Date: 2004-06-02
From: East B Hill Rd (Andover,ME)

To: South Arm Road (Andover,ME)
Miles today: 10.1
Weather: moderate rain

Log entry 123Start Time-0850End Time- 1230Morning Weather- Rain and cool, 40 degAfternoon Weather- light drizzle, still coolEvening Weather- to be determinedBreakfast- poptartsLunch-chocolate covered peanutsDinner-Trail Description- Boring. Seriously dull. No views due to thick clouds and the trail itself was a muddy, watery mess. The climbs were for the most part mild. Easy with a light pack. The downhills were a little dicey in spots but overall quite friendly. The 2 stream fords, Sawyer and Black brook, were just wet rock hops that got my boots a little wet.People- Lady Innkeeper (Sandra), Dirty Bird and Mr CleanAnimals- moose poopMoney- $13 for second nights stayBiggest complaint- The weather was "el sucko" but so far it has been a good day.Narrative- I slept great once I fell asleep. The Pistons win last night kept me riding high until about midnight. I am going to spend some time today looking over the game schedule for the finals and see once where I will be on the respective evenings. Game 1 is next Sunday when I will be in Stratton. I think game 2 will be on the following Wednesday, I should be right near Caratunk, I will look for lodging options with TV. If game 3 is on Friday I will be in Monson so hopefully Shaw's gets ABC. Game 4 is most likely the next Sunday, when my sister and I will be in the 100 mile wilderness. I just may send her ahead and catch up. Anyways, I got up at 0800 and was ready to roll by 0830. Sandra adivised it usually takes 8-9 hours to do the 10 miles from East B to South Arm rd. I compromised and told her I would be there at 14:00, 2 oclock. That would give me a full 5 hours. Well, that was pretty conservative.Without a pack and pretty gentle terrain I covered the first 6 miles in 2 hours. There was nothing to look at and no reason to walk any slower. Plus it was cold and rainy. Why walk slow in the rain?I spent about 4 minutes in Hall Mtn Lean-to signing in but was too chilled to hang out there. My entry was slow and sloppy. My hands weren't receiving all the messages from my brain, like the messages that form letters which are strung together to form words. Moving on I suddenly found myself crossing Black brook and then on a tar road, South Arm. It was 12:30, I was a little early. I thought about trying to walk and hitch but I decided to just sit and wait and if a vehicle passed I would try to thumb my way into Andover. I sat down long enough to eat my chocolate covered peanuts and an older man pulled over and offered me a lift. Nice. By 13:00 I was enjoying a hot shower back at the Guesthouse.Now I am going to update some old journals and wait for Dirty Bird (Neely) to arrive at 17:00 and take me to The Cabin for dinner. Should be a good time.Back from dinner, great Missouri meatloaf, mint. Had a great dinner and evening hanging with Neely and Jamie. So great that I plan to stay there tomorrow night. Sandra is dropping me off at East Arm rd at 0700 and Neely is picking me up at 1230 at ME17 (13 miles). Should be a good time.Oh and I updated journals from 4/30/04 and 05/01/04, enjoy.