Date: 2008-08-04
From: North Woodstock, NH

To: North Woodstock, NH
Miles today: 0.0

More storms more storms, but after Karen and I went to A.M.'s favorite place,Udderly Delicious for my ice cream fix, we looked out the window at thisawesome double rainbow. The sky was so dark, but the sun had to be outsomewhere I suppose.We drove across the street to the shopping center with a movie theater in it andthought about seeing the Dark Knight (new batman movie), but the next showwasn't till 8:15 p.m., and we didn't want to wait that long, so we just endedup pulling around the back of the shopping center and watching the rainbowslowly move up and over the mountain before it disappeared. Honestly, a muchbetter show, and even better...free.I think the only time I've seen a more brilliant or amazing rainbow was when Iwas in the field (living out in the woods for combat training) in the MarineCorps. It was in the Kahuku Mountains on the island of Hawaii, and it was anite operation where I was stuck laying in this ditch for hours "defending" thepermimeter. It was pitch black, but the moon was full and SO bright. It wasabout 1:30 a.m. and I was so tired I thought I was hallucinating, but there wasa short rainshower and I looked over to my left and saw a Moon Rainbow in themiddle of the nite. I actually nudged the guy next to me and asked if he sawit too, just to make sure my tired brain wasn't playing tricks on me. It was areal thing, and I've never seen anything like it before or since.We decided to just chill again, play cards, and watch one of the DVD's thatKaren brought up with her. We got back to the room and I called A.M. again,and she answered. Luckily, without ever telling her, we were totally on thesame page. She's driving back down this evening (Monday) and we're headingback out Tusday morning. I've got a few options to offer to her for hikingplans for those 13 or so miles, and they are all about being prepared for thestorms that seem to hit here every afternoon.So today, woke up around 8 a.m. I enjoyed 3 bowls of Honey Comb cereal...yup, Istill really love sugary kid's cereals with Fruity Pebbles and Honey Comb beingmy favs. Karen thought they were tasteless, so I ate hers too.I have to share with you all, especially those of you who are or will be goingthrough separation for the sake of this trail...you need to be prepared to feela little less connected with your partner when you are back together again..atleast for a bit. You need to allow plenty of downtime together so you canreconnect in a timeframe that the brain can keep up or accept.Today was the first day we both started feeling "normal" again. It didn't worryus or anything, we both knew this was going to be the case, but neither of ushave any idea what these military families must go through with thesemulti-year deployments where sometimes a child is born and the father doesn'teven meet his own child until the kid is sometimes 1 year old. It makes me sosad for them, and to any family that has endured and overcome this (Sgt. Rockcomes to mind), you've got my total respect. There is work involved inreconnecting with loved ones, and everyone has to want to, or it won't happen.We've both decided this is the LAST time we allow life to take us in differentdirections for extended periods of time. We have so much more fun beingtogether.Oh, V8 will not be coming back down for this week at least. I do hope she'lljoin A.M. and I again though, if she's able to. Part of our job today wasfiguring out where Karen is going to be moving to so that she can get some workdone while I'm back at it. We got one of those travel guides of the area andmade several phone calls. We found a motel that is a little cheaper than wherewe're at now, but they have wi-fi in the room, which she needs for work. Also,it's better located for my next section between Crawford and PinkhamNotches..and then into Gorham. We may move again, but we'll be at this placefor at least 3 nites.We cleaned up the room, and I went through my gear/food and packed my pack up asmuch as I could. I figure A.M. and I have 1 of 4 options. Try to dayhike thelast 2 sections with side trails, try to hike it with one overnight @ acampsite or hut, or have really short days and spend 2 nites and stay atcampsites that might allow us to be hunkered down by early afternoon in case ofstorms. In any case, I'd need 3 days2/nites food most, so that's not bad.Also, having a sort of homebase with Karen, I'm able to leave things like extramaps, chargers, additional gear that I'd normally have with me, but not for a 3day hike, etc., so this allows my pack to be lighter too.I've been pretty stiff today, and my knees and hips were hurting pretty badlythis morning. So weird how I usually feel better if I don't rest, but I thinkpart of the reason I don't have more severe injuries is partly because I reallyhave taken a lot of days off to rest. Hey, I think I'm a 35 year old with therecovery rate of a 65 year old sometimes.I'm expecting to see Sailor or Rockstar come flying past me any day now. Itwould be so cool to see him again, and I've never met Rockstar, but we talkedvia email all last winter...she's a hanger too. Hell for all I know, they'vepassed me probably.Today is all grey again, rained some this afternoon, but the sun is out now.Tomorrow looks pretty nice, but Wednesday is rain, which I can handle...justnot the lightening up there. I can ESPECIALLY handle rain when I know I'veonly got to deal with it 1 or 2 nites.This afternoon, I needed to buy some cheese, AA batteries, do some laundry,upload some pics from here that Persistent told me didn't upload the other day,and then welcome A.M. back. Not sure when she'll be here, but hopefully soon.Of course you all will see the HI-LARIOUS pics of Karen and I holding thatridiculously large lens in front of our faces, but we decided if there was anyimpulse buy that was going to guarantee hours of fun and laughter, it would bethat lens, so we walked back to the Antique shop, I talked the guy down $5.00and now we're the proud owners of a giant 8" diameter lens that will distortyour face so much you almost pee your pants from laughter. It's the simplethings in life folks...and now A.M. (who is totally unaware and unsuspecting)might just be "forced" to pose with the lens too.Other life biz follows you, and some of it just pisses me off.   For whateverreason, I got a bill in the mail from my visit to the Army Hospital back in NYwhen I thought I had Lyme. So get this...I called them, explained that thereason I went to that hospital was because I called ahead and was told it wouldbe no charge because I am a veteran and I have my VA Card. When I went in fortreatment, it was verified, I asked if I owed anything and they said no. Thewoman I called today @ the hospital (in the billing dept.) told me I wasmisinformed and that the Army hospital is a DOD (Dept. of Defense) hospital,and not a VA (Veterans' Affairs) hospital. So, this translated to me as yetANOTHER time when our freakin government can't seem to have its right and lefthands knowing what the other is doing. So, I told her I'd be happy to pay thebill, but that at this point, I have no job and would be more than happy to setup a payment plan starting Oct. 15, which I figured would give me enough timeto find a job.She put me on hold to "talk to her supervisor" and can you believe she came backsaying, "We can't do that. We don't set up payment plans." I told her, "Well,I'm not sure what to tell you, I have no job, no income, and want to pay youall, but just need a few weeks to be in a position to do that." She said,"Sorry, we can't." So I told her to let it go to collections then, becauseuntil I had work, I couldn't pay.I mean really? You try to do the right thing, set up something, and yes, itactually required some flexibility on their behalf (God forbid), but I've beenwithout health insurance for 4 years now, and I unfortunatley know how themedical billing/collections/call collections back before it hits your creditreport and set up a payment plan game works, so I suppose I'll just play thatgame again. I don't expect free everything, but I do expect people to give mecorrect information...I know, that's a lot to expect...competency.So, we're off to the laundry now. A.M. just called and said she'd be herearound 7:30 tonight. COOL!! Goin hiking tomorrow! Can't wait.~Certain