Date: 2008-08-01
From: North Woodstock, NH

To: North Woodstock, NH
Miles today: 0.0

Man, crazy dreams all nite, but the cool thing was that in all of them, Karenand I were doing things like White Water rafting and fun stuff like that. Mybrain is slowly processing that the separation is over.We got up and I went next door to find A.M. and V8 packing up. A.M. gave me abig hug and I asked if they were game to go to Peg¢s for breakfast¢¦and theywere.We all walked down to Peg¢s and walked in. Who was there but Fat Chap with abunch of hikers! A.M. and V8 actually knew many of them, so it has been reallyfun for them to reconnect with hikers that they met earlier this year. Fat Chaptold us there was a Hiker Feed @ the hostel tomorrow and invited us. Not sureyet if we¢ll go, but A.M. and V8 will be home by tomorrow.I got the Hungry (Wo)man¢s breakfast again. I really can¢t believe how muchfood I¢m capable of shoveling down at this point. I get a little paranoid whenI take multiple zero¢s that I¢ll suddenly gain 400 lbs with all that I¢m eating,so I¢m going to try to put some really healthy stuff into my body in the comingdays.We all had a wonderful breakfast, but I was so totally out of it I embarrassedmyself by doing something I¢ve never done before. We all sat down at ourtable, and the server only saw A.M. and V8 at first and brought coffee to them, Karen and I still needed to order our coffee. In a moment of total oblivion, Igrabbed A.M.¢s fresh cup of coffee and proceeded to put half and half in it andI started DRINKING it TOO!! Oh my gosh..how RUDE is that! LOL She was sogracious about it and just let me have it till the server came back. Geez¢¦am Iout of it or what?We couldn¢t take forever, because A.M. and V8 were actually going to theirsister¢s house first and wanted to beat the bad Friday traffic. We all walkedback to the motel and oh man¢¦it was really hard telling them goodbye, eventhough I knew they¢d be back in a few days. That¢s really going to suck¢¦when Ireally do have to tell them goodbye at some point..but we won¢t think about thatright now.I gave them hugs and watched them drive off in their cars. I¢m telling youfolks, I¢m in some sort of quasi-hiker/non-hiker mode right now. It¢s reallythrowing me for a loop. During breakfast, we were talking about how after anintense period in life¢¦when you get a chance to rest, you pretty much feel likeeating, then going back to bed for a nap, getting up and eating lunch¢¦thentaking another nap, and just doing this for a few days. I think both Karen andI are at that point. She¢s exhausted by her insane summer schedule andtraveling and dealing with being separated and I¢m exhausted for obviousreasons. So, we heeded that advice from A.M. Made no plans, and just decidedto kick back, relax, nap, do mindless things like watch television. It wasreally great to take a nap. I was sort of wound up, but to my surprise, wokearound noon.Then we walked down to the Cascade Coffeehouse, and played some cards (I totallyslaughtered her!). We were hungry, so decided to get an early dinner/late lunchat the Woodstock Inn. We got a table outside on the patio, which was fantastic, I don¢t know WHAT the deal is, but I can¢t stop craving Mexican food¢¦mainlybeef fajitas, so I ordered them¢¦.again. Oh, I get to wear real cotton clothestoo! Although, my pants and shorts are not exactly fitting me, but they work.After dinner, we went to a little market and picked up some snacks andcereal/milk to eat for breakfast in the a.m. It was a simple and uneventfulday, yet a needed one. I¢ll admit I¢m feeling really out of sorts right now,as in it feels like the hike has ended because I¢m taking several days off andKaren is here, and yet I know I still have almost 400 miles left. I¢ll writemore tomorrow what types of emotions are surfacing, but it makes me a littlefearful of what is to come once I really am finished. Still too far off toreally worry about though, so I¢m going to try to remain in the present as muchas possible.Oh, more crazy storms this evening. It seems to be the pattern this time ofyear. Not the greatest news to me, but it just means we¢ll have to hikeextremely early in the morning and try to be at our destination by earlyafternoon. I see no other way to be safe.Anyway¢¦time to eat again. Oreo¢s¢¦.here I come!~Certain