Date: 2018-05-23
From: Leroy A Smith Shelter

To: Wind Gap, PA
Miles today: 4.6

It would do me some good to read my tag line from Will Hutchins occasionally. I¢ve been keeping something from you and more importantly from myself. Three day ago, I started to sneeze occasionally and had to clear my throat often. It was worse at night, and last night it was pretty bad. Even so, I was no noisier than my shelter mates and the severe thunderstorm just after midnight covered all of our sounds. I even felt like my chest was constructed some and heard an occasional wheeze. I had been planning on resupplying in Wind Gap anyway, but my original plan was a quick in & out and to continue hiking to a shelter only 6.4 miles from Delaware Water Gap. So much for my plans. I woke up this morning feeling pretty puny, meaning feeling like I had a hangover only I hadn¢t been drinking. The 4.6 miles to Wind Gap were rocky, but not unusually so for Pennsylvania. For me they felt endless. When I got to the trailhead, there was a car across the road letting a hiker out. I motioned to him, sort of a pantomime of going into town? He did a u-turn and within minutes I was on my way to the Travel Inn. I instantly recognized that my driver was from Ghana, of the Ashanti tribe, which amazed him. I had a professor and neighbor from Accra and they could have been brothers. He will take me back to the trail tomorrow morning. On a scale of trail hotels with the Doyle of Duncannon as a 1 and Dartmouth¢s Hanover Inn as a 10, the Travel Inn ranks right on up there as a two. The bathroom was recently renovated and was tolerably clean. The innkeeper gave me a bottle of body wash to supplement the condom foil-sized bit of shampoo in the room and the miniature bar of soap. The towel was adequate for drying but not for wrapping around my waist. I checked the mattress for bedbugs and found none. There is a refrigerator and a microwave, and also a satellite TV that will remain off. There is an air conditioner, but no where to plug it in. It is obviously intended as art and to fill the hole that would otherwise be in the wall. Fortunately it isn¢t a very warm day and I¢m better off without the noise. My room is in the rear annex, sparing me the noise of traffic. It¢s really a blessing that the windows don¢t open. To the credit of the Travel Inn, they are centrally located 1/2 mile from both St Luke¢s Walk-In Clinic and the Giant Grocery Store. And they did let me check in early at 9:30. The laundromat is in a very close by strip center, and the owner was helpful and friendly. After showering and doing laundry, I went to St Luke¢s. Aside from the waiting, they were quite nice and caring. Medicare and my supplemental covered it all. Their conclusion was not surprising. I have an upper respiratory infection, what I ignorantly would have called a cold. Remember the ancient ad, ¢A Summer Cold is a Different Beast!¢ It¢s one of those. The physician¢s assistant is having me double up on my allergy spray, add a Zyrtec before bed to dry me out and prescribed an Albuterol inhaler. I must say that the latter already has me breathing much easier. They took my vital signs. I¢ve lost 12 pounds in just over three weeks!  The cold is suppressing my appetite but I managed beef & broccoli, fried rice, an egg roll and a large bowl of hot & sour soup for a late lunch. I¢m cleared to hike on tomorrow, but I will carry an extra day¢s food just in case I don¢t feel like hiking the whole 15 miles into Delaware Water Gap tomorrow. My recollection is that the worst of the rocks ended at Wind Gap. If so, I¢ll probably make it and try for a slightly nicer motel tomorrow. There is a church hostel at the Gap but I¢m not feeling like being around other people. I¢m sort of proud of myself for listening to my body, albeit belatedly. Now I must force myself to eat dinner although I don¢t feel hungry. The nearby Gap Diner is open 24 hours and gets great reviews for their comfort food. Housemade chicken noodle soup, side salad, grilled cheese and fries all served by a friendly waitress hit the spot. That ought have me cured by morning. Didn¢t take any photos today, but here¢s one of my cell block, mine is #129, with the shoes drying by the door