Date: 2015-07-11
From: Port Clinton

To: Eckville Shelter
Miles today: 14.8
Weather: broken clouds

JoAnn picked us up from the hotel around 9:30 and dropped us off at the post office. I picked up two packages. One was from Amazon and had two P-Styles in it. One to replace C.Shells- she lost it a week ago- and one for me to try. The other package was from Mark and it had the dehydrated meals Katwalk gave to me when she finished her hike. I am VERY excited about that! We picked up a box of wine to enjoy with the meals. Doesn't that sound fancy?JoAnn is going to meet us in about 15 miles with our pack contents, stuffed in to plastic bags in her trunk. She is so much fun- we all wished she could hike with us to Maine.The trail started out with a couple of climbs. We were nervous, thinking the climb out might be like the last part of the descent into town yesterday, but it was not that ridiculously steep. Switchbacks made the climb nice and we really appreciate the slack packing on the uphills. When I had to pee, I broke out my new P-Style. Wowza! How awesome! It works so much better than the she-wee, which is soft and flexible- and I can actually pee standing up without pulling down the shorts. I know- TMI- but here is some more of that: when a woman( or at least this woman) squats to pee, 9 times out of 10 we can pee straight. But that 10th time is the black swan. Where will it go? Sometime it comes out sideways and you pee on your knee. Sometimes it comes out at an angle and you pee on your shoe. My favorite- when it come out straight ahead like a boy and you pee on your shorts that are bunched around your knees. Oh yes, I have spent a lot of time out here smelling like a potty training toddler. But now, with my P-Style, I can avoid all of that and pee standing up. I may even experiment with writing my name in the dirt, like I hear guys do in the snow. It is liberating as hell!The three of us were sort of giddy today. We had so much fun hiking. The trail had a lot of rocks, but most of it was not too challenging. We felt so good that we jogged quite a bit of it. We put our earbuds in and ran! Know what makes thru- hikers feel strong and powerful? Day hikers! We passed so many of them today as they walked slowly up the hills. We literally ran past them, our earbuds in playing our music. We pumped our fists in the air, hooted and hollered, and felt like we were 16 and rocking out. Of course we know that the people we passed thought that it seemed like a scene out of Cocoon- where the geriatrics are suddenly energized, but we didn't care! We had a blast!We were sitting and resting when a family that we had passed walked by is. We chatted with them and they were so impressed with the concept of a thru-hike. They had taken their three kids hiking all over the place and asked us lots of questions. They gave us candy and made us feel like a million bucks. They had hiked Mt Washington and we told them we were nervous about that, after all of the stories we have heard. The son- maybe about 12 or so, assured us that after what we had accomplished so far, Mt Washington would be easy for us. I liked that kid. Thank you Schick Family! You made our day! At the end of the day, we were confused about the meeting place and went to the wrong spot. We eventually found the right place- the shelter is right on a road, and JoAnn was waiting for us. We got our stuff and she left, with plans to slack pack us again tomorrow. She brought three cokes and delicious looking pound cake for breakfast.We are so grateful to her for all she has done. We plan to treat her to lunch tomorrow, but it cannot repay her kindness.We broke out our box of wine and we deliberated carefully over our gourmet Katwalk meals. We finally decided on a white chili, a shrimp curry, and a bolognaise. Holy cow. Heaven. Real homemade meals. Can this day get any more perfect?