Date: 2017-05-29
From: Blue Moose restaurant

To: Brookside Inn
Miles today: 22.0

The price of 28 miles of fast and easy walking along the old railroad line became apparent when we finally left the multi-use trail on the outskirts of Houlton.The IAT changed to the nearby ATV trails, which took a brutally direct route through the kind of undulations that needed to be tamed for train use but which were manna from heaven for off roaders.For me, it was somewhat less than heavenly, captured by my involuntary exclamation of: "Ack! My legs don't work!"As with the first day's quagmire gymnastics, this too was familiar ground from years of adventure racing and triathlons, when the transitions from either cycling or kayaking to running prompted a similar kind of muscular rebellion.And like in those sports, my leg muscles that had become accustomed to fast and flat walking eventually adjusted to their new roles after a couple of minutes -- painful and awkward minutes.We'd almost managed what was known in thru-hiking hiking lore as a "ten by ten": 10 miles by 10am. But given the absurdly easy terrain compared to the famously difficult terrain of the AT, this seemed to be no great achievement and we turned our focus to a different goal: visiting what is probably the US's sole trailside Tim Horton's.This Canadian fast food chain had been started decades ago by -- inevitably -- an ice hockey star. When it arrived in the UAE in the last few years, it caused spontaneous exultations of unbridled joy from the Emirates' expatriate Canadian community.Although my hiker hunger is yet to set in, arriving at the Tim Horton's led to a similar exultations from me too. Soon we had a late breakfast of the essential food elements.When combined with the power outlets, this meant we settled in for a couple of hours of bringing our journals up to date then wandered over to an even more improbable landmark: a trailside WalMart.The forecast has been for rain on the next couple of days (this was before we began to realize that there are only a couple of days a year when rain isn't forecast for the mountains of northern Maine) so I bought a cheap umbrella and poncho for the next few days of road walking and a lightweight mirror so I'd never need to ask anyone to inspect my nether regions for ticks. Scout bought a magnifying glass to check whether he'd actually managed to extract the first day's tick head along with the rest of it, although I suspect his main reason was to have the chance to get a photograph with the WalMart greeter.After that we began what is generally accepted to be the least pleasant section of the IAT: about 60 miles of road walking until the point where we headed into the woods surrounding Mount Katahdin.But even this had its benefits, including the ability to have a good look at the farmhouses we were walking past. I think it said it all when nearly every one featured a farm bigger than the actual farmhouse -- a sure sign of a real working rural community.And amid the architectural conformity, we happened upon a seriously out of place boat.in the midst of all this a car heading our way stopped and it took a while to recognise this was Frodo and our hire car. On her way back from Prince Edward island, she'd spurned the interstate in favor of our minor road in the hope of running into us."What have you done with my husband?" she quizzed me before allowing me to dump my pack in the back seat so we could slackpack the rest of the way. I was able to point out Scout, who was just ahead.An hour or so later, we were doing the final few miles to our lodge when we spotted her again, having walked towards us from the motel.So we all walked together. Brookside Lodge was a real old-school establishment instead of the soulless generic brands that have taken so much of America and beyond. The attached restaurant had also come highly recommended, confirming the theory that more than half of the landmarks in thru-hiking tend trip be culinary rather than geographic.Over dinner we revised our somewhat ambitious original schedule, which has been geared around us going up and over Mt Katahdin before Frodo returned to San Diego, to save her from some unnecessary worrying about us.That was good by me. Aging bodies need and deserve time to adjust to the physical requirements of thru-hiking. With five months at our disposal, we have time to ease into this.IAT lesson of the day: Aroostock potatoes are as good as everyone says, but it was Frodo rather than Scout or me who cleaned their plate first. "And I'm not hiking" she added. She didn't yet know that this was the first time on this trip that I'd had enough energy to actually finish my dinner before falling asleep.