Date: 2009-10-04
From: Gettysburg

To: Virginia
Miles today: 122.0

So much has happened since my experience at the Doyle. Lately I had been hiking with Lightweight, Tex, Petunia, and Tree Hugger, but as of now I am in Gettysburg. So a few days ago, Lightweight and I were hiking together one day when we decided to have lunch on the side of the road. The sun came out as we were eating, so I decided to recline on the warm pavement, and before I knew it, I was asleep taking a wonderful nap. It was a nice nap, but it suddenly ended when a police car pulled over flashing its lights. Two police officers came out and woke me up and asked what we were doing on the side of the road. I said that we were eating lunch at first, but I got tired and fell asleep. They weren¢t too excited to hear that, so they asked us where we were from and a few more general questions. Lightweight and I didn¢t want any trouble, so we said we would keep moving. I guess it¢s illegal to sleep on the side of the road! I am glad the local law enforcement was doing its job though. You have to watch out for all those wandering bums you know! In more exciting news, I recently passed the halfway marker for completing the trail! It is nice to be halfway done, but when I got to the marker I was disappointed, mainly because the piece of paper hanging there said that the real sign would be put up in the near future. All I got was a sheet of paper on a stick. Oh well! As some of you know there are traditions on the AT, and one of those traditions is the half gallon challenge. When a thru hiker is halfway done with their hike, they are encouraged to celebrate by eating a half gallon of ice cream as fast as they can in one sitting. Well I love a good challenge, so I attempted the feat with Tex and Lightweight. It was cold and windy outside where we did the challenge, so that added to the intensity. After about 31 minutes, I was the first (and last) to finish my half gallon of Peanut Butter Caramel Cookie Dough. It was fairly easy for me, so to top things off I consumed an entire cheeseburger after that! What a meal! The only tragedies that occurred during this event were that Tex and Lightweight didn¢t finish, and all three of us have to get new spoons now. They broke theirs in half, and I accidentally left my spoon on the picnic table when we left! Bad day for spoons I suppose¢¦In other news, My Dad and Jim have flown up to hike with me the next week. They got dropped off one day (thanks Rebecca), and I was able to hike with them until our next pick up point. Gettysburg! Doug Miller, a friend of a friend, arranged to pick us up and stay at his house for a day or two, and it has been wonderful. We all decided to take a zero yesterday in Gettysburg not only to take a break, but to tour the battlefield and go to the annual Apple Festival! We got a personal tour of the battle field! How cool is that! Doug is very knowledgeable about the battle of Gettysburg, and we went to the actual fields and ridge to walk around as he explained what had happened during that time. It was a lot of fun and very interesting. We also went to the Gettysburg Cyclorama. There are only two in the world, and I have already been to the other one in Atlanta. Kind of neat that I can check that off my list now! The museum was fascinating, and the history seemed to come more alive when we were standing where Robert E. Lee had observed the battle, as well as where all of the soldiers marched in to attack. Another neat thing that we got to do was attend the annual Apple Festival. Everything at the festival was about apples, and there were live bands, hay rides, tons of food, animals, and all sorts of cool stuff. Lightweight and I even got our picture taken with the Pennsylvania Apple Queen! We also met Johnny Appleseed, looked at a lot of antique cars, and pet farm animals. It was a party, and we all had a good time. It is great to see my Dad and Jim, and I am thrilled that they are here. Unfortunately I was forced to take another zero today because of illness, but I hope tomorrow I will feel good enough to go out. Lightweight decided to keep going, but I¢ll catch up sometime. I also met some nice folks while we were dropping him off today at the trail. I met Katie and her family, so I would like to give a shout out to all of them. Things are going okay right now, and I can¢t wait to keep going. Gettysburg has been awesome, and the miles ahead are pretty smooth. I am more than halfway done! And no, it is not all downhill from here! Some people complement my decision on going south because I am going ¢down.¢ Well, I don¢t know if they think that¢s because off the curvature of the earth or what, but there are plenty more mountains to climb. The leaves are changing, and it¢s getting cooler, but I still have a great adventure ahead of me!