Date: 2005-08-01
From: William Douglas Shelter

To: Manchester Center VT
Miles today: 5.8
Weather: broken clouds

Boy, were we three Canucks ever lazy! None of us had big plans to go far, so we slept in. Since the shelter faced west with a big mountain behind us, plus a cloudy day, it was 8:00 before we crawled out.It rained a good bit more last night. The shelter has a tin, corrugated roof, so it sounded like thunder overhead. Impossible to sleep while showering. But it only last off and on the first few hours, so having gotten into the sleeping bag not long after 8 p.m., I ended up with a lot of sleep.In front of the shelter was a huge patch of bell-shaped flowers that were orange-yellow in colour. I'll need a flower pro to tell me what they were, but possibly forgetmenots? Anyway, they are hummingbird magnets, and we got to enjoy a pair of them for the longest while.I was underway by 9 a.m. with only 5.8 miles to do before hitting highway 11/30 going into Manchester Center. As I arrived there, another hiker (Handyman) who is doing a Georgia-Maine and was just ahead of me on the trail was thumbing a ride. So I joined him, and within five minutes a man in a pickup truck picked us up. Along the way the 5 miles to MC, we passed a moose which was in significant distress, lying in the ditch, with a couple of police cars and a number of others. Apparently it has been there a couple of days, and they're working at trying to get it up and going, but it is definitely a hazard to drivers.I found my way to a delightful hostel in any older house run by a gentleman named Frank Sutton, the place being named Sutton's Place. I'm sharing the room with Handyman who will be leaving early tomorrow. I will be doing a "zero" tomorrow, meaning no hiking on the trail (though lots of walking around town doing errands.) A blister on my right foot has finally burst, so I need to be careful with it. And my body is ready for a sabbath rest (seems like God has plans about those events.) My disposable camera will be taken to a one-hour photo place so I can send the pictures home with my hand-written journal entries. Krista and Lyn should get them in 3-4 days. The resupply box I had mailed to myself was awaiting me at the post office. I finished an Agatha Christie novel last night and left it at the shelter in case someone got caught in a daylong rain storm and needed something to read. Another Agatha Christie is in the box for me to take along. Each of my three boxes has one.I had a nice chat with the Pokie Puppies as I waited the use of this computer. They are a 60-something couple hiking Georgia to Maine. They started last year and made it about 3/4ths of the way, so they're wrapping it up this year. So there's hope for me when I'm 65!! I was aware of the Pokie Puppies because I had been reading their shelter register entries. That is one of the features of the AT. Each shelter has a register that hikers write in, and sign with their trail names. The entire year's worth of entries are there. People also often leave messages for other hikers behind them. Long distance hikers frequently flip-flop one another for various reasons, so the register tells them when someone is ahead and how many days. So I've seen entries from people like the Pokie Puppies, Slow and Steady (yesterday's Canadians), Hairball and Snowbunny (aka "the Nasties"), Thunder, O'Connor, Midnight, Mutumbo, Sandals, and so forth. It's fun to actually get to meet the person whose name and entries you read about.This computer is on the second floor of a book store/coffee shop in MC, and the terminals are available for free. They're also wired for wireless, so several people are in here with their laptops clicking away.The hot and humid weather has returned, heralded by last night's rain and cloudy weather. Yuck! Lets get rid of it, or it will reduce my daily mileage considerably.