Date: 2008-09-18
From: Greenville, ME

To: Greenville, ME
Miles today: 0.0

Wow is it cooling off around here. We had a window open in our little motel room and it about froze us out. Crazy. This place is nice though. It has 2 double beds, but one of them is in a separate room while the other is in the main room with the TV, view of the lake, kitchen table and kitchenette.We got up around 9:30 a.m. and A.M. was in the process of cooking waffles and bacon! She also had her waffle iron with her! Today is all about finishing journaling, packing our car, etc. I am not processing very well that tomorrow I depart for the last push¢¦the last 114.5 miles. In some ways though, I am more fearful of not completing now than at any other time in this entire hike. That probably sounds weird, but now, I¢m really there, I¢m really just days from the end, and I just want things to stay calm and ok so that I can finish.   Real life has been trying to push its way back in, in it¢s own way. We found out a few days ago from a friend who is watching our cats, that a pipe busted in our house and flooded a closet and part of our bedroom, so it has been many phone calls to a plumber, giving permission for him to cut a hole in the wall, and our friend is having to deal with the logistics of getting the carpet pulled up, letting the plumber in, etc. It makes you feel crappy when you know someone else is having to spend their time taking care of your house issues. We did talk to the plumber this morning, who already cut into the wall, and it¢s a pinhole in a pipe, and the water is turned off now so no more flooding is an issue thankfully. It¢s as resolved as it can be at this point, but these types of things weigh heavily when you¢re not there you know? I¢m like, ¢Can real life PLEASE hold off for just another few weeks, and then I¢ll be happy to deal with whatever it wants to throw at me.¢ My journey has been defined partly by all of the obstacles I¢ve faced, and at this point, I have no patience or flexibility left to allow another obstacle to change the trajectory for me. I NEED-HAVE-WANT to finish. I want to be on top of Mt. Katahdin by October 4 for 5. I want to then hitch to our car in Millinocket and start the next phase of this thing.Oh, by the way, for all of you already starting your own withdrawal process of reading about this journey, just as I wanted to capture what it took to get out on the AT and what it¢s like hiking the AT, I have every intention of documenting what it¢s like post-hike during the re-entry process as well. I will probably not write every single day, but as long as I¢m in the process and have things I think are important to share about it, I¢ll be writing and posting entries in my journal, so just because I summit Katahdin does not mean I¢m disappearing for good. Also, ANYONE out there that wants to email, ask questions, or whatever can please feel free to email me ok? I¢ve changed the email address in my journal already for emails to come to my normal address since pocketmail has been a little ify lately. And no question is a stupid question at all.Now, once Incessant and I head into the wilderness tomorrow, I will not be able to send Persistent my journal entries until I¢m totally finished. Therefore, once she runs out of new entries to throw up there (this one is the last one she¢ll get from me), there¢s going to be anywhere from 10-15 days of no new entries, so please don¢t think that Persistent is somehow slacking on the job, and please don¢t harass her about when the next one is going up, because she won¢t know anymore than you all will. On the contrary, she¢s the BEST damn transcriber/picture person out there folks and we all owe her a HUGE thank you for doing the job she¢s done for me. I don¢t know how I would have done this without her. She¢s the best¢¦seriously.Incessant suggested I give you all a list of other activities to keep yourselves busy while you¢re in the lag time of no new entries. So here¢s a few I could think of:1. Pull the refrigerator and stove out and clean the scary things out from under them, and if you have cats like we do, you¢ll find all of those lost cat toys2. Go through my entire journal and count the number of times I wrote LOL3. Take a toothbrush and clean out the dirt from the rubber seals in your car¢s door jams4. Take a trip to your local supermarket, walk around the whole store and count the number of tiles on the floor AND ceiling5. Keep going back to my journal and click on a new page to get the hit counter up to one millionIf none of these seem to be doing it for you, I suggest going to the store, stocking up on Ben n Jerry¢s and sleeping pills. Indulge in both until the next new entry goes up and then you¢ll know the worst is over.Oh¢¦one last smart ass thing to discuss. This issue of moose in Maine? Ok..ok¢¦here¢s what I REALLY think. Maine and these small towns make a living on the tourist industry, with moose being in the center of that. So I, after hiking all of this time, seeing tracks and scat everywhere, but no actual moose in the woods, am forced to declare that I¢ve become ¢informed.¢ I¢m a smart cookie folks, and I¢ve figured this out all on my own. It¢s a conspiracy, and I¢m uncovering it all right now.I believe there are no moose in Maine, but Maine can¢t let that get out because so much of the state¢s economy relies on the public¢s belief they can some here to see moose, so the state has moose crews¢¦crews of state employees that are armed with little stampers. These people go out into the woods and stamp track prints in the woods, and then there are hidden factories that mass produce moose poo pellets (that are actually edible chocolate pellets, but they don¢t tell us this), and other poo crews go out and spread the ¢scat¢ in visible places to keep the myth and belief up that we might actually see a moose in the wild.There are also these warning signs on the roads that say, ¢High rate of Moose Crashes Next 6 Miles¢ with yellow flashing lights. See, the law enforcement people also hopped on the bandwagon and said, ¢Hey, we can also use this moose thing to help control the speed of drivers.¢ See, it¢s all a conspiracy. I now believe the 2 moose I¢ve seen while driving down the road were actually projected optical illusions via towers with lasers on them. It¢s hard to admit, I know. I hate to shatter all of your dreams about possibly seeing a moose when you get into Maine, but unless I see one in the 100 mile wilderness, I¢m forced to face this shocking reality.2 days ago when we were driving to Greenville, we saw a bunch of cars pulled over on the side of the road, next to some swampy areas. ¢Usually¢ people do this if there¢s a moose, but we pulled over too and there was nothing. At this point, there were like 8 cars pulled off on both sides of the road. Karen joked that it probably all started with some lost couple who decided to pull off and look at the map, and the rest of us assumed it was something big going on. I had to laugh.Ok folks¢¦this officially starts our trip around to the dark side of the moon with no communication for a few weeks. Hang tight, there¢s gonna be a lot to read about, and I¢m hoping I get to give you all that picture on top of Katahdin. Please send thoughts and energy of good health and warm weather our way. It looks like it could get cold. I can¢t freaking believe I¢m entering the 100 mile wilderness in less than 24 hrs!!!! J J J J~Certain