Date: 2010-06-27
From: home

To: home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

I'm feeling quite a bit better. I'm still taking the occasional nap, and I still have a few aches. But at this point I feel like if I needed to go back to a normal schedule, I could. I still have a week of antibiotics to go, and it's probably just as well that I have the extra healing time. But basically I'm good right now. My feet don't hurt for the first time since March.I needed this time off more than I knew. Three months away from home, and without a close group of friends on the trail, had set me adrift. I wasn't seeing my hike as a grand adventure anymore. I knew it was something I wanted to do, but I had lost the zest.After two weeks off, I miss hiking. I want to be out there! I feel mentally and emotionally refreshed, my reserves of love and friendship freshly topped off and brimming with happiness. I'm ready to tackle more challenges, spend more nights in the forest, and see new vistas. Just as soon as my sunburny antibiotics are done.Of course, I have no idea how I'll feel once I get off antibiotics. I have a cartload of herbal Lyme treatment to continue taking on the trail. I *hope* I'll feel awesome, but it's impossible to say if that will really happen. So I'm going to get on the trail close to home. That way, if I feel awful, it will be easy to come back. And if I feel great, I keep heading north. I definitely don't have time to make Katahdin this way. Maybe I'll do a southbound hike from Katahdin to wherever, another year.In the meantime, I'm still resting a lot. And playing with horses. And enjoying the company of my husband and pets. And eating yummy food, which is in short supply on the trail.Oh, by the by, the USPS online forwarding request? That costs a dollar? Didn't work. I have not received my boxes from Waynesboro. I'll call the post office tomorrow to see what's up.Yesterday, Delee and I and JD went to REI to do some shopping. I got a Buff which should be a little cooler than my original one. Some spare socks. A new hat with detachable neck veil. And I tried on a *bunch* of backpacks with 35 lb of weight in them. The one that fit me best seems to be the Gregory Jade 50. The one in the store had some asymmetrical sewing on the lumbar support, which I assume is why it was the last one in the store. So I ordered one online. The 2009 model was half off, so I got that. Gosh, I hope 2010 didn't have some awesome improvement that will make me sad I got the old one. Either way, I hope to move the weight in my backpack from my shoulders to my hips. And I hope to carry less than 35 lb! That's a worst case scenario.Also to do before I leave: decide if I want to swap out my shelter for a lighter one, or a hammock perhaps. Treat my clothing (oh, I also got a ventilated button down shirt to wear instead of my now skanky LL Bean top) with permethrin in an attempt to rebuff the advances of ticks and other nasty critters. Ponder going stoveless - the vast majority of my eating is no cook anyway.Last but not least, while I'm home I'm trying out soy based and non-bovine cheeses. Goat cheese does not seem to cause me any unhappiness. If only the Dollar Generals of Appalachia carried goat cheddar! Alas, they do not.