Date: 2004-02-17
To: millinocket cafe
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

so yesterday i dragged my mom and her mom up to millinocket so they could see my destination. it took us roughly three hours. from the interstate, we drove over to barton's marina on south twin lake. tons of snow mobile people sitting around wondering what the weird southern women were doing running around in the parking lot taking pictures of each other in the freezing cold. grammie got all freaked out because she thought the plan was to drive to the top. (i tend to take her on wild 'n' crazy car trips into the unknown, where we inevitably end up stuck in a ditch on a dirt road in some territory of a county.) so we decided it was best to leave the driving around on back roads around jo-mary for a day when grammie's not in the car to freak out. decision made, we parked in front of the appalachian trail cafe for some lunch.brightly colored with a painted "hikers welcome" sign displayed out front, the establishment promised satisfaction. promise kept. through the door and into one of the bench booths lining the room, we looked about the paneled and patched walls to find that familiar cultural patina indicative of a favorite spot which spans generations of hikers. two parties of customers were present upon our arrival--the table full of sweaty men (winter climbers) and the bar of sweaty men (mill workers, i assumed). gortex and plaid flannel, peacefully coexisting. then came the waitress with the menu. breakfast took up the entire front cover, then a full listing of sandwiches and burgers with loads of options. fried things, soup, sides, desserts. i ordered a grilled ham and cheese on wheat with fries. ham and cheese usually comes on a croissant, she said, but she'd customize it. the door opened and four hikers walked in. three women and a man. they settled their packs in the corner and chose a center table before one of the women looked over at my mom and started clucking and gesturing. my mom did the same. the woman was the math teacher at wiscasset high school. the group had been snow camping for the long weekend and was now heading back to wiscasset. then it came."mandi's doing the...hiking the...what's it...the appalachian trail!""oooooh how exciting! are you excited?"i knew it was only a matter of time. i hid behind my water glass as the table of rugged winter climbers began their sideways mumbles about thru-hikers. to them, we're just pesky little pansies who dull their sharp summits. so, we can camp out every night for 5 months. that doesn't mean we know how to climb a frozen waterfall with nothing but some toepicks and an axe... the mill workers gazed over at the conversation too, no doubt wondering at my irresponsible nature. i should be pushing out a litter and boiling stew for my income-driven spouse, not trapsing around in the mountains for no good economic reason...so, maybe my coexisting fabric theory was a little off. there's an ever present set of rifts in our genre of sports. it's in the cafes, on the trail, in the stores, and of course, in the forums. our only option is to ignore it, i guess, and focus on our own damn sandwiches. mine was excellent, by the way. toasted to the perfect degree with bubbled cheddar and fresh, sugar-baked ham. grammie stole my fries, though. damn grammies think they own everything...