Date: 2007-07-24
From: Bennington, VT

To: Bennington, VT
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: mist

I made a few phone calls last night to talk things over regarding this trip. I appreciated the input from my mother, Awol, Blip, and Sox.Overnight, I battled an upset stomach and a cough. Maybe I caught something that was wearing me down. Who knows? I still set my watch to wake me up at 5:30 AM.I was up and ready to walk down to the diner on the way to the trailhead by 6 AM. I began walking and it seemed like such a long way away, so I turned back around, went up to my motel room and slept for three more hours. When I woke up I reluctantly went to the office to pay for another night. I knew that there was a sort of inertia keeping me here and that it probably wasn't good for my progress, but I did it anyway. It's my trip, my hike, and I'll do it anyway that suits me as long as I follow all of the white blazes when I'm hiking. I'll end this trip whenever I feel like it, when I run out of trail, get injured, or etcetera.Once I paid for another night, I walked over to the diner for breakfast. It's called the Top Notch Diner and in true form, it's good, cheap, and you'll get plenty to eat. During breakfast, I sat there slowly sipping my coffee wondering what to do today and for the rest of my hiking trip. I already paid for another night, so I needed something to occupy my time.The thought hit me to find out if I could rent a car instead of sit inside and watch TV. I was in luck. I found in the yellow pages that there is an Enterprise rent-a-car in Bennington. I phoned them up and in a short while I was "free" to travel beyond walking distance.My first stop was the trail intersection on Vermont Route 9 to see if any hikers needed a ride into town. I saw Lucky, Packrat and Mrs. Packrat standing at the trailhead. They were actually waiting on a car from Enterprise to pick them up right there at the trail. Their plans included a couple of days off in town with the car and to drive up to the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory.Next, I drove up to Manchester Center to do the same thing. I saw Caveman from Ohio thumbing a ride back to the Trail, so I surprised him when I made a u-turn and picked him up. He barely recognized me since I haven't shaved in about six weeks and lost a little weight.After dropping him off, I went to the outfitter to take a look inside and do my own shopping. I ran into Monkey and Cocoa inside. They're a great couple with a neat journal that's accessible on blogspot.com, but there is a link to it on Trailjournals.com. By now, it was lunch time and we hit a small restaurant nearby then I dropped them off at the library for Internet access.Manchester Center was a crazy place. There are all sorts of outlet shops and tourists from all over. I was happy to leave. Finally, I went north on Vermont Route 7 just to take a look at the mountains from the "outside" rather than from within the woods. I wanted to see what I was going to be traveling on during the next few days. I thought that looking at the trail and mountains this way may encourage me or dissuade me from continuing. It did neither. It even dawned to me that I could have driven all the way into New Hampshire to view the terrain there, but I changed my mind and decided to return the car early.Bennington was still under a dark, overcast sky, when I returned about 6 PM. I hope and think that tomorrow won't be so gloomy and depressing.