Date: 2003-08-15
To: North Conway (R&R)
Miles today: 1.9

From my journal pages.A cool night, great for sleeping¢¦ There were only two of us in the shelter last night, I guess everyone else just hikes the last couple of miles into town instead of stopping here. We were up early and on the trail, amazingly we were at route 2 (Gorham) by 9AM. We stood on the side of the road with our thumbs (and ¢hiker to town¢ sign) out, and tried to hitch to Gorham. There wasn¢t much traffic, we must have missed the ¢morning rush¢, if they have one. It was slow going, my ¢hiker to town¢ sign didn¢t seem to help, even Wenches legs didn¢t get us a ride¢¦ While we were there, Twofiddy and another hiker got dropped off at the trail head and started hiking North (we talked to them for a minute). A few minutes later, we got a ride from an off duty Gorham police officer. He figured we would have trouble hitching, because it was between the morning and lunch rush. He was a friendly guy, he used to be on the force in NJ (I grew up there), and said there was a big difference between police work in NJ, and NH. In NJ you had backup and knew what to do, in NH there was no backup and you had to figure things out as you went (what do you do with Moose and bears when they get hit by cars?). He seemed to enjoy talking to another former ¢Jerseyite¢. He dropped us off at the Post office, and we called Suzie to tell her where we were, then went to McDonalds for a breakfast burrito, and breakfast Griller, and coffee. We met a local and he told us all about the trails in the area, and other AT stories. Then we went back to the PO for our mail drops, and as we were digging through them Suzie, Jan and Chief pulled in! We loaded into the van and headed to Suzie¢s house via her new dream ¢Tree house¢. Wow, what a cool house in the woods. It¢s tall and skinny ,and mixed right in with all the trees. It has great Mt views in the winter, great fall colors, a back to nature feel when the leaves are green, and lots of privacy! Way to go Suzie! After we got the guided tour, we went to her church house, unpacked, called around for a chiropractor appointment (4:30), and relaxed over pepperoni & cheese cubes. Of course we did a little house keeping too, like laying the tents out in the sun to dry, laundry, showers, then sandwiches and beer for lunch, with a little talk. A great afternoon¢¦ No hiking to think about, just R&R, with a Ben and Jerry¢s just blocks away¢¦ Later I went to the Chiropractor where I got a great adjustment (my pelvis was WAY out of alignment again), then I walked a mile back to town to get some of that Ben & Jerry¢s ice cream I¢ve been dreaming about. As I was eating the ice cream, I saw wench and her aunt and uncle from Boston (Mark & Judy), they were here to visit Wench for a few hours, and they invited me to dinner. OK, Sure, why not? So I had dessert first, I even brought it into the restaurant. While we all ate (another cheese burger for me), we talked about the trail, the past, boats¢¦ very nice people¢¦ How does Wench keep getting all these nice people as friends and family? Then, guess what? We went to Ben and Jerry¢s for dessert¢¦ Really¢¦ they twisted my arm and made me eat more ice cream¢¦ ;-) We all headed back to the house, and Mark and Judy drove back to Boston. Now I am finally going through my mail drop, bounce box, and my food bag to see what I need to buy tomorrow. After a few post cards, some journaling, a little reading, I finally fell asleep. My body needs to recover, so we can climb more mountains on Sunday, then maybe Monday Mahoosic Notch (the big bolder field where we get to climb under and over big boulders). It should be fun!!! Suzie, in case I forget later¢¦ THANKS!!! Life is Good!!