Date: 2003-07-16
From: Hanover

To: View Entry
Miles today: 1.5

warning folks: this one's long[Editor: I believe that is an understatement. I recommend 'gargantuan', 'extrordinarily verbose' or at least 'very wordy']well, considering that i was sleeping in a frat house, even though it was during the summer, i had a much more restful sleep than i thought i would. thank god too--i'm beginning to realize how important a good night's sleep is out here. it's really the only down time my body gets.my original plan was to get up and out of town early. so i woke up, heard the rain pouring in through the permanently opened door of the basement, and went back to sleep. one MIGHT think that since i've hiked through so many days of rain that i'd be use to it... but no. i am SICK of hiking when it's downpouring so i'd rather avoid it if possible. and since it was possible, it was avoided. if it's not fun, why do it? orb and LT were of like mind so we just hung out in Hanover for the morning and afternoon. two faces i haven't seen in months showed up at the frat house this afternoon--pilgrim and doulos. they are leaving the trail permanently now, with no regrets so it was nice to be able to say goodbye briefly before we left town.the 3 of us were doing an impressive 1.5 miles out of town to a nearby shelter. we can't really do more than that because of upcoming slackpacking opportunities and families to meet up with. more to come about this in the next couple of days.load runner and apricot are also here for the night, along with CB (just met her). we finally got through the first chapter in The Fellowship--took a while, but it's heavier reading than The Hobbit.I'm going to go off on a tangent here: honestly, i don't want to have to write about this in my journal but i have to assume that there are maybe four people reading my journal right now: 1--my brother (i think the high point of his day is making up the Editor's Notes). 2--the guy who reads my journal just cause he has a weird sense of humor and thinks my brother's comments are funny. 3--my mom and dad (they count as one person though, it happens when you get married :-). and 4--the wannabe thru-hiker who is planning to hike in a year or two. [Editor: I also make it mandatory reading for my minions.]so Number 4, i write this for you: you WILL have at least one bad day. and not bad as in bad weather or bad things happening or falling a lot. but bad as in "i want to go home... i want to spend two nights in the same place... i want to smell socially acceptable... i want to meet a guy without facial hair and a bandana... etc." i didn't think i would ever think these things while out here and i Certainly didn't think i would be thinking about these things when i have less than 500 miles to hike. but think them i did. and it was a tough day to get through. for the record, i Did get through it. i am certainly not stopping now and i know i will have plenty of fun in the next couple of days to make up for this unhappy one. besides, days like today happen in the "other world" too and i deal with them. i do not think of this journey as a vacation or an escape, not in the normal sense. i am not hiking to avoid responsibility, but almost the opposite: to become more responsible for my immediate actions and more knowledgeable of my bare necessities.ironically, last year as i was following other hikers' journals on this webpage, i noticed that EVERY ONE of them had at Least a day when they thought more about home than about the hike. And i didn't think it would happen to me. and it has. the important thing is that it is now 9pmish and i am in my tent Out On the Trail. instead of having the normal physical obstacle course of rocks and roots to hike through, this one was mental (and without convenient white blazes to mark the way, dang it).so, Number 4, be warned and wary. push through the bad days, but don't be surprised when they sneak up on you either. besides, these days make it easy to mass-produce a lot of character all at once. and i'm practicly reeking of character at the moment.[Editor: This is the point at which Goldberry's virtually inexaustable font of eloquence exceeded the capacity of one email on her mighty, but not indominable PocketMail.]something else that has definitely contributed to this day is a general feeling of feeling run down. for about a week now i've had an annoying sore throat that isn't healing itself. this has developed into some kind of head cold and an overall feeling of weakness. yes mom, if it keeps up i'll get checked out. but i have a feeling, though, that this is my body's way of letting me know that it's getting annoyed at how i've been treating it for the past 4+ months. some people assume that thru-hikers must be in incredible shape. well, we're in great shape to hike anywhere, but there's not much else to it. my feet hurt constantly now, i'm almost always tired and can rarely get enough sleep. i'm going to watch what i eat a little more and be more strict with my vitamins. hopefully that will help.after reading this way-to-long journal, please don't think that i Still have a negative attitude lingering from earlier today. it has past (passed -ed). things are good. i hope that today is the lowest i will ever get out here and if it is, than i'll be happy and consider myself blessed. besides, i've hiked over 1700 miles and won't stop there. apart from being too stubborn to stop (just ask the editor), i AM having fun pretty darn consistently and intend to keep it up.[Editor: Hmm... what to say to that... maybe I'll just count the scars... one, two, three... ]