morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-06-09
From: Waynesboro, VA

To: Pass Mtn. Hut, Shenandoah National Park
Miles today: 1.2

Hot and hazy and I woke semi-early and packed all my stuff up; Len, a Waynesboro resident and best trail angel ever, gave me a ride up to Thornton Gap. A word of explanation: since I knew I¢d never catch Nick and Dave in time to say goodbye, I decided to jump ahead to try and intercept them. Then, foot permitting, I could hike from Thornton to Harper¢s with them, say goodbye, and come back down to the Shenandoahs and pick up the skipped section. So I made my best guess as to where I thought they¢d be, and Len and I took a nice leisurely drive up Skyline while he told me all about the Civil War, local plant life, and the social characteristics of Waynesboro residents. He dropped me off at the gap a little past noon ¢ and Len, I don¢t know whether you¢ll ever read this, but THANK YOU so much for such an enormous favor. Len drove off; I met a section hiker who gave me some water and a cheese stick (thanks!) and then I hung out at the trail crossing for a little while, thinking I might intercept the boys.It started thundering shortly thereafter, so I headed up the trail to the next shelter, taped a note to the shelter signpost in case they passed by, and made it beneath the shelter roof shortly before the rain started. Talked for a while with Meeny, Miney, and Moe (there was no Eeny), three section hikers who, and I am not making this up, brought a kiddie pool to the shelter with them and filled it up with springwater. I have now seen everything. I unpacked and wrote for a while. I figured that either a) the boys would show up that night (seemed likely); b) they¢d show up sometime the next day, in which case I¢d hang out here a while and wait; or c) they¢d already passed and were ahead, in which case I¢d send them a damn postcard and wish them well, because if they¢d gone more than eighty miles in the past four days, then I¢d never manage to keep up anyway. And sure enough, before too long, in busts Nick saying ¢Breakafuckinleg¢ and then Dave follows saying ¢I heard you were down here and I flew the last two miles¢ and there were many hugs and much rejoicing and celebratory comic strips drawn in the register. It¢s strange to have skipped a section, even though I know I¢ll be back next week. Feel kind of illegitimate. A time-warper. But it¢s lovely to see people again, including Snowman and Sparkplug and Beantown. If only I could kick this cold ¢ it¢s given me a touch of laryngitis, and I sound kind of like Kathleen Turner right now.
Date: 2005-06-10
From: Pass Mtn. Hut, Shenandoah National Park

To: Gravel Spring Hut, SNP
Miles today: 13.1

Went to bed with a Kathleen Turner-cum-phone sex operator voice; woke up sounding like the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Bleh. Headed out in the morning, so pleased to be hiking again, and with what seemed to be a healed foot to boot. Hiked with Dave, and though storytime was modified somewhat by the sometime limitations of my vocal cords, we nevertheless managed to have a rousing conversation about Judaism, identity, semantics, e-prime, and the Hanukah bush. What else need one talk about? Stopped at Elkwallow Wayside for lunch and a legendary blackberry shake, which was indeed delicious. Nick ate something like 8 tuna sandwiches and collapsed in the grass with a pained expression on his face. I was reminded of my Pizza Plus exploits in Erwin. Eventually we rallied and pushed on, and made a late-in-the-day decision to stop early, at Gravel Spring Hut, rather than heading on and camping at the spring four miles farther north. I heartily approved of this decision, as my foot was feeling good and I thought it might be nice to stop while that was still the case. So we had an early dinner and much raucous laughter with Snowman, Sparkplug, Red Wing, and Hopeful, and good times were had by all. Too bad about the kamikaze raccoon that divebombed the bear pole all night, despite Nick¢s best attempts to skewer it with the metal hanging rod (he swung at the thing like he was playing pi±ata). Raccoon had the last laugh ¢ Nick¢s foodbag was shredded in the morning. That¢s a crafty raccoon.Also, the deer in this park are phenomenally stupid. Beautiful, but stupid. I¢ve passed at least six in the past two days, standing right on the side of the trail, watching me go by, a foot away, not moving a muscle. Lord help them if they ever run into a poacher.
Date: 2005-06-13
From: Washington, DC

