Date: 2008-06-18
From: gorham, nh

To: manchester, nh
Miles today: 0.0

Well, this is going to be a placeholder entry of sorts. Also putting it down as a zero for the sake of my stats page. Will do this entry and most likely not do another one till I get back on the trail July 2.Up with the sun once again thanks to the see through blinds. Ate breakfast and watched TV. Headed to the bus stop at 8.The bus ride was 3.5 hours. Would have been a difficult hitch if I had not found out about the bus. I would have given it a shot though, would have been interesting.It was odd being on the bus. In the last four months I haven't been in a car for more than five minutes, and only occasionally at that. Was actually getting a little motion sick when I was trying to read as the bus was winding through the Whites which never happens to me. Weird.Uneventful bus ride, got to Manchester on time {not Greyhound} at 11:30. Well, my plane leaves at 6:30 tomorrow morning so I had just a little time to kill. Did what I do best. Started walking.I discovered downtown and walked it twice on a couple different streets. Not really looking for anything, just aimlessly wandering for an hour or so. Then it was lunch time. Looked for a park or something but didn't see one so I sat on a rock in front of a house and ate quickly realizing how much I looked like a homeless person.Cleaned up and headed on to nowhere. Hiked downtown again on another street. A surprising amount of variety here. Lots of ethnic grocery stores and restaurants. A bit surprising for NH, though it is just an hour or so from Boston.Bought a book at a used book store. An Isaac Asimov I hadn't read yet. Found out there was a library a couple blocks away. Sounded like a winner.Took the roundabout way there. It was two blocks from the store, but I went about a mile before I got there.Scored some internet time to get updated on everything. When that was up I read some magazines for a while. At that point the security guard informed me he didn't like my pack and he wouldn't let me in again, but I could stay just this one time...ok...I was leaving anyways.Discovered that there was an EMS almost on the way to the airport, just three miles from the library. It was also inside the Mall of New Hampshire. Sounded like another winner. Wandered in that general direction and found it.The EMS had the shoes I was looking for at a lower price than MSRP, and also had a 20% off everything you buy sale. Can't beat that. Bought the shoes and some new socks since I have large holes in my old wool socks. Have been looking for some for a while but hadn't seen any I liked.The Verizon store didn't have a charger for my phone so I went to Best Buy. They had what I was looking for at a cheap price. Wall and car charger in one. Score.Had everything I needed, so it was time for some aimless wandering.Went into Radio Shack and talked to the guys there about my hike for an hour or so. Did a couple lazy laps of the mall getting tons of strange looks, but I don't care.Chilled in the food court till I decided it was time for dinner. Pizza. Really hard to not keep eating like I want to. Don't know how I'm going to do it when I really get off the trail.Did another lap of the mall and sat down and read for a bit.Getting dark so I headed out for the airport. Checked out the LLBean Outlet, and they had some nice deals but I didn't need anything.3 miles or so to the airport. There were some nice places I probably could have gotten away with cowboy camping, but I decided just to go to the airport.Chilling in the baggage claim now till my flight tomorrow morning. Really annoying constant announcements over the speakers, but at least there's free electricity and a padded seat. Probably won't sleep, but I 'd rather do this than pay $100+ for a hotel.Well, that's all for now. More entries when I get back on the trail July 2. On to the Beach! Yeti out.