Date: 2023-07-15
From: Delaware Water Gap

To: Zero Day
Miles today: 0.0

Today was just lovely!! Absolutely lovely. I was so happy to not be hiking for once. Talking to the group about my horrific foot pain (the pads of my feet) in addition to the Achilles tendinitis, we think I have plantar fasciitis. I¢m the middle of the night when I went to go to the bathroom, my legs collapsed because my feet hurt so much when I stepped down from the bed. I¢m going to have to start doing some stretching and making sure I¢m switching out my shoes sooner!After waking up, Moose Jaw and I went to get coffee before his hair appointment. Across the Deer Head Inn was a salon, and we had an appointment for him to get an undercut! That lady was soooo nice. And then her boyfriend from Puerto Rico came in and took the straight razor to Moose¢s head and beer! He was a barber in the broncs for a long time. He did an absolutely amazing job on his hair. Nicholas looks so good!! He¢s so happy with his look. However,¢¦ when the lady dried his hair, it curled at the bottom which his hair normally doesn¢t do. I told him he looked like Lord Farquad from Shrek. Now we can¢t unsee it and it¢s a running joke. He said he¢s going to wear his hair up for the next month until it get longer. I just laughed!! Otherwise, we are super pleased with his haircut! It looks awesome!!From there we went back to the room to cool off and grab our clothes to do laundry. We had to walk to a different hotel in order to do our laundry since the Inn we are staying at doesn¢t have a washer and dryer for guests to use. On our walk over we got a temporary replacement sleeping pad for Moose Jaw, until Nemo sends a replacement for the current one that has a hole. However, they have been slow to respond to us, even though the initial email was a quick reply. Then we got a sandwich for lunch to share and made it to the hotel. After laundry was finished we went back to the Inn and took a nap. It felt incredible to sleep some more. In the air conditioning. Then we FaceTimed my parents for awhile. I miss them so much!! I can¢t wait to see them when we are done with trail. For dinner we went to the Tavern near us. Except it was a nice Tavern!! We all were having a grand time, and then Bandit got super excited stating that he got us all gifts! Apparently, at the hotel that we did laundry at there were several claw machines. He saw a plastic Chili Pepper in one and was determined to get it for me! Well he won it along with a bunch of other little items!! So when he present the chili pepper to me, I was sooo excited! I loved it!! And then I saw it was a pen!! Even better!! Best gift on trail so far!! Moose Jaw got a squishy tiger. Stogie got a plastic boat. Toaster got a squishy dinosaur. Bob Ross got a spinning top. And Bandit kept a squishy gator. It was awesome! Definitely felt like Christmas in July!!When we got back to the Inn, Toaster, Bob Ross, Stogie, and I sat on the porch and just chatted. The other three smoked cigars. I had one, but didn¢t feel in the mood to smoke on tonight. Then we had cake for Stogie¢s Birthday (it was yesterday)! It was absolutely delicious!!! Moose Jaw joined us for the chocolate cake. Now, it¢s time for bed. Late again, but happy as can be! What a lovely day!!Today¢s Post on Facebook from Nicholas:Well, that¢s the end of Pennsylvania folks! We have walked just shy of 1300 miles so far.16 days. No zeros. 271 miles. ¢ West Virginia ¢ Maryland ¢ Pennsylvania  The Accumulative Elevation gain from our hike so far is 337,700 feet. Mt Everest is 29,032 Feet. Somebody check my math:337,700 / 29,032 = 11.63We¢ve climbed enough to summit Everest 11.63 times. °3°3°¤ °¤  Tomorrow we will start hiking in New Jersey, by the end of next week we plan to be in New York. We¢re exhausted, our feet hurt worse than ever. The rain sucks. Not showering for 5 days at a time sucks. Waking up every 60 minutes to blow up my air mat sucks. The heat and humidity make us sweat through the night. We are being challenged mentally and physically in ways we¢ve never been stretched before, and to call this hike a test of character would be an understatement. I am so thankful to have a companion like Sarah Kay, to tackle this colossal feat with. I love you Chili °¶  . We have approximately 900 miles left, and some of the biggest challenges still remain: the white mountains in New Hampshire, the flooded trails in New York and Vermont, and the 100-mile wilderness in Maine. Prayers for encouragement, safety, and for the strength to endure the remaining challenges would be greatly appreciated!!