To: Washington, DC
Miles today: 0.0

The foot was still pretty bad in the morning and so I decided ¢ albeit reluctantly, and with a little browbeating from Jaime (¢Do I have to come down there and beat you? You think there¢s a possibility your FOOT IS BROKEN, and you¢re considering NOT going to the doctor? Do you want I should go to an early grave?¢ ¢All right, calm down!¢) ¢ to get my foot checked out, so that I could make sure it wasn¢t a stress fracture. I looked unsuccessfully online for a walk-in clinic but ended up going to the emergency room at GWU; Sara, because she is wonderful like that, left work early to keep me company in the waiting room there. And we waited a while, as one is wont to do in emergency room waiting areas ¢ in fact, the TV in the corner was broadcasting the outcome of the Jackson trial while we waited, which provided some conversational fodder. Eventually, a nurse came to take me down to Radiology to get my foot X-rayed. ¢What¢d you do to it?¢ she asked. ¢It¢s a stress injury,¢ I said. ¢I¢ve been backpacking for a while and I kind of pushed it too hard.¢ ¢Oh,¢ said the nurse. ¢She walked here from Georgia,¢ piped up Sara. ¢Oh!¢ said the nurse. ¢Don¢t do that anymore.¢ ¢Actually,¢ I said, ¢the plan was ¢ and I hope still is ¢ to walk all the way to Maine, if I can get this foot rested and healed.¢ ¢Hmm,¢ said the nurse. ¢You doing the Appalachian or something?¢ ¢Yeah,¢ I said. She nodded sagely. ¢I heard about that.¢More waiting ensued, and eventually a doctor came in. ¢The X-ray looks OK,¢ he said. ¢You¢ve just strained it. Stay off it a couple of days, ice it, and when you get back on the trail, go slow and take it easy.¢ ¢Sweet,¢ I said. ¢I like this diagnosis. This is a good diagnosis. I¢m not broken!¢ ¢By the way,¢ he said, ¢what IS that on your foot?¢ I looked. ¢Oh,¢ I said. ¢That¢s poison ivy. See, it¢s everywhere. But that¢s not why I came in. And ¢ ¢helpfully ¢ ¢I¢m pretty sure it¢s not contagious anymore.¢After we finally left the hospital (Sara: ¢I think I¢ve sacrificed half my childbearing years sitting here for you.¢ Me: ¢Pretty much, yeah. So, um, thanks for that.¢) we walked a couple of blocks to Bertucci¢s, of whose pizza I have been dreaming for hundreds of miles. It started to rain on the way, but barely, just a few stray droplets. Sara started to hand me an umbrella and I guess I gave her an odd look, something along the lines of It¢s not raining nearly hard enough for that, and she laughed at me and shrugged and opened up the umbrella for herself. ¢Okay, dude, whatever. The trail has made you SO weird.¢ Inarguable. We went back to her place afterward ¢ via the White House, on the way to the bus stop ¢ and watched an episode of ¢Scrubs¢ featuring a kid we went to high school with as Man In Coma. Very weird. Kid¢s hit the big time, all in a coma with Zach Braff and married ¢ at least on television ¢ to Amy Smart. (This might be sufficient reward to justify being in a coma.) Me? I¢ve walked about eight hundred and seventy miles in three months AND I have a left foot the size of a grapefruit. Which is NOT broken. Top that, Coma Boy.
Date: 2005-06-14
From: Washington, DC

