Date: 2013-07-25
To: Delaware Water Gap, PA 
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Worst night of sleep in a long long time. In general I have only slept well for maybe 2 weeks back in early May. The weather last night was a bitter cold. The wind was not strong enough to shake the tent but was consistent and would cut like a knife. Even with multiple layers of clothing on we were still too cold to get any serious rest. The sad part is that all either of us really needed was just one quilt or our sleeping bags back and then the weather would have been perfect! Today's miles flew by. We knew that there was a package waiting for us at the outfitter's store in town so we kept a steady pace. The temperature was great for hiking and since we were not sweating as much it allowed us to pass the only water source today and coast on with our leftover water from yesterday. Packs were light from lack of snacks and the few small climbs were made easy. DWG is a small town but built on a hill. Today the city is laying blacktop making the tiny Main St. a nasty mess. Stop number one is to drop of our gear at the hostel and to claim our spot in the bunk room. The time is shortly after noon and a few hikers are still resting from the night before. Just and Pro Tip are here. Pro Tip explains that they are really farther north on the trail but took a week off to go to Detroit and are slowly hitching back to where they had stopped hiking. I ask Just about Frank, the stray dog he found on the trail, and he tells Frank was sent to his parents' house and is doing great. Smirks and I put our gear down on an open bunk and then head out to stop number two, the outfitters to claim the package her mother has sent her. It's a half mile downhill to the store and we are both starting to feel weak from not eating enough calories today. The outfitter doesn't have Smirks' mail drop. Apparently she will only accept UPS deliveries and all the other mail ends up back at the post office. Damn. Back up the hill we walk all the way past the hostel and past the nasty road work areas to the opposite side of town. We run out of real estate and realize this last brick building at the end of Main St. is not the post office. It is on a side street back the way we just came. Neither of us have the energy to get frustrated so we turn around and walk back to the overlooked side street. Stop number three, the post office. I learn something new today. In this city, even though the post office is only open for 5 hours a day every postal employee gets a full hour lunch break AND they ALL break at the same time literally shutting down their operation to the public. At the time we walked into the post office I did not know what their hours were or that they had never heard of having a staggered lunch break schedule. We enter through the first corridor of PO boxes with no problem but then we get to a locked handle where the counter and back room is. I'm thinking ohh great we have no clue where Smirks package is and now we have to wait till tomorrow to figure it out. I hear some loud voices from behind a windowless door so I open it up. Standing on the other side are 3 ladies who rudely bark at me that they are on their lunch break. We impatiently wait 15 mins for their break to end. Both of us feeling weaker by the minute until finally we receive the car package. What's inside instantly turns our mood around and rejuvenates our spirits. Smirks' mom sent us a large box full of delicious and healthy foods, along with a letter and a few other goodies. We snack on the care package for an hour. Uncle Buck is here and is trying to get enough money together to drive home to Arkansas. We donate a few dollars to him for a ride to/from Walmart for a resupply. While at Walmart we also pick out a sheet to start sleeping with. Tonight is our lucky night. The church is having its weekly free "hot dog night". Well free hot dog night ended up being free pizza, hot dogs, casseroles, ice cream, etc.