Date: 2008-08-28
From: Bennington, VT

To: HAPPY B-DAY OWL!!
Miles today: 0.0

It was Owl's day. Probably not her perfect day, but the best we could do with what Bennington had to offer. First she got to sleep in. Soaring and I walked across the street and rented a car for the day. We left Owl and Roo in the room to sleep and watch TV while we ran some errands.First to the Post Office. I picked up our drop box but left our bounce box to be forwarded. There really wasn't much time to deal with it today. 'School stuff' is the main thing in it and we can do that at the next stop. Most importantly I picked up a stack of birthday cards for Owl from family and friends. It was so much fun watching her eyes light up later when I handed them to her. She was surprised and delighted. Thank you all who gave her that wonderful treat!Then it was off to the next Post Office. I've mentioned that I am having problems with blisters on my heels. I just can't seem to get them healed. Last time I had a blister problem was when my shoes started breaking down. When I got the new shoes they got better. This time my new shoes had already been mailed down to Dalton, MA. That's days down the trail, but with a rental car it's only 35 miles away. We took a drive down to Mass. for our new shoes. My feet feel better just thinking about it.Back up to Bennington we started working on cleaning up and organizing our packs. We make an incredible mess doing that. Next we were heading off to the laundry, but first Soaring took Owl out shopping for a birthday present, new town clothes. Oh, I forgot to add, in the box with the new shoes Greg had included her birthday present, a new fancy harmonica. She was so excited.Off to the laundry and downtown Bennington. We dropped by the outfitters and got Owl a new hike shirt and some new maps for me. My Mass and CT maps seem to be missing. I must have put them in the wrong drop box. We walked down the street to browse a bookshop. Next door was The Spectacle Shop. The gentleman there was very nice and adjusted my glasses for free. They've been crooked since my face landed on them yesterday. I've felt kind of funky ever since, something about lopsided glasses makes the world seem a little off center.Then we realized how short our time was. It was 4:30 and the Post Office closes at 5:00. We had a few things to bounce forward to the next stop and I was expecting an overnight package that hadn't arrived yet when we checked in the morning.About a week ago our tent pole began to crack. We've been very careful with it but it finally snapped while packing it up Wednesday morning. It took me forever to get through to MSR to get a replacement. The guy I got on the phone wasn't real thrilled about helping me. Instead of new poles he is sending a replacement piece for me to repair it. MSR doesn't get any kudos for customer service with me. So he overnighted it to the Benington PO but it didn't make it. That means we leave out of here without a working tent and no idea when the pole part will catch up to us. Oh well.Then it was back to the hotel. Soaring offered to stay in the room with Roo so that Owl and I could go out for a birthday dinner. We didn't know where to go so we just got in the car and started driving. Not too far away we found a Chilis. That worked. The big thing she wanted to do for her birthday was to see a movie. There was a theater here but we were shocked by their terrible selection of movies. Out of seven movies the only one worth seeing was The Dark Knight. I would have rather watched something lighter and more fun, but it was on Owl's 'want to see' list. So we did.Did't get back to the room until 10:00 and we still had to pack our packs and eat her birthday cake. I fear we'll regret this in the morning, but birthdays only happen once a year.Tomorrow, back to the trail. We're almost out of Vermont.Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9