To: Washington, DC
Miles today: 0.0

Sara: So, did you leave the house today?Me: ¢¦Nope.The above is not entirely true, as I met Sara at her office to go to the closing ceremony of the neighborhood tutoring program for which she works. It was an inspiring thing ¢ so many dedicated tutors, so many kids who¢d obviously been helped by the program, so much free cake for everyone to eat afterwards ¢ the kind of event that, if what you have been doing for several months is walking, makes you want to get involved in your community. I¢ve been in touch recently with Susan at RAW (if you have no idea what I¢m talking about, click the ¢RAW Gone Wild¢ link on the left; please, consider donating ¢ they¢re an amazing cause) and I¢m really looking forward to setting up a field trip for the kids later in the summer. If only my foot would hurry up and heal! Even walking normally, without a pack, is pretty painful. However, one unexpected advantage (?) of forced inactivity has been the sudden deluge of pop-culture immersion opportunities, which is kind of funny because in my normal life I don¢t even watch much TV, nor read many trashy magazines. But when one cannot walk, how is one to resist the afternoon Full House marathon, followed by the Gilmore Girls reruns? (Like every single motel afternoon on zero town days, only there aren¢t four other people watching with me this time.) How is one to resist the stack of US Weeklies (affectionately, if somewhat embarrassedly, referred to in alias as ¢The Economist¢ by Sara¢s roommate Katherine)? All these beautiful people, whose public personas center so completely around what they wear and how they look. It¢s always been a strange phenomenon, but it¢s particularly bizarre as seen from a subculture focused on the physical capacities of the body, and one in which I wear the same outfit every day and only get to shower once a week. I still like the Full House marathons, though. Cut. It. Out.
Date: 2005-06-15
From: Washington, DC

To: Washington, DC
Miles today: 0.0

Update: Jess has taken a short break from the trail (never fear, she is headed back soon) and while crashing at my place, has typed up several entries for April. Hit the "previous" button to read them. I have not yet begun to add the funny, but I'm sure you'll enjoy them nonetheless.Another day spent ¢ shocker! ¢ with icepacks, not walking. We went to see a movie in the afternoon, though.Sara: What do you want to see?Me: I dunno. I have no idea what¢s playing.Sara: Why don¢t you look in the paper, and see what looks appealing?***Me: So would you rather see Cinderella Man or the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants?Sara: I feel like those are radically different movies.Me: Well. I hear Cinderella Man is a legitimately good movie. But I also have a sort of desire to see something ridiculous and trashy.Sara: Well, I¢d see either one.Me: Also I think I could probably find people anywhere willing to go see a genuinely good movie. But I think the best friends to have are the ones willing to go see junk with you.Sara: I¢d agree with this.Me: So let¢s go see the pants movie.Sara: Pants it is.The movie was (and how¢s this for damning with faint praise?) better than I expected it to be. Also had a lot of crying. And then we ate Chinese food. And it was good.
Date: 2005-06-16
From: Washington, DC

To: Washington, DC
Miles today: 0.0

Nick and Dave got into DC yesterday and so I called them this morning to make plans to meet up. Took the metro out to their digs where Dave and I hung out with a very chill cat and watched part of Napoleon Dynamite (which, no, I have not yet seen in its entirety) while waiting for Nick to get back from a shoe-and-insoles recon mission at REI; then the three of us went into Adams Morgan for Ethiopian food at Meskerem. Very chichi, or so I¢m told. I¢d never had Ethiopian food before. It was tasty. I was stuffed to the gills when we left. Nick¢s on a mission to gain ten pounds during his 48 hours in D.C. ¢ he¢d already gained four by the time we had lunch together ¢ so he felt obliged to follow up our massive lunch with a jumbo Pizza Mart slice for dessert. These pizza slices are easily the size of a tennis racket, and I am not exaggerating. I could only watch in admiration, being myself wholly unable to eat any more. It was lovely to see them again, since I certainly won¢t see Dave on-trail again and it seems unlikely I¢ll ever catch up to Nick. But now I have another reason to visit Chicago sometime, and wherever Nick ends up post-trail. A girl couldn¢t ask for better hiking buddies. They¢ll be missed.Sara and I watched ¢Saved¢ tonight, which I¢ve been wanting to see for some time. Don¢t tell anyone I said so, but grown-up Macaulay Culkin was ¢ good. And Mandy Moore? Surprisingly good as well.
Date: 2005-06-17
From: Washington, DC

