Date: 2010-08-09
From: Happy Hill Shelter

To: Hanover, NH
Miles today: 5.8
Weather: broken clouds

09 Monday August ¢ 5.8 miles to HanoverSet the old alarm for 5:45am to start the amount of noise it would take to wake up the guys early. They were sleeping soundly so I just wrote in my journal for a while. I had to use the privy and I guess that amount of noise was enough to wake them. Hot Foot went to the privy after Tree and got piss all over his shorts. I never let my britches to touch the ground in there. Hot Foot¢s pissed and trying to figure out if it was either Tree or I who missed the wooden hole and pissed on his shorts.We¢re all very thirsty because we¢re out of water. Not even the brook by the road side tempted us or broke our concentration on our mission to cross the NH boarder today! The last 3 miles was a long road walk. We passed a house with watermelon and cookies! The juicy melon tasted splendid in my parched mouth. As we walked won Elm St. we found another container of cookies by a mailbox. There were two types of cookies. One cookie with a purple gooey center and the other with a maple stenciled to the top. Never have I made such brilliant choice in my life when I picked the syrup cookie. I took the less glamorous one and settle for awesomeness! Best cookie I¢ve ever eaten! This place is high class like the houses that give away full candy bars on Halloween.We arrived in Hanover and went to the DOC (Dartmouth Outdoor Club). Spent a while on the computer and searched for a hidden shower. Stretcher found a door and tried the code 12341 and got it! Bam! We had free showers and smelled a lot better. This place is swanky and walking down the street makes me feel uncomfortable other than being utterly cooler than anyone else on the street that day. Smelling like feet doesn¢t really bother me because it¢s more of a byproduct of greatness. The gang has been invited to joint me at Jack and Barb¢s house tonight, but I doubt they do it. They want to tear up the town with no money! We walked to the pizza joint and get my free slice of pizza. Kumquat gets a second free slice of pizza for coming back the next day. One free slice per hiker per day! I resist the urge to order a plate full of heartaches. I settle for a coke and I drown in a fountain of free drink refills. Stretcher ordered some fantastic bread rolls filled with garlic and butter.When we walked back to the DOC it started pouring rain! The wind got so violent that a huge limb was ripped from the nearby oak tree lining the sidewalk entrance. One of the DOC employees went out in the rain wearing nothing but shorts and a rubber ducky floatation device. It was really close to 4pm, when Barbara van Hoff was meeting me at the CVS. It¢s still raining so I leave my backpack at the DOC to preserve its dryness. I borrowed Stretchers umbrella and leave in the pouring rain to meet her on the other side of town. I met Barbara and picked up my bag back at the DOC where it had quit raining minutes earlier. Barbara is Lish¢s aunt and she lives 30 minutes away. They¢re putting me up for the night! Today she has to pick up her grandson, Miles! When we arrive in Barbara¢s neighborhood she takes me to the nearby lake. She¢s trying to help me find my first Loon!The family dog Layla is pretty terrifying. She¢s a Shepard mix but not very big at all. She reminds me of Yolo but different in color and attitude. Layla looks me right in the eyes and barks at me like she means it. I¢m worried and she can tell. It must be the beard or the smell. Most dogs don¢t dislike me. Very few dogs make me afraid to move. Every time the dog barks with authority it makes Miles almost leap out of his blue polkadot pajamas! It¢s funny but I¢m not laughing. I decided the best course of action was to remain seated. Bob van Hoff is here with his really nice wife. They¢re Lish¢s other aunt and uncle from Indiana. Bob is a botanist but he¢s never head of Spilanthium. He¢s also a very talented wood carver and this interests me greatly. They photographed a bald eagle eating a fish yesterday. I¢d love to cross the room to see his pictures on his camera but I can¢t move from this seat and have Layla scare the baby again.A little later, Sofia comes over to pick up her son Miles. Sofia is Lish¢s cousin-in-law. Sofia is married to Barbara van Hoff¢s son. Dr. Van Hoff, actually, is Sofia¢s husband¢s name. There are three doctors in this household! The other Dr. Van Hoff is Lish¢s uncle. Awesome. Sofia is an anesthesiologist and she brought her dog ¢Chewdah¢. At first the brindle colored mastiff, pit, boxer mix was extremely friendly towards me. Sweet and peacefully I rubbed Chewdah¢s humongous head between my knees. I scratched the beastly ears so hard he could hardly stand up¢¦while I was sitting down. Sitting down meant I was cool. Standing up meant the opposite to these dogs. When I walked through the house with a little more caution than usual because of the surroundings, Chewdah musta sensed my apprehension. Chewdah thought I was to close to Miles in his polka dot pajamas and proceeded to bark fiercely! I¢ve never been barked at by a dog so big in my entire life. Never had an encounter like that without a fence between me and the barking hulk of teeth and muscle. He leapt from the side of Sofia and Barbara and bit me on my thigh before I could even flinch! I was expecting to see a rip in my rainpants but it didn¢t break the material. When I looked at the wound later I realized he only nipped me and caused a small amount of bruising. Not bad at all. It looks like a hicky. I play it off and try to remain cool but I¢m pretty freaked out. I was pretty upset so I limited my movement to no movement at all. The family moved into the living room but I don¢t budge from the patio deck sofa. I feel awkward being alone and not moving but I¢ve had enough of the barking. I decided not to stay another day.I went downstairs to finish washing my clothes and to pack my winter gear a little. When I go back upstairs Dr. Jack van Hoff is home. I guess he wasn¢t expecting me to appear so suddenly from around a corner or to appear so much like trash. I could see his first impression of me wasn¢t going to be correct. He asked if he should look at my injury but I decline. He doesn¢t really acknowledge my presence all through dinner but afterwards he¢s chatty Kathy. I¢m feeling a little out of place because of the dog situation so I guess I wasn¢t very friendly at first. I was afraid and I couldn¢t help but keep quiet. I waited for Dr. Jack to ask me questions before speaking. He wanted to tell me about his experiences through the Whites. I was very curious to find out several questions in my mind about the AMC. He even brought out books and maps of the area to discuss with me. He¢s also fascinated by my backpacking cooking methods. I¢d show you my cool little alcohol stove but your dog terrifies me, I think to myself.Dinner was great. Sloppy Joes with veggie/mayo/salad things were on the menu. The excitement with the grandchild, dogs, and staying up late the night before made me extremely boring. It also makes for a great reason to go to bed at 8pm!