Date: 2008-08-16
From: Gorham, NH

To: Gorham, NH
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light intensity shower rain

Passed out last nite after not sleeping all that well for the past 2 nites. Theplan for today was for me to explode my pack, dry my gear, resupply, do laundry,and give Karen some time to get some work done.I've been emailing A.M. and V8, and the ladies are coming back down tomorrow tojoin me again from Pinkham Notch into Gorham, the LAST leg of the Whites!! Ican't believe it! I don't think I mentioned this, but A.M. went to the docafter getting home, and apparently she had some sort of stomach bug, she saidit may be Giardia or from the water out here, but she wasn't 100% for sure.I'll find out more when they get here. She's on medicine for it, and as longas she feels recovered, she'll join, but she is reserving the option ofstepping out of this leg, which is smart. I did hear just now (via email) thatthey are indeed both coming tomorrow! COOL!!!I had a weird feeling something was going on with her, because her energy justwasn't quite right to me, especially for a person who had hiked almost 900miles earlier this year. I'm so glad she's on her way back to feeling better.It was afternoon before I actually got into my gear today, but I got my foodout, and thanks to Persistent and Kokopelli my resupply list is quite small. Iwas going to try to resupply for the next leg, from Gorham probably to Andover,(MAINE!!!) but then I realized I might try to have Karen slackpack me, andmaybe the ladies would want to join on that too, so I decided to hold off tillwe got this 3 dayer done.I'm sitting in the laundromat, and man do you see "real" people in these places. I sort of groove on people watching, so I have to recommend laundromats ifyou're into it. I'm washing my disgusting shoes, hope it helps with thestench. I've been hiking in so much water they just aren't drying, andwell....let's just say I'm being asked (and gladly consenting) to keep them ina bag outside of our room...it's HORRIFIC really.A bad thunderstorm came through today, first one in several days, and luckily Iwas not out on those exposed ridges. It would be the most terrifyingexperience to have that happen in the Whites. My knees are extremely stiffstill, but my legs are slowly loosening up. I think more hot tub time willhelp a lot too.I also got my next set of pics up and the captions emailed to Persistent. A fewof them were taken by Karen as I was hiking away from Mt. Washington, and I wentin and put a yellow dot over my head so you all could tell where I was in thesepics. I LOVE these pics because it gives you a true sense of how small (andinsignificant) you are in these gorgeous mountains. Within 30 minutes ofhiking, I was almost invisible to the naked eye.So while here at the laundromat, I met Steady On, a woman from TX. We had agreat conversation, and she's been hiking the same pace as Lady and Tramp, whoshe said took a few days off and is in town as well. I asked her if she wasworried about re-entry, and she said yes, but she's already planning a hikingtrip to New Zealand. I think I'd love to be in a position to be planning anext adventure, but I also think I'd be ok if it was doing something other thanhiking too. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to plan another immediateadventure but that's ok too. I'm ready to be in 1 place for more than 4 days.Finished the laundry, didn't really help the smell of my shoes that much...ohwell. I went down to Wal-Mart and picked up a few things for Karen and myresupply. I was most proud of myself, because I haven't eaten very much today(for hiking standards) and I could easily have come back with $400.00 of crap,but didn't.I told Karen when I got back, I preferred to just order some pizza, and whileshe went to pick it up, I got my pack all ready to go, so I won't have to worryabout doing anything tomorrow.We played some cards, and Karen blew me away. It seems some of my card ju-juhas rubbed off on her somehow. We watched Michael Phelps win his 8th Gold andcalled it a nite.Tomorrow is relaxing, working the remainder of the lactic acid out of my legsand knees, and waiting for A.M. and V8 to arrive! We noticed there's an airhockey table in the gameroom, so I think we'll have to hit that up too. I loveair hockey, but I usually play till my arm is sore. I think I'm going to tryout for the Olympic Air Hockey team next time.~Certain