Date: 2017-06-20
From: Limestone Spring Shelter, CT

To: Vanessa's House, 
Miles today: 4.0
Weather: overcast clouds

6/20/17, Vanessa's Place, Salisbury, CTMiles hiked: 1182.1, Miles to go: 1007.7I awoke to sun and clear skies. Yay. I packed up and headed out. It was only a four mile hike into town, so I took my time packing. For only the second time on the trail, l did not hike in my kilt. I knew I was going to be able to do laundry today and I just couldn't stomach the thought of putting on my wet, dank hiking clothes one more time. So, I wore my camp clothes. The climb out from the shelter was very steep; however, once I hit the AT again, it was a cruise into town. I did have a few blow downs to deal with; but, nothing too bad. At one point, I stopped to get a drink of water and Sauce and Snooze, who left the shelter after me, caught up. They were scandalized that I was not hiking in my kilt. Sauce said it was like running into her teacher in the grocery store and they weren't wearing school clothes. I swore them to secrecy and said that we would never speak of the matter again. We hiked together the rest of the way into town, where Sauce was picking up a package at the post office. I then found Vanessa's house. She is a woman who has taken on thru hikers for years. I got settled in, got a shower, clothes washed, and set soaked equipment in the sun to dry. I then started looking for a doctor to look at my feet. I believe that days of wet feet and staying at less than reputable hotels may have led to vesicular athlete's foot. It's not quite like the common athlete's foot between your toes. It tends to occur under the thick skin on the soles of your feet. I also think the constant moisture and sweaty socks may have led a secondary bacterial infection. As a result, my feet are very sore and swollen. It turns out this town only has one doctor, who could not work me in. They also do not have a doc in the box. I talked to Vanessa and she gave me the name of a local doctor who does house calls. He only deals in cash and does not work with insurance companies. Hmm, sounds a little fishy... I called the guy and we discussed my symptoms. He at least sounded like he knew what he was talking about on the phone, so I went ahead and made an appointment for him to stop by this evening. 1st Sgt and Pa John arrived around 1:00 PM and got settled in. We then went to look for lunch and ended up at the deli of the local grocery store - not too many restaurants to choose from in this town. While we were eating our lunch at the table outside the grocery store, a woman came up and asked if any of us needed denatured alcohol for our cook stoves. What a strange question! It turns out, however, that I indeed did need denatured alcohol for my cookstove. It also turns out that this woman was "Trail Angel Linda" and she always carried supplies for thru hikers in her car. Once again, how strange. Anyway, that solved the problem of me finding denatured alcohol for my cook stove. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and resting our sore tired feet. The doctor arrived around 7:00 PM. I really liked him. He did a thorough history and exam and most of all confirmed my diagnosis. He suggested I take several days off to rest my feet. However, having treated thru hikers in the past, he knew that wasn't happening. He then gave me antibiotics and antifungals and suggested I change out my socks as often as possible. 1st Sgt and I are taking a zero day tomorrow to rest our feet. Hopefully, when we hit the trail on Thursday, our feet will be much better and we'll roll right through Massachusetts.