Date: 2008-09-17
From: Greenville, ME

To: Greenville, ME
Miles today: 0.0

Ahhh¢¦sleep, no getting up, no putting stinky clothes on. What a gift that is. I still woke up at 8:30 a.m. though. We got moving around and lumped all of our gross laundry in a bag. Can you believe Auntie Mame (and V8) both LOVE doing laundry? That¢s so funny to me. They hate vacuuming, but I actually like to vacuum, but HATE doing laundry. I told them both they were hired to come down and do our laundry anytime they felt the need. JSo, A.M. volunteered to go do all of our laundry. I had to catch up on some journaling. You know, I¢ll admit, I¢m sort of ready to not feel such a strong need to report my life every single day. I love doing it, but it¢s one of those things that if you get behind, it turns into a lot of time to catch up¢¦but I would kick myself in the butt at this point, if I missed any detail or missed a day you know?A.M. got back and told us there¢s actually a sort of hunting/hiking outfitter up the road next to the shop-n-save. And she said they had my hiking shoes. I have been torn, because my current pair of shoes, I got in Hanover and they should have held up just fine for the remainder of the trail, but, the Whites really tore them up, and the inside of the back that goes against your heel, well the foam and everything is completely gone and they just sort of feel worn out, so I figured I¢d see if they have my size, maybe I¢ll buy one more pair. Don¢t like the idea of breaking them in the 100 mile wilderness, but I¢ve got such low mileage planned everyday, it won¢t kill my feet too much.We all piled into the car and just ¢had¢ to go to the outfitter. Indeed, they had the Keen¢s but they did not have my size in the Voyageur shoes. They did have my size in the Targhee shoes, which are identical to the Voyageur except these have the gortex or some water-proofing lining. I¢ve never been a big advocate on the waterproofing stuff, because let¢s face it, if you step into something so deep it covers the top of your shoe, you¢re getting water in them and then it takes longer to dry out if there¢s a barrier inside. However, it¢s cooled off so my feet won¢t sweat as much with a waterproofing barrier, and I¢m sort of interested in comparing these 2, so I decided to go ahead and buy the Targhee¢s along with 3 new pair of Wigwam socks. My Wright socks are so stretched out, they aren¢t staying up around my ankle any longer and as I hike, they get crimped and pulled down around my foot. I also got new gel soles, but are keeping my superfeet.   V8 loves the gortex lined Keen¢s, and after having met her and knowing how thorough she is in researching (much like I am) I trust her opinion as well, so I¢m happy to have ¢new¢ gear to test. At this point, I¢m so well-versed on blister prevention, I¢m not worried about screwing my feet up with new socks and shoes.So I got this stuff, A.M. found some boots and a few things, and then we headed to Monson so I could get to the P.O. I had to order a new hydration system, 2 new Nalgene canteens and a new camelbak hose. Nalgene has discontinued the hydration tube for their canteens, which I don¢t understand. I think if they need to do anything, they need to go back to the drawing board with their canteens, because these things have a short life-span as of late. I am glad to have a brand new system though, I¢m not worried about any problems with leak for the next 2 weeks now.After the PO, we stopped by the library so Karen could do a quick task on the internet. We have wireless in our room at the motel, but it¢s so slow it take forever to do anything. She got that taken care of, and then we all headed back to the room. We decided we¢d go out for dinner tonight so we went to the Black Frog, a cool little place right on the lake, with a great view.This is the kind of place that has a witty and funny menu, so one of the items on the menu was Moose Balls for $1495.00. I took a pic of the description, which was hilarious. The whole menu was fun to read like this. I enjoyed a wonderful steak Caesar salad and some soup. It was a great meal and of course, I had great company. There¢s a big steam boat docked in the little bay here named Katahdin. I¢m going to get a picture of it tomorrow. There¢s also this gian panoramic photo (as in several feet long) of this whole lake, and guess what mountain is shown on it? Mt. Katahdin!!! Wow, on a clear day, you could see it from a certain view point.After dinner we walked down to the gas station and HAD to buy some Ben n Jerry¢s for dessert later. We drove back to the room and then played a few hands of cards. Let me tell ya folks, A.M. is one sharp card player. I just taught her this game, she¢s only played one hand, and for over half the game, she was ahead! Unfortunately, her luck ran out and I came up from behind and won the game, but I can¢t say I¢ve ever taught anyone this game who caught on so quickly. Anyone that¢s going to become a friend of mine is required to learn this card game, because I love playing it. LOLIt was a really fun evening of laughter and stories and deep conversation and cards. I love being in the company of other wonderful women. It¢s just the best. Tomorrow is all about packing up our car, verifying our packs are ready, shuttling our car 2 hrs away to Millinocket, and preparing to go into the 100 mile wilderness on Friday. It looks like there may be some cold nites ahead¢¦damn. The weatherman said it¢s unseasonably cold, with temps going 10-15 degrees lower than normal. WHAAA WHAAA BOOO HOOOO!!! You can all rest assured I¢ll be whining and complaining about the cold, so just in case you¢ve missed reading about my cold weaniness¢¦you¢re getting a chance again in a few days. Freeze warning for Friday nite.    Ok, gotta get some sleep now. 1 more day of rest and then the final leg of hike begins. I can NOT believe it.~Certain