Date: 2004-07-08
From: Delaware Water Gap, Pa

To: Mohican Outdoor Center
Miles today: 10.5

Day #116 Pipesmoke and I got up early to take a walk to the Post Office, get hair cuts and resupply. We ended up going in different directions. I found a trail angel by the name of Garcia who was taking Bones and Meanderthal into Stroudsburg. Garcia does not like to be called a trail angel, but he is. He has thru-hiked the AT before, and this year started hiking with Southern Man until he got hurt, went off trail and back home to Florida to recuperate. Garcia missed the trail so much he drove back up to do whatever he could to be a part of the AT experience. We go into Stroudsburg and the first thing I want to do is get a buzz - a crew cut not a drink. I was directed to a mall where I met two gentlemen talking and I asked where I could get a haircut. Both said JC Penny. Walk in and sure enough there is a salon. I asked the woman sitting at the desk if I could get a buzz hair cut and beard trim. "No problem," she said. I got a very nice haircut and beard trim (without a shampoo) and go to pay my bill with a twenty dollar bill. Scanning the bar codes for the jobs she performed on the Kritter, the stylist looks at me and said. "Oh no, I'm sorry that will be $39.¢What the f#@^," I quickly muttered. "Sir," she says, "This is a salon and we have a bar code list for all the different jobs we perform. I don't make the rules"... and so on. I couldn't argue with her under that premise. I still feel I was taken, not even kissed and down dollars. However, for every negative wave that hits me, I try to turn into positive energy. This positive energy was a $39 learning lesson. To ask the price of something before purchase or service rendered. JC Penny, you are on my black ball list.Back in Delaware Water Gap in time for the hotel check out and stopped at the post office one last time before hitting the trail. Crossing the Delaware River on Interstate 80 Bridge alongside the speeding vehicles and wind producing 18 wheelers was noise pollution hurting my sensitive ¢forest-quiet¢ ears. It was not long before I was back in the woods hiking in the Delaware National Recreation Area. Two deer and a wild turkey came to my rescue and calmed me down. Oh, by the way, the rocks and boulders didn't magically disappear nor were they washed away by the Delaware River going into the next state, New Jersey. Nope. They continued where they left off in Pennsylvania and were especially troublesome along the shoreline of the glacial pond called Sunfish Pond. The trail then runs along a beautiful ridge line with the Delaware River below on the left and many ponds and lakes in the valley below on the right. My day ended at the Mohican Outdoor Center (MOC) run by the Appalachian Mountain Club. I was impressed with the simple lodge, the cabins and the tenting area, where I stayed. The sites were all taken so I shared a spot with Rael.Garcia was spending the night in one of the cabins shuttling the Hobbits. He came up to the picnic table and asked if anyone would be interested in a ride to Port Clinton for the "The Feed," a weekend event of free food for the current thru-hikers put on by Billville, a group of past thru-hikers and directed by Bag of Trix and Jester. Lint looked at me, I looked at Flip Flop and the three of us said, "We¢re in!" Garcia would even bring us back to MOC on Sunday. I couldn't pass this up. I thought maybe I would see trail friends I have not seen in months, and since I¢d passed the half way point, I was taking a two day vacation from the trail. You may call it zero days, and technically you would be correct. However, to me, it is a break from the rigors of the trail. A vacation¢¦