Date: 2005-07-24
From: Tent, Wiley (Webatuck) Shelter

To: Tent, CT341 Kent CT
Miles today: 12.7

"Get a car, you stinky hippies!" I have now been labeled a stinky hippy. Those who know me probably find that label very amusing. I've had many labels attached to me over the years - Preacher's Kid, Chief, Wife, and Mom. But never in my entire life have I been called a stinky hippy. But then again I have never walked down the street in Kent, Ct. Apparently if you walk down the street in Kent, passersby in SUVs feel that they can yell out things to you. Kent is an upscale yuppie suburb of New York City that thinks quite highly of itself. Me, I've not been so impressed with their manners. But that's just me.   Oh yeah, we are done with New York. We actually made it into Connecticut. Which seemed OK until they sent us straight up a 1000 ft climb back into New York. The thing with those climbs is that you have to go down on the other side. So the entire time you¢re going up that hill you have that downhill in the back of your mind.    Wingnut struck again today. We only had 3 miles to the road and were at 975 ft. It looked like we would only be going down to 900 ft. Pretty easy - right. Wrong! He forgot to mention the 1200+ ft hill between the 975 ft and the 900 ft elevations. It was a wonderful surprise for everyone. Yea....   Today was one of those days when I have a plethora of journal material to choose from. So here goes - Skywalker. He is quite an entertaining gentleman. 44 years old, 6 foot 11 1/2 inches, southern manners (Macon, GA), dry sense of humor. We (Troll family, Spitfire, Guideless, Critter, Dco Gnarly, & Skywalker) were hoping that the free hostel at the Episcopal Church was open. Unfortunately the ugly rumor that it was closed due to renovation construction was true. All of us (except Skywalker) just decided to stealth camp close by the trailhead just out of town. Skywalker decided to seek free housing in town. He scouted some likely places (town hall, the park, etc...) before he started knocking on doors. Can you imagine hearing a knock on your door and seeing a 7 ft tall starving stinking man standing on your doorstep just asking if he can sleep in your yard because they closed the shelter at the church. Well he only had to knock on about 3 doors before someone said yes. She did ask that he not use the bathroom in her yard. Fortunately for skywalker the gas station about a block away has some porta potties. A block walk in the middle of the night to go to the porta potty is somewhat similar to a nighttime hike to the privy from the shelter. I am anxiously awaiting morning to find out if the police in this upscale gentrified New England village have any reaction when they see the tall man going to and fro between some citizen's yard and the gas station porta potty.   The gas station porta potty plays a role in my next story. I love my son to distraction. However, I, like many parents can be taken aback by my child's lack of knowledge on certain fundamental subjects. Today we learned that Oblivious did not understand some basic concepts of skirt wearing. He somehow assumed that when you went to the bathroom in a skirt, you pulled it down like you did with a pair of pants. But since skirts don't stay when you pull them down, he just took the kilt off and put it on the FLOOR until he was finished and then he put it back on. The idea of simply lifting the back of the skirt never occurred to him. This news kind of stunned me a bit. We discussed public restroom floors and how you never want any portion of your body or clothing (other than the soles of your shoes) to come in contact with the floor. The kilt was hosed down and is now hanging to dry off of a tree. It won't be worn again for a while.    Take care and we will see you on the trail.