To: Washington, DC
Miles today: 0.0

Sara left town this morning to go to Jewish service reunion camp, and I, feeling somewhat duty-bound to get my ass off her couch, transferred my gimpy self to the nearby hospitality of friends Claiborne and Beth. Sara will be back soon enough to editorialize, but in the meantime let me put it in writing here that she is a spectacular person and I cannot think of anyone on whose couch I would rather crash. Thanks so much for not batting an eye when I showed up all of a sudden. You¢re the best.Beth works on Dupont Circle so we planned to meet at the fountain there after she got off work. I made my way down there with my pack, and we were sitting by the fountain talking when a random guy plops down next to us and joins the conversation:Man: I¢m gonna eavesdrop on you. You mind if I eavesdrop?Beth: What?Man: I said I¢m just gonna eavesdrop on you.Me: Okay, whatever.Man: Just cause your voice reminds me of somebody.Me: Who?Man: Can¢t remember. Where you travelin?Me: Maine. I hope.Man: Huh. How bout your friend, though, what¢s she sound like? (To Beth) Hey, talk.Beth: Uh¢¦Man: You don¢t know how to talk to strangers, huh? Your friend can talk to strangers. (To me) What¢s your name?Me: Jess. What¢s yours?Man: Gary.Me: Nice to meet you, Gary.Gary: With two Rs.Me: Nice to meet you, Garry with two Rs. I don¢t know many Garys. With one or two Rs.Garry: It¢s GAH-ry. Me: GAH-ry.Garry: Okay, go back to your story.(Beth starts laughing)Garry: Hey, you got a good laugh. Laugh again.(Beth stops laughing and stares at him)Garry: No, I said laugh again!Me: It¢s pretty hard to laugh on command.Garry: I guess. (Pointing to deranged biker cavorting around fountain with huge red helmet) Hey, is that your boyfriend?Me: No.Garry: Cause I thought that might be your boyfriend.Me: I¢ve never seen him before in my life. Also it¢s hard to wear a pack on a bicycle.Garry, to a girl walking by wheeling a bicycle: Scuse me, how much does that weigh?Girl: How much does my bike weigh?Garry: Yeah, how much does it weigh?Girl: I have no idea.Garry: How much do YOU weigh?Girl: Me? I weigh one hundred and twenty pounds.Garry: Just wondered.Beth, rallying: So you wanna go?Me: Yeah, sure, let¢s go.Garry: But I just got comfortable.Me: You don¢t have to go anywhere.Garry: Don¢t be like that.Me: What am I gonna do? I got places to go! People to see! What do you want me to do?Garry: You should stay here and keep me company.Me: Fraid I can¢t do that.Garry: Cause I would really like to get to know you before you go to Maine. What¢s your name again? Sarah? Listen, Sarah-Me: You don¢t even remember my name, Garry with two Rs! And you¢re guilt-tripping me?Garry: Oh, man.Me: Ever the charmer.Garry: I¢m not trying to be a charmer, I¢m trying to be a convincer!Me: Bye, Garry.We headed back to Claiborne¢s place, where Beth made an obscenely delicious gourmet dinner including margaritas. I have been dreaming of margaritas since Erwin at least. I¢ll admit, if a girl¢s got to be incapacitated with a foot injury, the hospitality that¢s been offered me this whole week leaves exactly nothing to be desired.
Date: 2005-06-18
From: Washington, DC

