Date: 2007-07-05
From: Cooper Lodge (Shelter)

To: Rutland, Vermont
Miles today: 6.3

My shoes, the North Face trail runners purchased less than 3 weeks before in Kent, Connecticut, were completely shot, thus justifying an unscheduled trip to town to get new ones. But this time I was determined, despite how cool and hip they look, to avoid buying North Face. I begged Optimistic to hike in with me. Knowing Rutland was 10 miles from the trail, I figured my chances of hitching a ride would be greatly heightened if a female was with me. Also, since I had a bit of a crush on her, I liked the idea of stealing her away another day before she divurged off the AT and onto her planned journey along Vermont's Long Trail. She finally, after much pleading on my part, agreed to go into town. But then she was slowly dawdling so much getting packed, I just decided to head on without her. She assured me she would be behind me and if I didn't have a ride by the time I reached the road, she would assist in the hitching duties. I suspected I wouldn't see her again. After the 6 mile hike, mostly downhill, to the road from Killington mountain, It perhaps took 30 minutes of thumbing for a nice guy in a beat-up old nissan pickup to give me a lift. He was part owner of some sort of environmental educational retreat where clients sign up to live in yurts on his property while having deep conversations (opening up a dialogue, he said) about better ways to conserve energy and preserve the environment. None of this interested me as much as the fact that this old truck still had an actively used tape cassette player. the floor was littered with old tapes from the likes of the Beegees, REO Speedwagon, and Bruce Springsteen. Anyway, I let this pass. He was very nice and helpful about where to go in Rutland for supplies and services.He dropped me off in the middle of town. I have to say, despite the pluthera of Volvos and Subarus, and cliche bumperstickers, (Peace Sign, Question Authority, Question Reality, Kerry/Edwards '04, etc)I really liked Rutland. A ski resort town, it has a historical and laid back feel. Maybe there is a college there too, I'm not sure.I made my way to an outfitter downtown, which is right next door to the Back Home Again Cafe (1st floor) and hiker hostel (2nd floor), all owned by The Twelve Tribes--a hippie Christian based "Community." Along the trail, we simply called it "The Cult."The lady in the outfitter was very kind and gave a 10% hiker discount on a new pair of New Balance trail shoes, which would end up lasting me all the way to Katahdin. Then she showed me around the Cafe and found a male member, Renan, of the tribe to show me around the hostel. This seemed strange until the male member showed me the "rules", one of which is "males and females have separate dorm rooms and are not allowed into the other dorm room under any circumstance."   Hm.   Besides the standard rules about being respectul and cleaning up after ourselves, there was a 10pm Curfew. Hm. OOOOKay.As for the cost, it was either $15 a night, or we could help out for an hour in the Cafe on a work-for-stay basis. I chose the work option. The work they needed done wouldn't begin until the Cafe closed at 8pm, so I had much time to mess around. At this point, my only other hostelmates were a 17 year-old extremely talkative boy named Midnight who was doing a 200 mile section hike with his mom, Cantaloupe.Still morning, I went to the grocery store for resupply and happened to see a movie theater was right next door. I saw that Oceans 13 was going to start in 10 minutes. Well what the hell, I thought, and killed a couple hours at the movies--my only movie theater experience on the trail. Movie sucked, but         still a good time. I came back to the dorm room with 2 full bags of groceries and a newspaper. I was sitting on the bed reading up on the Red Sox, while eating Ben & Jerrys with an open container of licorice next to me. Renan came into the room with another "member" of the community named Caleb. They both started to have a "conversation" with me about my life in general, where I thought I was going, the bigger picture of the universe, and so forth. While they were talking, I couldn't help but see their eyes kept wandering towards my store bought junkfood and newspaper. Seeing this, and not wanting to seem rude, I offered to share         anything I had. No thank you, they said. Then, after listening more and reading some of their pamphlets, I learned that a strict diet is a major component of their beliefs--completely organic and they eat practically nothing store bought. Also, they stay away from newspapers, radio, and television. Wow, what a life. This made me wonder if my sitting there eating licorice and ice cream while they preached was offensive or simply made them jealous.   I learned that Renan was a 2006 thru-hiker, who started southbound from Kahtadin. Much like me, he was in his mid 30s and disillusioned with his life in general. He made it to Vermont (about 500 miles) and just like me, made an unplanned spontaneous stop in Rutland, where he stayed at the Twelve Tribes hiker hostel. He never left. Hmm. Around 4pm, my boy Big Guy showed up. I had met him back in Massachusetts, when he was hiking with Jersey Fresh, Earl Grey, and Five Strings. He left them a ways back and had been doing 25 mile days to catch a train from Rutland. He was going to a family wedding and probably wouldn't be back to the AT. A fun dude in his mid 20s, he talked me into going to the bar with him before doing our "Chore" that evening. Fine by me. Just before leaving the hostel, I heard that Optimistic was in the hostel girls dorm and was asking about me.   So I snuck into the girls dorm and we chatted a bit before Caleb caught me and politely asked me to leave the girls dorm. Or we could take our conversation downstairs. Optimistic still had to unpack and shower, and I really wanted a beer, so off I went following Big Guy. We returned a few hours later, and I definitely had a buzz. Not the type of buzz that was going to make me sick or anything, more like the kind that makes me fearless and talkative. At least in the reality of my mind. Renan and the others put us to work stocking shelves, sweeping, and mopping. During this time, I got really inquisitive about this "community" and started peppering Renan with questions. What do you do about Money? Do they have a retirement plan? What about your previous posessions? Has anyone ever left the cul..er..community? How are children raised? Then I asked about dating.. He said if you like a girl, you tell one of the elders, and if they think it is a good match, will first have you work alongside each other, then group dates, and if they approve, a marriage may be arranged. And no physical contact until marriage. Wow.   "no sex?" nope. "no kissing, with or without tongue?" nope.   wow. (I was definitely feeling my beer buzz) I told Renan, "You're losing me man...you totally had me convinced this was a great life..I was seriously considering staying a few more days or longer to truly investigate..but now, wow, no physical contact until marriage. wow. I don't think I could do that." He kept on and on about the christlike benefits of being chaste, but all I could say was, "wow." and "jeez, you guys must be really 'frustrated' if you know what I mean." things like that. I'm sure they'd heard it all before. And after working, they fed us a most delicious meal of tossed salad topped with feta cheese, fresh baked bread, and a truly tasty vegetable soup. I walked around the corner to use the payphone and call my parents. But had to cut the conversation short since it was almost my curfew.