Date: 2006-01-13
To: The Ruck!
Miles today: 0.0

I woke up this morning late, about 7:30. First thing I did was confuse the recipe for oatmeal, mixing up the relative amounts of oatmeal and water. I had used 2 cups of oatmeal and one cup of water! Not even close. I added more and more water, changed to a bigger pot, added more water until eventually I had something that looked like oatmeal. I cooked it and ate oatmeal until I thought I would puke.Ugh.Got off to a late start, about 10:45. Bob sure can talk. The problem is that he is very interesting and his stories are great. We hated to interrupt him, even to get going. But get going we finally did.After a third uneventful (still the best kind) day's drive, we arrived at the NOC.We couldn't check in until 3:00, so we kind of hung around. First we talked with Ponderer and Kinnickinic, then I ran into Craig and Suzy, whom I had met last Trail Days. We gabbed for a while, then I went up and got my room key.I was in a six-man bunkroom. The three lowers were taken. The uppers were all different heights. I opted for the highest one, remembering:a)        How cold I was the past two nights, andb)        Heat rises.Heat does rise, but alas, the bunkroom turned out to be overheated. I am typing this now sitting on my bunk sweating. No way will I use a sleeping bag tonight.I went out, found Sly and got my name badge, then met a ton of folks I only know from online at WHITEBLAZE.NET.I saw Jan Liteshoe, from 2003, and Hot Dog from the same year. Hot Dog I confused with Pittsburgh at first. They looked a lot alike.I spoke with Sunset and Junker about the PCT, and also Spirit Walker, who hiked the PC as well as the AT and CDT. She and Bald Eagle are heading out on the CDT again this year.Tin Man put on a fine spaghetti and sausage dinner. I ate WAAAAY too much. I'd better watch what I eat from now on, or I'll leave here five pounds heavier than when I arrived.After dinner, Clyde showed a slide show of last year's SoRuck. It was great fun watching even though I wasn't here last year. Clyde found great songs to accompany the photos, and got lots of laughs from many of them. My favorite was L. Wolf pointing to a blue blaze.I saw eArThworm and spoke to her about the NPT. Sun of a gun - she got sick and didn't finish her hike, either! We talked about it for a while. Kind of odd, both of us hiking within a couple weeks of each other, and both having to get off the trail due to sickness. I will have to read her journal when I get back, and also update my own journal.After Clyde's slide show, Sly showed SOUTHBOUNDERS. I actually have this movie at home, but hadn't yet seen it. I'm glad it worked out as it did, because it was fun to watch it with about 80 other hikers, all of whom laughed at the right places, and also knew when to catcall. We caught a few geographical errors, which the director had acknowledged as being due to editing needs, trying to fit a movie together with the film available.It was a great movie. He really caught a lot of personality types I recognized. They had an actor portray Keith Shaw, but had a shot of Keith himself sitting on the porch in thought.Right now I am sitting on my bunk, trying to get my thoughts recorded. It is a nice scene, a mellow study in hiker harmony. Rockdancer is reading on his top bunk across from me. Sunset is talking with Ponders about their respective hikes. Cutter (below me) and David (no trail name yet) below Rockdancer, are just laying back taking it all in. It is a priceless moment, one I wish I could capture in film like SOUTHBOUNDERS did. I can only hope that when I read these words years from now, the scene will return to me full blown.