To: Washington, DC
Miles today: 0.0

Greetings to all from Washington, DC!I¢m temporarily on the injured list with a sprained and strained foot and have been playing the crash-with-friends-and-friends-of-friends game all week. The good news is that my foot isn¢t fractured and the doctor doesn¢t seem to think there¢s any reason I shouldn¢t be able to continue hiking; the bad news is that it¢s taking a frustratingly long time to heal. I¢ve been off-trail for nearly a week now and walking still hurts. So there¢s nothing to do but wait, and hope for the best; in the meantime I¢m comforted by the thought that October 15th is still over three and a half months away. The other good news is that I can take advantage of my enforced idleness to catch up on all those missing journal entries y¢all keep hounding me about. So watch for updates and think good thoughts for my gimpy foot.A lovely lazy day, my growing antsiness notwithstanding. Claiborne and Beth are terrific. And my foot ¢ for the first time all week, really ¢ suddenly feels noticeably better today, and that¢s a relief. I still can¢t put my full weight on it, but I can at least put more weight on it than I could before. A step in the right direction (sic). Patience, Breaka. Patience.I slept in, iced my foot plenty, ate omelettes with Claiborne and Beth and John, read for a while (a so-so sociology book called The Tipping Point, topped off with a little Octavio Paz ¢ Beth said, ¢I¢m afraid there¢s not a whole lot for you to do¢ and I said, ¢Are you kidding me? A place to sit, some ice in a baggie, and¢ ¢grabbing the nearest book ¢ ¢Strunk and White? I¢m golden.¢ She started laughing. ¢You really are easy,¢ she said. ¢There¢s other books, too. You don¢t even have to read Elements of Style.¢), started stabbing away at delinquent journal entries, and eventually ate Mexican food along with in the company of a handful of people I vaguely knew from college, which is always an intriguing way to spend an evening. Nimblefoot has - quite correctly - pointed out that the original version of the preceding sentence reads as though I ate Mexican food and college acquaintances. Though perhaps unfortunate from a purely comedic standpoint, this is not, in fact, the truth. Two of them are engaged now, and while I wish them the best, it¢s still funny to think back to when they started dating, four years ago. Of note, for those of you who follow such things: All the journal entries for June are now posted; I still need to type up the second half of April and all of May, but that¢s an upcoming project. So keep on watching.
Date: 2005-06-19
From: Washington, DC

To: Washington, DC
Miles today: 0.0

Sunshine napping reading journaling not-walking. A lot of Wodehouse. Too bad about the anti-Semitism, because the man offers such gems as this: ¢I yield to no man in my approval of those institutions where on payment of a shilling you are permitted to slide down a slippery run-way sitting on a mat.¢ Called home, to wish my dad a happy Father¢s Day and all that. ¢Are you getting cabin fever?¢ he said, and I said, ¢You have no idea.¢ ¢Boy,¢ he said, ¢I wish I could get up and hike every day.¢ ¢Yeah,¢ I said, ¢¢¦me too.¢ But Beth made pizza tonight. And peach ice cream. Mmmm. Carry on, Jeeves.
Date: 2005-06-21
From: Washington, DC

To: Washington, DC
Miles today: 0.0

April by sundown didn¢t quite happen, which I guess makes me a bad cowboy and a bad Orthodox Jew both, but that¢s not the surprise it could be, I suppose. In any case, if you are among the few, the proud, and the interested, all of April is now typed up and posted. Next up: May! My foot is a little bit better each day ¢ I can now really genuinely almost almost put it flat on the floor and stand on it ¢ which sounds rather dubious when I put it that way, I know, but trust me, it¢s a marked improvement from the day I called Sara outside the Linden general store. I¢m hoping to be back on the trail before too much longer, and while it¢s of course a little sad to think of how far ahead of me everyone else will be, there¢s also something appealing in the thought of starting fresh, this second half of my journey. I know full well that on the strength of companionship I walked a few too many days longer than I¢d have chosen based on my body¢s opinion alone. Which is part of why I¢m off¢trail now. So from here on out I hike exactly as far and as fast as my body tells me to. And no farther. Which is not, in the end, an earth-shattering revelation, but is still one that¢s been newly internalized. I¢ll drink to that.
Date: 2005-06-22
From: Washington, DC

