Date: 2009-08-07
From: William B. Douglas Shelter

To: Manchester Center, VT
Miles today: 5.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Hi Everybody! This journal entry may come at you a little unexpected but I have access to the computer tonight and I thought I would put in an entry myself. As you may know, I send the handwritten journals home to Mom who transcribes them. The last ten days or so will be showing up very soon. Don't miss them--its been, as usual, a crazy ride! I am writing from Manchester Center VT where I am staying with Top Shelf and Gezza at Green Mountain Hostel for the night. It is a beautiful renovated house and it is just the three of us here. I made dinner for us all and it made me realize how much I miss having a house and entertaining. Missing things seems to be the name of the game right now. Hating to use the term but thinking it may be the best one to describe the situation, I am trying really hard not to get too 'burned out' with the redundancy of hiking every day. Everyone that I see wants to talk about hiking all of the time and I want to talk about music, wine, sailing, landscaping, jeeps, stylish clothing, whether I will ever get asked out on another date in my life, etc... I am finding it hard to focus on hiking and have fallen three times the last two days which worries me while I'm trying to mentally list my ten favorite conductors instead of hiking. The weather last week was the absolute pits and that, no doubt, has caused a lot of us to get frustrated. In the hostel there are several movies about the AT and I found myself being really interested and excited, full of that feeling that I had when the trip was still in the dreaming phase. Top Shelf and I were actually contemplating watching one. Then I was like "are we serious, we are actually doing this!" It is hard to imagine and hard to admit that this amazing opportunity can feel like a job that we black out. Last night at the shelter, the three of us were talking about how the end of the day sitting around talking and eating and joking is our favorite part of the day. It is no doubt that the human interaction is why we think this and we go the entire day without it (unless you count the people that you run into that are asking you the same questions day in and day out. God bless them and its great that people are excited about the trail but my goodness I may go insane if I keep playing 20 questions!)I am telling you all this because I want you to know the reality of how it is out here. We pass southbounders almost every day now who brag that the hard part of their trip is over because they've done the hard states. The length and duration is the hard part and I assure you we are taking every effort to keep things wrapped tight for the challenges ahead. The good news is that the 'eye candy' of New England gets more beautiful every day. I have never seen mountains like the ones we are climbing now, and this is nothing compared to what we will see in NH and ME. The sheer size of these formations is enough to flood sensation and emotion into anyone who stands next to one. Also good news is that lots of people have been following the journals and thank you to them! Welcome aboard Mark, Jason, Pat, Donna, Lisa, Captain Kangaroo (GAME 02) and Captain Bob. Special recognition to a cast member of this particular journal and AT superstar Mostly Sort Of. Glad to have you guys along! Again, Mom will be filling in the last week or so really soon so stay tuned. Please keep your kind support coming and pushing pushing pushing me up these crazy wonderful mountains. Happy August everyone and all the best! Also I forgot to mention, sometimes people like to see the journey through another set of eyes. Top Shelf and Gezza, with whom I have been walking for the last month, keep a great website, www.mikeandrox.com. This week Gezza's phone is down (a casualty of the rain, I think) but they actually update from the trail each day so that may be exciting to watch. Take care!