Date: 2013-08-02
From: Cooper Lodge Shelter

To: US 4, Rutland VT (10 miles W)
Miles today: 6.3

I stayed dry last night. Emily started moving around first and then Cash sat up so I pulled the plug, carefully stepped down from my top bunk, slowly and painfully walked over to retrieve my pack that I had hung up on one of the food strings hanging from the ceiling. They¢re supposed to keep the mice out. Then I started packing my stuff up. I had come to the point where I needed to pack my dry clothes, some of which I'm still wearing, so I grabbed my wet, cold hiking clothes that I had hung up to dry. They were still wet. The first to go on were the shorts, so I dropped my pants and put on my wet shorts and the shivering has begun! Next, and I hate this next part, the shirt. After that it¢s all a blur - the next thing I recall was telling Cash I'm going and I left. The trek today is only like six miles and looking at Awol¢s map it¢s all downhill. (I think he needs to hike the AT again because it¢s not all downhill.) Like always, I warm up within minutes. The sun is trying hard to burn through the clouds but I'm now down below them. I'm hiking along and I yelled out as it felt like something just stung me on my lower leg. It¢s not an insect, but a plant called stinging nettle. I have the urge to scratch but RT told me once that if I ever touch the plant don't scratch, the stinging will go away in a couple of minutes and it did.Cash caught up to me. It must be the smurf water he drinks (Hawaiian punch mix) that gives him powers. Speaking of which, he gave me a packet of it and I drank some last night and went to sleep. This is where it gets weird. I dreamed I came across this large rock overhang and looked in it and a bunch of bats flew out and behind the bats was this big eyed owl looking at me. Then it waved at me and said, ¢Are you afraid of me?¢ I said, ¢Well, no.¢ And then the owl turned into a man, but his clothes still looked like the owl did. (Hang with me folks, it gets even better.) He then asked, ¢Can I give you a hug?¢ I said, ¢Uh, ok.¢ He walked over and gave me a hug, (ok, this next part is freaky). He then kissed me on my neck and said, ¢You are now one of us and no harm will come to you!¢ and then it was gone.I have to tell ya'll something. When something gets in my head that bothers me, I dwell on it till I resolve it. And the one thing that¢s in my head now is this lady by the name of ¢Inchworm¢. A couple of days ago at Big Branch Shelter, I picked up and started looking through the shelter log, which I usually don't do because it¢s a little depressing to see how far my buddies are ahead of me now. But for some reason I picked it up and came across Inchworm¢s journal entry of July 12th. I don't know her and have never met her, but as some of you may already know, she went missing a week and a half ago in Maine while hiking the trail. So I¢ve been thinking about her and what in the world could have happened to her that they still can¢t find her. Maybe that has something to do with my dream, or hell it might just be that smurf water.Emily was down near the road when Cash and I showed up. She's hiking on and I'm going to Killington to get my packages and Cash is going into Rutland. So here we all go; I stick out the 'ol thumb, pointed up of course, and about a mile up the road I stop and face traffic when this black car drives by and she's shaking her finger at me - I guess I'm not supposed to hitch hike in Vermont. But I continue to do it and then I see her coming back. I'm think she's going to preach at me about hitch hiking - here it comes, ¢Do you need a ride?¢ ¢Yes I do.¢ I told her I thought she was waving her finger and saying, ¢No, no, no!¢ but what she was saying was, ¢I'm turning around.¢ Morgan said she was on her way to pick up her sister and I tell her the story about needing to pick up my packages at the lodge and how I was going to have to hitch into Rutland and that's when she said she was going into Rutland and she could take me ¢ great! So she takes me to get my packages and then we stop by her house, she runs inside and changes clothes and then she and her sister come out and we head back towards Rutland. They¢re going to a Bikram (hot) yoga class at noon. We made it in time for their class, so I thanked Morgan for picking me up and driving me everywhere and I asked, ¢Do I owe you anything?¢ And her sister, Bean, says, ¢No, what comes around goes around.¢ (That's what I say too) They have taken me as far as time would allow so I started to walk on into Rutland. Then I decided to call a cab - ten bucks I'm more than glad to pay.I'm staying here at the hostel at the Yellow Deli in downtown Rutland. All of the bunks are full but I¢ve got a cot for the night in a room that they are still working on. The street is closed as there is a festival going on here this weekend with vendors and a band playing all day and into the evening. First on my list is going through the boxes I picked up from the lodge and then going to the post office. Afterwards, I went and ate at the Yellow Deli (it¢s a deli and a hostel), which has great food and hikers get 15% off. Then I went to the library - man they have super sonic wifi! I was photo streaming and it was so fast I couldn't keep up with it. I later went to one of them flicker shows (the movies) and saw Wolverine, my first movie since last year and it was good. If you go to see it, wait until the credits are done because there's more of the movie at the end.I found out why I couldn't get a room at the Mountain Meadows Lodge. They¢re all booked up every weekend for weddings. I'm really liking Rutland so I might just stay another night, maybe!