To: Washington, DC
Miles today: 0.0

So I forgot that yesterday was Naked Hiking Day. Summer solstice, longstanding upstanding backpacker tradition, etc. etc. I am not so sure I'd have chosen to participate, but still, what a time to be marooned in the city. Cause for regret, or blessing in disguise? I can't decide.I picked my ass up out of Claiborne's guest room today (and he and Beth both get an enormous thank you for their generosity and hospitality - so very, very much appreciated) and skedaddled back to - where else?- Sara's. I feel a little like the bouncing ball in those Disney singalong videos I had to watch ad nauseam the summer I nannied for a two year old, only with a backpack. And a gimpy foot. (Breaking podiatry news: as of this morning, I can stand up without it hurting! woohoo! Now to work on walking...)MY DINNER WITH SARA: A RETROSPECTIVESara: Back to Sara's Motel, huh?Me: The accomodations were irresistible.Sara: Dump your stuff in my room. David's crap is in there too, so there's a little less space than there was before.Me: Deal-breaker. I'm going to the hotel.Sara: Sure, if by 'hotel' you mean 'dog park.'Pause.Me: That was a good line.Sara: Thanks.***Me: These strawberries are really good.Sara: I grew them myself.Me: At the dog park.Sara: Which is, apparently, where you will be sleeping if I get any more of your mouth.***Sara, hissing intently as she wipes up spilled pasta sauce: Yessss.....Me: What the hell was that?Sara: It was kind of demonic, huh.Me: Whatever, Gollum. Let's eat.Sara: By the way, you can use a fork this time. You don't have to eat the pasta with your hands.Me: There was only a handful left last time!***Sara: You want pajamas?Me: Sure, I guess. Whatever.Sara: (Shaking head) Man.Me: You seem to think there's something odd about my wearing the same clothes every day.Sara: THERE IS.
Date: 2005-06-23
From: Washington, DC

To: Washington, DC
Miles today: 0.0

A SAMPLING OF ACTUAL GRAFFITI FOUND ON THE WALL OF THE WOMEN'S RESTROOM AT BEN'S CHILI BOWL:Jesus Is BlackAmenJesus Is Black, White, Brown, And YellowHe is sick!Sara Vangelakos Is Better Than JesusMasturbate in the women's roomNeed a Great Real Estate Agent? Call Lashone (555) 555-5555Shannon + Colin/Moe/Darryl/Ludacris/Allen IversonPray for Condi Rice
Date: 2005-06-25
From: Washington, DC

To: Washington, DC
Miles today: 0.0

Tammy arrived this afternoon to great accolade and while I could trot out all the tedious details of grocery shopping and dinner cooking and getting soused on cheap wine, I think the most noteworthy moment in the day was when Tammy and Sara returned from the Soviet Safeway (renowned for the length of its lines) with news that they'd brought me back a gift found lying on a bus stop bench. (I'd stayed home so as to avoid walking on the trashed foot.) The gift in question? The 1943 Bluejackets' Manual, so that I can prepare for my impending Navy career. "Q: When may I consider that an order is unlawful and refuse to obey it? A: Never.""This looks kinda gay," said Tammy, turning to the illustrated knot-tying pages in the middle. "This is like friendship bracelets."Tonight we watched Shattered Glass, which I wanted to see because I've finally caught up on all the Deep-Throat-Revealed drama (I'm behind, I know), which made me want to watch All The President's Men again, but the local Blockbuster was out of it, so another journalism movie seemed a decent alternative. Sara wanted to watch it because some time ago, in a botched attempt to spike a Silent Auction, she accidentally ended up winning a lunch with the editor of the New Republic, a magazine about which she knows nothing except that a) it's the in-flight magazine of Air Force One and b) Stephen Glass fucked up big time while writing for it. Tammy didn't particularly want to watch it, I don't think (her vote was for Teen Titans, which Sara kept calling Tiny Toons), but we were all a little curious as to whether Hayden Christensen could manage at least a two-note performance while playing someone other than Anakin Skywalker. Private verdict: No. But he tried really hard.