, I¢m just a chatty Cathy today, I should be sleeping. Gretchen & Brian¢¦. Thanks for everything! You guys are awesome!