Date: 2003-06-19
From: South Arm Road Campsite

To: Andover, ME(Andover Guest House)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up this morning and I was trying to decide whether to hitch into Andover from South Arm Road, or whether to go 10 more miles today and hitch in from the other road. I had heard that if you go in from South Arm Road to the Andover Guest House, the owner would take you back and let you slack pack the ten miles. Slackpacking is when you only take a day pack and somebody picks you up at the end of the day. I figured that I might as well go on into town and do the slackpacking, since I had nothing to lose. So I ate 3 packs of grits for breakfast by the road and then decided to hitch into town. As I was eating, I saw a coyote about 100 yards down the road. We watched each other for awhile and then he went into the woods. I thought oh, that's neat, and I thought he was gone. About 3 minutes later, he shows up from the woods about 25 feet in front of me. We both looked at each some more and I just sat there and I started getting my camera out and then a car came around the corner, so I stuck my thumb out and a lady stopped and picked me up and the coyote got scared and ran off. The lady was driving a yellow Subaru Baha and it was the first car that came by since I tried to get a ride. God is good!!!! I'm realizing that more and more each day, He has supplied EVERYONE of my needs and He has kept me safe! The lady was really nice and gave me a ride to the Andover Guest House in Andover, ME. I got here and put my stuff down and then I went and ate pancakes at Addie's Diner. They had a pancake challenge, where if you eat all 3 of these pancakes, you get them for free, otherwise they're 4 dollars. I thought oh well, it's only 4 dollars, so I got them. Each pancake was the size of a 16 inch pizza and was about 2 inches thick!!! Huge!!! Plus, I had already eaten 3 packs of grits for breakfast, and I hadn't hiked any today! I made it through one of them and I couldn't eat anymore! It was a good pancake though!!! After eating, I went to the post office and picked up my stuff. My little brother John Mark had made me and Matthew homemade cookies and mama had made up rice krispy treats and had sent more grits and the latest newspaper article. We also had a few letters. The cookies and rice krispies were great! Thank you! We had also ordered therm-a-rest sleeping pads in Monson, and I picked those up today! We will finally get a good night's rest on those!!! A really nice couple owns this hostel and they really treat you right! The lady was going to Mexico, Maine today and I rode with her over there. I saw my first red light in 23 days!!! This was the first town big enough to have a stop light. We also went to a Supercenter Wal Mart and I was amazed! I walked in, and my mouth just dropped!!! I couldn't believe all the stuff! I didn't know where to go or what to do, so I started walking aisle to aisle!! It was cool, plus, we were in Mexico!!! Although just Mexico, Maine, not on the beach! I came back to Andover and called home and checked in and I checked up on GreenWing and Bigbird, who are southbounding. Good luck to ya'll!!! You can do it!!! 3 others southbounders are here. Synapse(Walt), and Morning Moose(Tara) just left to go back to the trail, but me and Skeeter(Jed) are staying here tonight. I am waiting on Matthew to come in tomorrow or the next day. I was thinking about doing the 10 miles slackpacking today, but I decided to wait until tomorrow. So today is a nice rest day! I've got me a 1 Liter Dr. Pepper and I'm about to watch some tv!!! Life is great!