Date: 2018-06-05
From: Canopus Lake

To: Pawling NY
Miles today: 21.9

Tenting in a field is wet! My fly was soaked even though it only sprinkled a tiny bit in the late evening. I packed it up and threw it on the back of my pack just to avoid it soaking everything in my bag. We were headed to town anyway so water wasn't a huge concern. The morning was beautiful! It was like hiking in the fall with a nice cool breeze and sun shining through the leaves here and there. We were both excited to get to town and Two Clicks was excited to get to the post office to pick up his package from home with a new tent, new shoes and some resupply.We pushed miles and by 1230 we stopped for a break at a shelter roughly 8 miles from the road to town. I grabbed some metallic tasting water from the well there then pushed on! The skies had opened up only a few minutes prior and dumped rain on us. It was quick but man was I soaked. We passed some huge oak trees. One on trail and one right at the road we ended at! NY supposedly had the largest one on trail but the AWOL guide I have hasn't mentioned if one of these are the largest. The 8 miles went quickly in retrospect but my feet and mentality were feeling fatigued. When I know I'm going into town and living in luxury I tend to forget I still have to hike there. In this case, I forgot I had 22 miles to hike and when I do the math and figure out how long that'll take it gets to me.Anyway, by the time I reached the road it began raining again. The clouds looked ominous! I sat under that big oak tree as good coverage waiting for Two Clicks. When he got there, we started the walk to town. It was 3.1 miles east but we didn't plan on walking that whole way. Now I fully admit to this-- we broke the law! Hitching in NY is illegal but man we didn't want to do 3 miles on the road. We thumbed the first few cars that passed but there weren't many on this small side road. Eventually a chair car van pulled over and offered us a ride. Ambulance services typically have ambulances for higher care patients for interfacility transfers and chair car vans for transfers from hospital to home for those patients bound to a wheelchair. Well the guy that gave us a ride was a wheel chair van driver and we kneeled in the back next to he wheelchair for a ride into town. His "patient" was in the passenger seat with the music blasting. Hahaha we really do experience some weird stuff.When he dropped us downtown, an Italian sounding man yelled, "I'm going to report you!" Seemingly joking. Two Clicks said "what a welcome to town." We got into conversation with him about what we were doing and he asked if we had our minds checked before starting. Great question!We made our way to the post office for Two Clicks to get his package with his new tent and shoes in it then went next door to the bar to wait for my family to show up in town.When my parents rolled up we paid our tabs and greeted them. It was great seeing them and they always bring a bunch of great food and think of everything. They brought us to Hannaford for a resupply then to the hotel. Here, we checked in and got our clothes ready for laundry. Two clicks jumped in the shower and I tried to start laundry but of course, the washer was out of order! My parents offered to bring them down to the Laundromat and had to bare the smell of laundry untouched by soap since mile 1100! Thank you so much! Probably the worst we've smelt and I know my sister and uncle could tell you we smelt bad with them. We showered, spread things out to dry and then went to dinner before hanging out for the night in the hotel. So gracious my parents came out and that they support myself and friends in everything we do. Love you guys!