Date: 2010-06-04
From: Carlisle

To: Harrisburg, then Little Rock
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

From TrailPhone:"Hi. This is Tim. I've stopped for the evening about a mile west of mile 1120. I'm at the Motel 6 shelter, formerly known as the Holiday Inn shelter. This is probably the nicest shelter I've been in across the AT. They've a little white metal locker in the room for securing my food. There's a pipe spring in the shelter. I don't see mouse hangers, so I'm assuming we don't have a mouse problem or we've got a really nice snake. I made Boiling Springs a little bit before noon, took a shower at the swimming pool there. I kinda got cleaned up. On the way into downtown Boiling Springs, I met White Jeep and the British Wounded Warrior hiking team that was coming up the trail behind me, so I got a chance to meet some conrades in arms. I dropped my surplus fuel and food at the ATC office for the other through hikers to benefit from. I departed about 3 with Seminole. Seminole's a hiking fool. She kinda led me at a really rapid pace until about 4:30 when I had to fall back and go back to my own hike your own hike speed. I limped off U.S 11 overpass around 6:30. Just about then, a large cloud burst let loose. I came into Motel 6 a little wet and slightly hypothermic, but I'm doing fine. I've had a hot shower. I limped around the corner to a Bob Evans, had turkey, carrots, with green beans. I highly recommend it for everybody. I had a big leg cramp right before I left the restaurant, so I'll probably be hitting electrolytes kinda heavy today. But, I'm off the trail. I'm safe. I'm dry. I'm warm. I'm clean. So tomorrow morning, we'll kinda get everything together, find the bus stop, and make my way to downtown Harrisburg and start the trek back to Little Rock. If I can get this 3 o'clock Greyhound, I should be in around 5:30 Saturday evening. That's it. It's been a heck of a trip! I've got a lot of stories, a lot of pictures, and I can't wait to see everybody! So, thank you all for your support and your prayers. Tim out!"UPDATE: We got up early and took another wonderful hot shower, our third since check-in. Donned our traveling clothes and packed everything up. We decided to wear our flip-flops and pack our boots. We tied the boots together, snapped on a carabiner, bagged the boots to reduce their odor, and clipped them on the back of our pack.Checked-out of the hotel about 8:45a and headed to the bus stop. We walked out to the main drag and selected a spot on the right (East) side of the intersection as in most cities buses stop across intersections. After a small wait we spotted the bus and waved our $3 at the bus. The bus pulled off for a pick up but continued 20-30 feet past us. Didn't understand what the driver said about his stopping, but we were glad to be aboard.The area between Carlisle and Mechanicsburg has been growing and there is considerable new commercial development. About 10-15 minutes later we stopped at a corner with a new Walmart Supercenter and a Target. When the bus reached the K-Mart in Mechanicsburg, we decided to hop off and head to K-mart. We slowly walked across the parking lot, tossed our pack into the first cart, and headed into the store. We first looked for shoes to replace our dollar store flip-flops and settled on a pair of brown, fleece house slippers. Heading over to the first aid supplies we added a box of heavy-duty Curaid bandages. We then checked out and went over to the kiddie rides and took a seat on the rocket as there were no benches available. We applied the heavy-duty bandaids to our blisters and then donned our clean socks and slippers. Much nicer. We dropped our trash and the flip-flops in the trash can and headed over to the McDonalds by the street. Breakfast was still on, so we got a large 32 oz. sweet tea and a McMuffin to go. Found a sliver of shade from a utility pole and made ourselves comfortable on the lawn in the shadow. We finished our breakfast well before the next bus.Caught the next city bus headed east to Harrisburg and enjoyed the ride. City buses are a good way to locate everything important in a town. Found some more shopping areas, a farmers market, and several historic buildings. The bus crossed over the Susquehanna River, wound downtown, and dropped us one block from the Amtrak/Greyhound station.We headed over to the station. The train station is upstairs on the entrance level. Greyhound is one floor below on the Market street level. It cost us $15 to have our 30-day advance ticket adjusted to depart today at 3:00. Departures to Pittsburgh and points west depart from gate 5, located down a short hallway to the right of the ticket counter. It being only 11:00, we decided to see some of downtown Harrisburg.The capitol is just one block north. The current capitol is located in the center of a raised park. There are bridges from the capitol grounds to structures on all sides. There isn't much in the way of small shops, but there are several eating places, including a Turkish/Middle Eastern place near the south-east corner. We noted lots of pedestrian traffic entering and exiting Strawberry Place. We went in and found a large food court on the second (Capitol park) level. There was a large seating area and over a dozen food vendors, including Asian, Mexican, Italian, pizza, sandwiches, ice cream and more. We decided to have a 1/4 roasted chicken and some tea from the Mexican place near the bridge to the capitol. After a leisurely lunch and extended people watching period we headed back to the bus station.Back at the station, we wandered into the convenience store just outside the Amtrak area. The store is wells stocked. If arriving to hike the A.T., one could probably find enough food and last minute supplies to make it to either Duncannon or Boiling Springs from the US 11 bridge.The bus arrived on schedule and we departed about 15 minutes late. We stored our backpack below and took just our food bag and poles aboard. About 15 minutes later we passed under the A.T. and I felt a bit melancholy as I had just stood on that same bridge the afternoon before watching the traffic below.About an hour after departing, we took a meal stop at a rest area on the PA turnpike. The building was fairly new with clean restrooms. We got a Whopper Junior and a soft drink at the Burger King inside. Ate outside as the weather was comfortable.The bus arrived in Pittsburgh just before sundown. WE had a hour layover while the bus was cleaned and refueled. We made friends with two foreign college students headed west to Branson for summer jobs. One from Macedonia was headed for the Steak n' Shake, and the other from Mongolia to another restaurant. I helped ensure they knew when to reboard the bus and looked after them until Indianapolis where they departed for St Louis and I to Nashville.After a few changes of buses and even more drivers, we arrived in Little Rock about 5:45p. I claimed my pack and repacked the food bag and secured the poles to the outside. Stepping outside the front door, we didn't recognize any cars or any people. We noted stairs to the new pedestrian bridge ended just behind the Greyhound station so we headed around the building to the bridge.From the Greyhound station it's about one mile to the Transit center. What's a mile after 107? We headed up the stairs and over the bridge. We took the elevator up to the middle section. Arriving on the other side, a couple told us the elevator down was inop. We shrugged and headed down the stairs and off the bridge.