Date: 2021-05-04
From: Nowheresville

To: Nowheresville
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

When you put your plans in the hands of the federal government, expect your plans to go awry. So, guaranteed Monday delivery means...maybe Wednesday?So, going forward I need to fine tune my OODA loop so the government can¢t get inside it. Ship further ahead, or go with UPS. Not knowing if the delivery would show today, I caught an Uber into Smithsburg at 9:45 to see what was what. What was what was no delivery last night. ¢It might come in today¢ was the best I could get (totally not blaming the Postal workers, they don¢t control what shows up and have been very kind and helpful). So, I walked to Dixies Diner and sat down to a lot of coffee, a side of bacon, and a cinnamon roll. Seriously, they have a large commercial bakery in Smithsburg and the whole downtown smells like cinnamon rolls all day. It¢s irresistible, at least for those of us not prone to resistance. I stretched out the coffee for as long as I could manage - 90 minutes - then moved outside to a bench and did Duolingo Spanish lessons for another 90 minutes. (Hay una nevera nueva en la cocina!)The Mennonite grocery/deli had a sign board announcing that every Tuesday is Soft Pretzel day. As every fan of ¢The Office¢ knows, pretzel day is the best day of the year. So I went in and got a $2 soft pretzel fresh out of the oven and talked to the store manager again, everyone seems more disappointed that my package hasn¢t arrived than I am! Of course, I don¢t discount the possibility that my presence may be bringing down property values and they want shut of me, and that right now. Walked across town to Dollar General for some down market window shopping and bought a few things for a total of $6.93. One of the things I bought was a new one liter smart water bottle. The one I have I had stupidly peeled the label off for reasons that aren¢t even clear to me. Consequently, it would no longer slide nicely into my shoulder strap water bottle pouch, it would stick. My solution for the last two weeks was to take a plastic glove and slide it up over the base of the bottle, with the finger holes on the bottom. Resulting in a water bottle that roughly resembled a cows udder. So that¢s remedied. Decided to walk back across town to the library (post office reopens at 2). I walked through some charming old neighborhoods and when passing a very nicely kept white house, someone said from the front porch: ¢weren¢t you at the diner this morning?¢ Ended up chatting with this nice elderly couple from the diner who had noticed my backpack both there and here in front of their house. (Backpacks are a great icebreaker, at least with the elderly, not saying it¢s the key to scoring with the opposite sex, not that I¢m trying to score mind you, but, well...better end this parenthetical while there¢s still an exit ramp) (Also, I walked about 8 miles today WITH a full pack. So a zero, but not a slack pack, and no miles on the trail. *sigh*). Turns out the lady grew up in Rhode Island, just like my friend Mike¢s mom and I had been texting with Mike when she hailed me from her porch. Small, weird world. She and her husband had also lived in Maine for many years and were very familiar with the AT. She did tell me not to judge northeasteners, as they aren¢t unfriendly, just reserved. We parted acquaintances. Near the library I saw the city cemetery. Score. I love wandering though old cemeteries and trying to read the history of an area through the names, dates, epithets, and headstones. But every once in a while you see something that just hits hard. I saw one family plot where between 1898 and 1904 they buried four children, none older than two years old. What a different world we thankfully live in. It was now 2:30. Call to the post office, no package. Time to make a decision. I had planned to take a zero day later this week, so I moved it up to today. My friend Mike awesomely offered to shoot me some of his hotel points and get a room for the night. I don¢t deserve the friends I have. I went to the library to kill some time juuuust in case my shoes arrived before the post office closes at 4:30. I found a book on the civil war battles of South Mountain and Antietam and sat down to read, as I had just walked up and over South Mountain on Sunday. So, time was killed and package didn¢t arrive before the post office closed. I got an Uber back to Hagerstown for the night. I¢m currently eating Peruvian Brasas pollo and rice from a local joint (I highly recommend Peruvian food) and drinking hotel room coffee. Plan for Wednesday is to go to the post office in the morning at 9. If no box, I¢ll see if they can forward it up trail when it arrives and hike on.I hope your plans are on track, hopefully mine will soon be so again!