Date: 2004-07-28
From: Culver's Gap

To: Culver's Gap/Branchville NJ
Miles today: 0.0

What a non productive day¢¦I did have fun though. Today was a true ¢zero-day¢ (number 42 to be exact). I did not plan it, I did not need it, but hiking just never happened. ¢Let¢s do 22 miles¢. ¢How about 14 miles?¢ ¢8.8 miles and we could do 25 tomorrow¢, ¢I¢m getting a hotel¢¢¦ugh. At 11am we left the Cobman Ridge motel (did I mention that¢s it¢s a dung hole?) and Mad Scientist and Yoda immediately hitched toward the trail. Sunshine needed groceries though, so I figured that I would drop by Bud¢s Pub n¢ Sud one final time and say goodbye to Charlie and Aleen. I entered at 11:30 am¢¦Id leave 10 hours later .    Charlie and Aleen had promised us mimosas if we dropped in during the morning, so I took them up on the offer while I waited for Sunshine. He finally made it in at 1 pm and decided he would have one. I will make it clear that I had a total of 3 drinks in my 10 hours there (so no more psycho hate mail please ). So what happened that could occupy that much time then you might ask. 2 things: Katherine and Poker. Katherine was the funny and attractive bartender. While both of us knew it would be fruitless to hit on the gorgeous 21 year old, we both found ourselves having difficulty moving. She had enough wit to keep up with Charlie and always had a funny quip, story, or comment to throw in. She would also tease us about when we were leaving¢¦.which she seemed to know better than us would not be soon.   At 3 pm we were resolved to leave around 4 pm after a friendly game of poker (betting only bar straws). The problem lies in the fact that sunshine loves poker, its how he funded his trip, and I am rather fond of and not a slouch at the game either. Where Sunshine believed he could take all of my money quickly it was an hour before he finally claimed a 20 straw victory. He was determined to play again and I was quite enjoying it. It was 6:30pm before I won¢¦thereby entitling me to free pizza (especially fortunate since I have no money). I won by staring Sunshine down in an ¢all in¢ bluff, calling him on it, and winning with only 2 pair¢¦.Woohoo Texas Hold¢em!   By the time food arrived it was down to the possibility of 3 miles or a hotel. I made it clear to Sunshine that just as last night I could not possibly afford a hotel and I was not trying to be a mooch¢¦.Sunshine then opted to make a choice using clear logic and calculation ¢ he flipped a coin. Tales came up which meant ¢ hotel. Our fate was settled. As we finished the Sausage Pizza (yummy) Sunshine made some phone calls¢¦.ok maybe 50 phone calls. I think he was a bit in ¢high spirits¢ and never remembered to rejoin out poker game. It was ok though. I made the necessary calls to find a hotel anywhere other than where we stayed last night. At last I found the Forrest Motel 3 miles away for 50 bucks¢¦.Now for a ride. Deep in our hearts we would have loved for Katherine to give us a ride, however, since we knew this hope was clearly delusional we readily accepted a ride from Frank (?), a local at the bar who had talked to us earlier about his pending divorce. (Honestly I¢m not sure if Frank was his name but that is what I will call him for the remainder of this journal). I quietly checked at the bar to make sure he had not been drinking a bunch in his short while there and I was assured that he was safe. At 9:30 pm we departed with Frank to his pick-up, which shielded us from the newly falling rain.    Frank seemed like a country boy but he knew cars like the back of his hand. He spoke in detail of at least 8 hot rods he has with Sunshine, while I sat there clueless. What is a chassey? His truck was old, beat-up, and swerving a touch. I truly believe he was swerving do to the truck¢¦Have I ever mentioned that I am an IDIOT? Something about our host conveyed a kindness that seemed to be almost lonely. Of course a little bit of our host conveyed a possible relationship to a backwoods character from the movie ¢Deliverance¢.   As he dropped us off he offered to show us the new house he bought and buy us one more drink at a local bar. We had no inclination to be rude so we accepted. He spoke with an amazingly sweet demeanor of his two precious daughters. He also told us how he worked with his hands and was extremely skilled in renovating automotives. Had this been all he said my opinions and heightened sense of guard might not exist. As he sat down at the bar however, he alluded to having used multiple drugs over the past 20 years, he alluded to his old nickname: ¢Crazy Gremlin¢, and he referred to having been ¢drinking all day¢¢¦DOH! As we left the bar I was quite happy to be driving back to the motel, but then he decided to drop by Gyp¢s Tavern ¢where the girls would be¢. On the way he said ¢you guys let me know if I¢m swerving too much.¢ Unsure of how much ¢too much¢ is I never replied.    I was thrilled to be at Gyp¢s because I could break away from the conversation with Frank. He was correct about the girls too. I quickly met a young couple, Brian and Theresa, along with their cousin ¢Tater¢. He has a nickname because he is a marine not because he is a hiker. We talked about the trail and as always I beat-boxed. They liked it and we all chilled. Soon Sunshine came over and said we were leaving in 5 minutes. Brian offered to give me a ride if I hung out for a while though, and I gladly accepted and informed Sunshine. Sunshine had seemed to be enjoying Frank and I though nothing of it. I proceeded to play pool with a beautiful girl named Christina (a.k.a. ¢Sec¢) after my 3 friends threw me some quarters. I think I might have enjoyed the game if Sec had not been quite so under the table (in alcohol terms that is). After winning a game of pool by no means of my own skill, I returned to talk with Brian and Theresa. Brian wants to become a teacher and the conversation was nice. At 1 am it was time to go and I was thrilled to have a congenial and sober ride.    As they dropped me off Brian and Theresa gave me there number and said to call if I needed anything while I was in the area. Earlier ¢Tater¢ even offered to let us crash at his house on NJ 23 in a couple of days. I thanked them and went to enter what I expected to be a quiet hotel room. Instead I found Sunshine, Frank, and a case of Budweiser.    Frank complained of the smell as I took off my shoes. I ignored the complaint and thanked him for his kindness this evening. I told him I was going to go to sleep. 5 minutes later he left. When he did finally leave Sunshine proceeded to scold me for leaving him alone with Frank. Apparently despite Sunshine¢s yawns and hints for Frank to leave, he had stayed in the room for an hour talking and drinking. Sunshine informed me that at one point Frank had even cried. All told I¢m sure Frank is a sweet guy beneath a very rough exterior. Still, I was uncomfortable with that exterior¢¦mostly because it had been drinking all day. I owe him many thanks for his kindness toward us¢¦I hope that I have not portrayed him too harshly. Either way I am ready to go to bed to prepare for tomorrow¢¦a day where I certainly hope we will hike more than we did today. Goodnight, Beatbox   ttt