Date: 2010-09-03
From: 201 Caratunk

To: 201 Caratunk
Miles today: 0.0

03 September Friday ¢ Zero at Caratunk (Northern Outdoors)The bunkroom that I slept in last night doesn¢t have legitimate air conditioning. This isn¢t normally a problem, but Maine has been hotter than Arizona lately. I probably would have chosen to sleep outside had I known there was no cooler in the room. I was comfortable enough after swimming in the pool however. My rest didn¢t get ruined just because it was a little hotter than normal though.General Sherman got up in the middle of the night several times to drain the dehumidifier in the room. There¢s no AC but there is a machine in the corner that resembles a fan. General Sherman emptied the 3 liter container of water a total of 3 times. That¢s an insane amount of moisture in the air. The dehumidifier helped a little. You could feel a small difference in the ambient temperature when it wasn¢t drowning in the water it had already removed from the air.When I returned late last night, I hadn¢t removed the contents of my backpack from the lower bunk bed. I made the choice to sleep on the top bunk bed to keep from waking up Seeker and General Sherman. I find it odd that General Sherman is a Georgia resident. Sherman was known for being the man that burned his way south in the Civil War. That could be an awesome name for a Yankee, but I¢m not sure about a southern man. I told him he should burn a spot in every shelter register on his way down the AT. He should burn a small spot but then blow it out and write his name beside the entry.I was last to bed and the first awake this morning. I just can¢t sleep in anymore. I had coffee while writing in my journal. It wasn¢t long before General Sherman, Seeker and Sticks were up and disturbing my ability to write. My focus on the journal writing is easily distracted. It¢s hard work, writing all this.Sticks is rafting the Kennebec River today with the commercial company. That sounds like fun in this hot weather. If it weren¢t $90 I¢d consider doing it. There was a little rain fall last night. The ground is barely wet. It¢s supposed to rain throughout the day. There are a lot of kiddies going rafting today. All of the rafters are lounging throughout the Northern Outdoors living room. They¢re all decked out in wet suits, rafting jackets, wet shoes, and lots of rubber. It¢s 90 degrees outside already and it¢s not even 8am yet. Sticks got the clothing right. He¢s only wearing his hiking shirt and shorts. Sticks looks like he¢s at Club-Med but he¢s going rafting. After a few cups of coffee with Sticks, Conan and Backward and I¢m staying for the day again.Conan and Backward disappear to take a nap before they have to check out of their private room. I hang around and do some professional loitering. I talk to staff. I watch the news about ¢Earl¢ the hurricane. The scene from the North Carolina outer banks tells me all I need to know about Earl. The reeds on the OBX sand dunes are barely swaying in the wind and Earl is right there on the shore of North Carolina. This isn¢t going to be a bad storm. The waves aren¢t even that high but the news station is making it out to be as deadly as possible. I¢m no longer worried about me and Earl up here in Maine. If a news anchor is standing on the beach in North Carolina during the hurricane, it¢s nothing to worry about.I haven¢t checked out at 11am yet. I eat some plain couscous from the hiker box for lunch. The plain pasta is pretty horrible I got to admit, but it¢s free. Conan and Backward hang out with me for a while by the couches under the giant moose head attached to the fireplace. We think of a few songs to play on the jukebox. Amarillo Skies is my pick. I wanted to play ¢I love the Rain¢ but I couldn¢t afford .75 cent songs. The jukebox plays all day here for free and it¢s a great selection. I¢m in heaven actually just laying around listening to the great music. The music was a selling point for me to take this day off.The night ends with an awesome Chicken Broccoli Alfredo dinner. We watched the reruns of the Major League Baseball player brawl on ESPN. We played pool with Sleepy and Boone. I met Boone earlier today. Boone is hiking with a dog named Stella. I think Stella is the last genuine thru-hiker dog I¢ve seen since returning to the trail. Stella is a beautiful husky with bright haunting blue eyes. Safari and Rabid ordered the huge nachos that I ate yesterday.Tonight just so happens to be Karaoke Night! We¢re all excited about that. Free entertainment! Backwards sang, ¢Brandy¢ to warm up the crowd. Then some local guy sang the Bon Jovi song, ¢Wanted¢. He was full of himself. It was his 40th birthday and he was completely alone except for his girlfriend sitting quietly on the couch. The 40 year old guy was so serious about his ability. He could sing, but it was corny. Rock¢n¢Roll took the stage and blew the crowd away. Rock¢n¢Roll sang ¢I Can Fly¢ by R-Kelly and brought the house down. Sticks, Boone, Sleepy and I played pool while we heard a few good songs. None of the singers were better than Backward and Rock¢n¢Roll¢s duet of ¢Billy Jean¢. Backward danced and sang harmony with Rock¢n¢Roll.I made my way back to the abandoned cabins I found while it was still day light. The cabins are located behind the Northern Outdoor Center. It¢s not exactly legitimate for me to sleep there, but there¢s a hurricane coming through tonight. I don¢t want to be in the woods and I don¢t want to pay for a tent cabin made of plastic tarps. The tent cabins are about 1 12 miles away from the outdoor center also. I¢d like to be able to run indoors if the storm gets to rough. My cabin is old, red and falling apart but it¢s free. The doors are lined with torn bug netting and I wonder if I¢ll be attacked by a wild animal in search of shelter tonight. There¢s a smelly mattress inside the single sized cabin. The mattress is on a small shelf, just big enough for one person. I chose to pitch my tent beside the cabin.I started off the night in the tent because it was better ventilated and I was still hot. The tent worked fine until the rain began pouring in buckets. I could tell my tent was about to collapse on me and my feather sleeping bag. I evacuated into my abandoned rustic cabin and listened as the rain became heavy. No wind. I was off in the woods and surrounded by trees and weeds and bushes so I couldn¢t even feel a breeze. All in all, Earl wasn¢t anything like I¢d expected. It really did rain heavily, but that¢s all.