Date: 2007-08-29
From: Gifford Woods State Park

To: Rutland
Miles today: 3.2

Woke up a bit on the late side. The kids decide not to go into town, so Brian and I decide to push on without them. We hike what seems to be our normal pace and within an hour so we come to a road crossing. We are a bit confused because the only road we are suppose to hit is the highway into town, but we didn't hike long enough to be at the road. We walk up the road to a ski lodge to figure out where we are. Come to find out we were at the road into Rutland. I decide to walk to the lodge area to see if we can get a hitch into town. The woman behind the front desk was awesome, she offered me coffee and a shower. I quickly got Brian and explained what was being offered. We both took her up on the offer and decided to shower first. We get down to the locker room and see they also have a sauna, but we decide to only shower. Turn the water on and wait for the warm water to hit, no warm water. So we are stuck taking cold showers. All cleaned up. We head upstairs to get some coffee. When we get back to the reception area the receptionist told us about a bus that comes thru the lodge area where we are at, next bus was a 45 minute wait. So we sat and drank coffee and told trail tales. The bus came and took us into Rutland, and we decide to stay at the 12 tribes. The 12 tribes is a religious cult, sort of Jews for Jesus. When we get to the hostel one of the brothers shows us to the bunk room, then shows us around the facility, while doing his recruitment speech. The Tribe has quite the setup, the down stairs is a deli/cafe serving all organic foods and a tea drink called mate'. I've been hearing about the mate' for a couple of days and had to try it. Brian kept teasing that since I drank the kool aide I was going to get sucked into the cult. We set up on their deck area and started figuring what we need for our food resupply. While we were sorting things out, two female members of the tribe came out to eat lunch at a table right across from us. All of a sudden a brother taps on the shoulder and asks me to sit more discreetly. Kilt strikes again, my junk was all out in the open oops. We have our resupply all figured out and I get off the deck area quickly. Throw our laundry in the washer and make the plan to swap Brian¢s tent out at the EMS store at the mall. We catch the bus over to the mall. This mall stuff was weird. Being the woods for so long really makes you realize that you just need the bare minimum. Brian hits the tent section and I move over to the socks. I've going thru socks pretty quickly. I decide on getting some girls socks because they were cheaper then the men¢s, and they were just cool. We have about an hour so to kill before the bus comes back, so we decide to eat at the food court and get some coffee. I get bored so i go into the Vitamin World and ask if they have anything to get rid of all pain. A woman comes over and starts telling the wonders of creatine. I dodge all her attempts to sell me the 40 pound containers of powder. Then the girl behind the register asks if I'm a hiker so we start talking about the trail. Jokingly I tell her we have room for one more and before I know it she's telling me her lease is up on her apt. and that she'll come with us. Ashley then asks for my number and we talk about hooking up later to talk about what gear she'll need. Crazy stuff. We get back to the 12 Tribes and finish up the rest of our laundry. Geoff calls me to set hiking with me over Labor Day. Something comes up and he'll call me back. I then call Peter and we hammer out all the details. So now in a few days Geoff, Mike, Peter and Mickey are all coming up to Vermont to hike a section of the A.T. with me. I'm super excited by this. Come to find out Brian¢s lady friend is from the ATL and we arrange for her to ride up with the party coming to see me. As soon as all that was settled, I get a call from Ashley and she tells me she is coming with us. I tell her to swing by the hostel when she gets off work and we will tell her everything she'll need to hike. We get invited to eat with the brothers of the tribe. In true thru hiker style we never refuse a meal. During the meal the recruitment speech is thrown at us again. Thank god Ashley showed up right when dinner was ending. We go over everything with her and she is in. Then she asks what the cost would be, and when we tell her, reality sets in. I tell her about my friends coming up and that she should spend that weekend to see how she likes it. She said she'll think about it. We say our good byes and I'm off to bed.