Date: 2004-06-20
From: County Road 519 (house)

To: Old Woods Road (stealth tenting)
Miles today: 14.5

Started at: County Road 519Ended at: old woods road (stealth tenting)Miles: 14.5Back on the trail again... eventually. We got a rather late start this morning. It was hard to tear ourselves away from Jen, Micah and Sasha, even if we are gonna see them again in a week. That and we had to give a shout out to the dads before we headed back into the forest. But we missed one, and tomorrow's his birthday. Charles, we were hoping to give you a call. Hope tomorrow is a great birthday.So I have to tell you, my husband cracks me up. He keeps me laughing out here. There was the time he stopped in the middle of the trail, which happened to be running under a freeway at that moment, and cut the liner out of his shorts while he was wearing them, to the wonder and amazement of the other hikers with us. Next was the time he decided to trim his moustache with the folding scissors of our pocketknife without the aid of a mirror. It came out *real* nice, like a three year old who decides to give himself a haircut. And then there was the time he decided to cut the sleeves off his day glow school bus yellow t-shirt and wear one of them on his head (with foul smelling armpit still attached, naturally). He said he wanted to change his trail name to "Yellow Blaze."Today, though, was the best so far. On our way back to the trail Arwen realizes he left his sun hat somewhere, so he runs into Wal Mart to find a replacement. When he comes out I spot him instantly from across the parking lot. He's actually chosen to buy, of his own free will, a wide-brimmed straw hat with a handsome floral band around the brim. It appears, marginally, to be a man's straw hat, as the foral pattern is in the decidedly masculine (or at least gender-neutral) color of khaki, and rather than being spherical as on a woman's sun hat, the head piece has a manly, angled shape to it. But wait, it gets better. Has the brim of your straw sun hat ever created a visibility problem for you? You look up and can't see anything but straw and little dots of sunshine? Well the expert milliners who crafted this fine specimen have thought of a way around that. Arwen's got the "active lifestyle" sun hat. It has a tinted windshield at the front, where straw would ordinarily be, made of a durable plastic!   All that seems to be missing is one tiny windshield wiper to keep it clear in the event of rain.Perhaps the hat would not seem so odd, were its wearer a fat guy with a big belly wearing bermuda shorts and black socks. Or even, say, a large woman wearing a mu-mu. Indeed it seems decidedly out of place atop the head of a winnowy, muscular hiker. A seasoned outdoorsman with all his posessions on his back. A man with a glint in his eye and a fire in his legs. Nay, this is not a technical hat. This hat doesn't scream "thruhiker." This is - egad! - a cotton person's hat. Wait, no. I think even a cotton person would be startled, perhaps even frightened and confused by this hat. But I have to admit, he sets it off nicely by dangling a red bandana from each shoulder, to protect him from the sun. I naively thought he perhaps made this purchase solely for my sheer entertainment. But in fact I was informed, "It's very practical. Just look at the air vents weaved into the straw." Indeed. I stand corrected.God, I love this man.Camera 1 & Camera 2Heather & Arwenvaughan@pocketmail.comhttp://www.hobbithole.net