Date: 2003-07-16
From: Tom Leonard Lean-to

To: Shaker Campsite
Miles today: 11.4
Weather: light rain

Last night or early this morning, it rained. I had my earplugs in last night, so didn't hear it until this morning, and by that time, I think all I was hearing was the water falling off the leaves on the trees when the wind blew. The darkness brought on by the cloudy morning made all of us, except Walkabout sleep in. I got up shortly before 8, and about 15 minutes before Hotdog and I left, the other two got up, one saying "Wow. It's late!" I wasn't in too much of a hurry, knowing we were headed to town and back out on a shorter mileage day.We seemed to get to MA23 rather quickly, and once there, got a ride within 5 minutes. Hotdog had made a sign that read "Hiker to Town" on one side and "Hiker to Trail" on the other. No extra weight, as it's on his foam sit-pad. I think it helped today, and will help in the future too. The guy that picked us up was rather quiet, but friendly. He drove us to the other side of Great Barrington, where a supermarket was, and we thanked him. Not knowing the layout of this (or any) town until we get there, we realized we could have come into this town yesterday at US7, where we stopped for ice cream. However, this fit our schedule better, and we got to the store just fine. I was concerned the ride back would be much more difficult.We did our resupply shopping, and bought lunch there as well. I had a good roast beef deli sandwich (or grinder), Doritos, and part of a soda. As we sat outside on a bench eating, a gentleman asked if we were hiking the Appalachian Trail. When we affirmed, he talked to us for quite a while, as he has always wanted to hike it. He said he had an errand to run, but would come back by in a half hour or 45 minutes to give us a ride back if we were still in town. He knows the trail in this area, and knew exactly where we needed to go. I was relieved! No difficult hitch back to the trail!Hotdog went back into the store and while he was gone, a lady who worked at a store in the plaza (Brooks Pharmacy, I believe) asked me if I was hiking the AT, and, being honest, said 'yes'. She said she has a couple of friends who have thruhiked it and a couple who attempted. She offered me half of her Big Y-bought sandwich, but I declined, explaining that I'd just eaten one. Very nice of her to offer though. A few minutes after she left, another man stopped by to talk about the AT, and Hotdog and I talked to him for quite a while. He asked if we had a ride back to the trail, and if we hadn't, I think he would've offered a ride. All of that worrying I did was for nothing!Ray Sheppardson, our ride to the trail, came back as promised, and when we were ready, we loaded into his car and headed back to the trail. Along the way he told us a bit about Great Barrington, including a note of trivia that Great Barrington was the first city to have street lights! Go figure! And if I wasn't hiking the AT, I wouldn't know what or where Great Barrington was and certainly wouldn't know that fact!Somewhere along the lines we realized we hadn't gotten off the AT at MA23, but we'd only gone half the trail distance to a smaller road. Mr. Sheppardson knew exactly where we needed to go, although I could've gotten us there. No wonder we thought we'd flown to the road crossing this morning! Oh well. That just meant 10.3mi this afternoon instead of 9.2mi. No problem, as it wasn't quite noon when we got dropped off.The afternoon hike was unremarkable. We took our time, taking frequent breaks, including one at Mt.Wilcox South Lean-to, where we met two southbound section hikers who stopped in for a break and water, too. Coincidentally, they were headed to the shelter we stayed at last night, and we were headed to the campsite they stayed at last night. We exchanged trail and water information, and moved on.I'm in my tent, which is set up on a wooden platform. I've never set up my tent on a platform before, but lucky me... there are pegs (actually drawer pulls) around the sides of the platform, and I was able to put the loops of my tent around those snug enough that I didn't have to worry about guy lines or other makeshift support. It didn't rain on me while hiking today, but threatened a few times since arriving here. My tent fly is on my tent but folded up to allow ventilation. If it rains, I'll have to flip it down and clip it down, but it won't take long. The few drops that fell earlier might be all I get anyway, as I saw blue sky for a second or two.I can't believe how dirty I am! It's been 5 days since my last shower, and every day, I sweat enough to soak my shirt and at least half of my shorts. My backpad on my backpack is soaked and doesn't dry overnight. The only reason my clothes do is because I've been wearing them to bed. Tonight I changed into a dry shirt, and looked at my hiking shirt--ugh! What a pig sty! It also has a small hole along the side seam, and will need replacement soon. The zipper on my bra broke, so tomorrow morning, when I put that nasty, wet, stinky thing back on, I'll have to do some safety pin repair. What fun that'll be.Hotdog and I are both expecting packages in Cheshire, MA, and we've set up a schedule to get there by 11:30am Saturday, when the Post Office closes. The PO crunch is on! Actually, it should be do-able, but we're considering staying Friday night in Dalton (about 10 trail miles from Cheshire) and taking a cab to Cheshire Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. I don't think hiking there in time will be a problem, but I am getting anxious to get clean, and Dalton has more to offer than Cheshire as far as hotel and other services go. We'll probably decide tomorrow what we'll do the next day: pass through Dalton for lunch; or stay overnight.I'm in need of new shoes. The rocks in Pennsylvania tore up the front of my shoes. Maybe it was me, stubbing my toes on all those rocks, and not exactly the rocks' faults, but I'm going to blame them anyway. I've had the shoes since mid-Virginia, probably over 700 miles ago, so it's time for new shoes anyway. I don't have a plan for when I'll get them. I'm milking these for all the miles I can get! I guess that makes two things I need: shoes and shirt. Maybe it's time.I don't know what the terrain in Vermont is like, but I was doing some rough figuring, and calculated that I could be in New Hampshire in two weeks! Wow! I get in different hiking modes, or attitudes. Some days I want to go 18-20 miles, and other days I want to take a lot of breaks, and sit at beautiful overlooks.I have been thinking a lot lately about my "after hike" life. I still don't have any plans for work or home, but it's been on my mind a lot lately. I miss my friends and family. I had said, for a long time now, that I didn't think SW Florida is the place I will end up living. It's definitely not a bad place to live, but I'm not sure it's where I'd be the happiest. I have come to realize, though, that no matter where I am, or what I am doing, it is my responsibility to take steps to make myself happy. It's not the fault of location or vocation, rather, fault lies with me. I have a lot to consider, but my confidence that I will work it out is high now. I have faith that all will work out fine.