Date: 2006-09-11
From: Congdon Shelter

To: Goddard Shelter
Miles today: 14.4
Weather: clear sky

Today I was up and on the path around seven. The plan was to go into Bennington for a late breakfast¢¦maybe hit the library and pack out a sandwich for dinner. And that¢s pretty much how it worked out.I got to highway VT9 at ten till nine. Just as I was walking out in eyeshot of the road four cars were zooming by. I stuck out my thumb at them and ran for the road. The last guy saw me and did a 360 coming to a skidding halt into the ditch¢¦(just kidding.)He is a nice young contractor just starting out on his own in his beautiful, clean Chevy pick-up. I throw my gear in the back and hop in. We have a nice chat and he drops me off across from Friendlys. Thanks Travis! and good luck with your business!After my usual big breakfast I head for the library which isn¢t open for another half hour. So, I go to the local coffee shop and have one of those fancy cappuccinos¢¦you know the kind with the whipped cream you sip off the top.   Big, big faux pas. I suddenly realize that the reason everyone was staring at me was not because my fly was open (I don¢t have one¢¦a fly, not what¢s inside) but because I was out of order¢¦here¢s this ¢he-man frontier backwoodsman backpacker¢ slurping Rediwhip next to some college professor on a couch reading the New York Times. Last time that¢l ever happen.So I go to the library and use the internet at ten. There I make the mistake of asking the librarian out loud how to spell ¢adios.¢ This asshole two terminals down with a wide brimmed hat and a beard that¢s never been trimmed looks up and smiles at me thinking, ¢you dumb sh!t.¢I leave the library and it¢s now around noon¢¦I stop at the market/deli on the way out of town to pick out a sub but they don¢t have any packets of mayo. So, I turn around and walk all the way back into town to get a sandwich at the Subway.Afterwards, I¢m walking and hitching along the street in town at the same time when this young lady coming the other direction pulls over and pops the trunk. She rolls down the window and tells me to come over and hop in. It seems she (Sheila) and her significant other (Paul) and their three year old (Noah) are just driving around town looking for something to do. So they turn around and run me out to the Trail. We have a nice chat. I found it interesting that they were unemployed, she was pregnant with her second child, and they were cheerfully just driving around burning up gas at $269 a gallon; not headed anywhere in particular¢¦and happy as larks. See, I've been telling you all along that everything is just a matter of perspective¢¦here¢s a couple without two nickels to rub together and not sure what's out there...but happy as hell anyway.The afternoon hike entails a climb of nearly two thousand feet to 3530¢. It again was a rough trail with lots of roots and rocks. I caught up with Hannah and we both arrived at the shelter at five. I ate my sub while Hannah built another fire and cooked her supper over it.At the shelter we met another nice young lady doing the Long Trail¢¦Scorch. She got her trail name when her gas stove malfunctioned during the first week of her AT thru-hike...I guess she caused some kind of explosion; resulting in a firewall disintegrating everything between her and her neighbor.It took me ten minutes to find a good tent site buried back in the woods about twenty yards from the shelter. At night I could hear something flying around my tent, but I was too lazy to check it out. It was also cold up at this elevation and I was snug in my Feathered Friends bag¢¦I love my Feathered Friends!