Date: 2010-07-20
From: Brooklyn, NY

To: St Thomas Episcopal Church
Miles today: 11.8

We all met at Steph's apartment and were picked up by Scatters' friend, Allison, at 930am. We had a couple hour car trip ahead of us back to Unionville, NY where we had gotten off of the trail on Saturday. A side note on the car trip to Unionville. We happened upon a Dairy Queen and we just had to stop. Once again I loaded up on my Reeces Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard. Boys and girls, I vow to never take those for granted again. I will always have room in my stomach and my heart for a Reeces PBC Blizzard. We were dropped off in Unionville at about noon but we had to wait until 1pm for the Post Office to open from their lunch break at 1pm so that Stucco could send some stuff home. It was this time that I made a bad discovery. While enjoying a porta john facility I discovered a Deer Tick on my inner thigh. This is the kind of tick that gives you Lymes Disease. Not cool. Tons of people I know that I've hiked with have already got this disease and I don't really want it now. I ran back to where we were and had Scatters research it. Apparently, we are in the "Abundant" area for Deer Ticks and theres a 50% chance that they are carrying Lymes Disease. What the heck man??? What can I do about it now? Not much. All I can do is monitor the area for the token bullseye. Grrrrrr. I'll also pray that no sickness falls upon me. Ok, I just looked....no bullseye yet. At 132pm (so precise again) we were on our way. This hike was filled with...get this....walking. Hahaha. Nothing too awesome. I tried to put more thought into my future like I wrote about yesterday. I basically come up with pros and cons for every possible idea I have. We did walk on the famous NJ boardwalks which is very unique. I took a video but you'll have to wait until I can upload it to see it. We got to NJ 94 (highway) where we attempted to hitch hike in for several minutes. Finally, we were picked up by Bob who goes to St. Thomas Episcopal Church. Awesome, cuz thats precisely where we were headed. What an awesome hostel. I am sooo impressed with it. We get a computer, cable TV, kitchen with stove, bed, water, sodas, and theres no one else here with us. You can not beat that. Secretely, though, I wish it was raining so that I could feel worthy of this place. So, to answer your questions...my feet feel pretty good. I found out the reason why I was getting blisters lately...I think. I carry three pairs of socks. Two of which are for hiking and one is for camp (when its wet or cold). However, one of those two pairs I have carried since Amicalola Falls SP (notice I didn't say Springer Mtn because I am proud of the fact that I did the extra 8.8 miles of approach trail). So, every time I wear that one pair that have come the 1347 miles I get blisters on the balls of my foot. Whats this mean? This means that I am going to promote my camp socks to active duty. They are worthy of this promotion and I think they can handle it. I'm sad to give up my other socks as they have been with me the entire way. I get soooo attached to my socks. Maybe I can find him a good home...any takers??Well, thats all for tonight. I'm happy to be back on the trail even though it was in the 90's today. Oh well, I'll always look back on this time as such an adventure that no other summer will ever feel the same. Always Faithful to Him.