Date: 2012-06-18
From: Hwy 301 state park

To: Telephone Pioneers Shelter
Miles today: 24.0
Weather: overcast clouds

18 June.  24 miles to Telephone Pioneers Shelter.            6/18/12  "Today we hiked 24 miles. It was easy. We slept in and then hurried to a place with water. There we ate breakfast, which it was delicious cold cereal.               After that we stopped at a shelter  and ate chicken salad. It was AWESOME! We are now at a different shelter, dad is talking to some people."                      ¢Sunshine:-)     Before I forget, here's another future thru-hiker tip.  You can't hitch hike in New York or New Jersey.  We had to skip a mail drop in Jersey because I didn't know this nugget of info until the night before.  Oh, it was my fault.  AWOL clearly stated this fact in his guide, I just missed it.  The only way to procure rides, would be to approach people in parking lots, but I wouldn't rely on that.  Just send boxes to towns within walking distance.  That's my recommendation.   Oh, we have more Joe to Go stories.  Want to hear them?  Ok, you talked me into it.  Now I've heard some good ones third hand, but I'll only tell you the ones that the actual person in the story told me.  Bootstraps bought a sandwich and drinks while it was dumping rain outside.  When he asked if he could eat inside (no seating) the owner told him he couldn't and needed to go out to the bench outside which had very little to no over head cover.  Spider asked to order a sandwich (a different day) and the owner said while propping up his feet.  "I'm not making any sandwiches. I've already made all the money I needed for the day.  I'll sell you drinks, but no sandwiches".  This was before 11:00am btw.  He went to the bar down the street apparently too early. Then stopped back into Joe's for another Soda.  "Joe" was fixing a local a sandwich so Spider asked, "can I order a sandwich now too"?  "Joe" says "I might as well now that I'm up".  We are enjoying the Joe's stories this year, seems everyone has one.  Last year it was Jeff from the desert.  The 2011 PCT hikers are now giggling.    Where were we?  Oh yeah, trail.  Not bad.  A bit rocky.  My feet feel adequately pummeled.  There were some small hills, but they were pretty short lived.  I love walking through the deciduous forest, absorbing it's unique sights, sounds, and even smells.  There's nothing like a good Poplar Tree aroma to send me down memory lane from my child hood in Wisconsin.   The weather was nice and partly sunny today.  We stopped by a shelter for lunch and dried out our tents. To our surprise, Beacon showed up while we were still eating.  He even took a half mile deli detour that we did not stop for.  We are starting to think we took a wrong turn and are back in Georgia during spring break.  The section, day, and weekend hikers are out by the droves lately.  When we arrived to the shelter tonight, there were 6 tents outside and even one inside it.  This of course filled the entire shelter.  Here's where it gets funny: it was a large 3-4 person tent with only two people in it.  They said they were out for the night and wanted the shelter experience without the bugs.  She did kindly take it out of the shelter when she heard how many hikers were on their way.  Funny stuff!Ok, this is worth revisiting my journal after almost drifting off to sleepy town.  I had just fallen into a light sleep when I heard Beacon let a little air out of his Thera-rest Neo-air to adjust it's firmness.  I leaned over and whispered "Now that's Gentleman hiking there.  You've got a sleep number bed!  What's your number"?  He and Sunshine erupted into giggling fits.  Sunshine's still giggling.  She said it was one of my best jokes ever.