Date: 2011-06-02
From: Tammy's House

To: 0.1 miles before Alec Kennedy
Miles today: 14.7

(In which I start life in the slow lane)Around 11pm we retreat to the screened-in pavilion to sleep, choosing it from the four spacious options for its view of the fireflies and its breeze. We lay our sleeping bags down on folding beach chairs, a cot and the floor and lie awake in the dark talking, still energized from the day. Buffalo expresses his excitement for the new slow plan and how cool it would be if he actually changes his name to Buffaslow, and I share his sentiments. "We're going to have so much fun," he says, with the uninhibited earnestness that alcohol allows. "I'm really looking forward to this." We joke about buying camp chairs to go along with our new life of leisure, and Buffalo / Buffaslow says that he wants to buy one of those 1980s style boomboxes. I assume that this too is a joke, but twenty minutes later he asks, "How long do you think the batteries of a boombox last?" German Shepherd suggests that if we write a book about the hike we name it "Going Fast, Going Slow", and I have to admit that this would be a great title for a book.We all go to Laura's Diner, eat pancakes and treat Tammy to breakfast as a small token of our appreciation. We are sad to say goodbye when she drops us back at the lake, and all write down our email addresses so she can stay in touch. It's noon by the time we start hiking, and German Shepherd hikes ahead. His visa prevents him from completely embracing the hike-slow movement, but we hope to run into him a few more times at least before he pulls ahead. Lemur hikes back to the grocery to claim his half-gallon challenge reward, a tiny wooden spoon.We meet Ghetto Sheep, the ridge runner for this section, who, like Faren / Castle, is another cute female ridge runner in her twenties. She thru-hiked last year, just started her season as a ridge runner and is eager to chat with us. We convince her to come with us on the side trail to Pole Steeple, and chat with her along the way. We chat about the ridge runner job (pretty much the greatest gig ever and to top it off you even get paid, she says), and her thru-hike last year. We learn that she also started fast, on pace for a three month completion, before deciding to slow way down, taking just over six months to get to Katahdin, and Buffaslow and I are excited to have a role model for our new quest.We camp at a tent site just before the side trail to a shelter, stopping before the shelter since the tent spots are supposed to be better here and we are all tenters now. Cayenne gets a fire going and Buffaslow pre-hangs a bear line for us all to use. Having only ever shared a bear line twice before, I think that I could get used to the convenience and efficiency of sharing the chore.We eat around the fire, and toast some of the marshmallows that I bought to eat by the lake. We joke more about camp chairs, and sitting on a tiny log by the fire I begin to see the practicality of one. Buffaslow talks about making a small three-legged wooden camp stool out of wood he finds near the trail, and having just finished my first woodworking project before starting the trail, I think that this is a fantastic idea, and start to actually believe in the whole camp chair notion. Buffaslow asks how cool a Katahdin photo of us sitting by the sign in our camp chairs and holding a boombox would be, and I have to admit truthfully that it would certainly be the greatest Katahdin photo of all time.