Date: 2014-09-06
From: North Lincoln, NH

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

A good day to take a "Zero". Rainy.   Linda and I slept in this morning. I am excited about seeing Daniel. Daniel said he wanted to hike the White Mountains with me, and specifically Mount Washington. I believe he will get quite an adventure! I had asked him what he was doing to get in shape for his part of this hike; he told me that he had been doing "Hot Yoga"! I think that is doing yoga with the temperature turned up to about 120 degrees (?). Some day I might do some yoga, but I very seriously doubt it will be Hot Yoga! As I am drinking coffee from the "courtesy pot" at the motel office, I cannot believe my eyes! Miss Janet just drove by in her van. Remember her from Erwin, TN. I can now confirm that she definitely travels the Trail! I spoke for some time with the motel owner; she and her husband are hikers. She recommended the Longhorn Palace restaurant next door, so Linda and I went there for breakfast. Good choice. The way I understand it, the cafe is owned by a couple of older women -- they are at an age where they care more about traveling and seeing things than working the restaurant. So, when they want to go, they just close the cafe; we were lucky to find it open.Since we have a little time today, I would like to thank the people who have supported me on this hike.1) My family--Linda, Charles, and Daniel--have been great.2) My brother, Bill, and his wife, Marilyn, have been very supportive. They picked us up at the Atlanta airport last year and Bill picked us up this year. Both years, they drove us to Springer.3) The people in my office--Rosie Navarette, Terry Arispe, and Becky Garrison--they have been fantastic. I could not be out here hiking without these 3 ladies back home to "hold down the fort!"4) The 3 lawyers who have taken care of my clients--Bobby Jack Rushing, Chris Schuchart, and Dan Sciano.5) All of my clients. The support has been great!It is time to drive to the Manchester, NH Regional airport to get Daniel. I have not seen Daniel since April 12th. I have not seen our older son, Charles, since March 18th when he deployed to Kyrgyzstan with the US Air Force. Charles and his group finished closing down the American base at Bishkek and he deployed downrange to Kuwait. Daniel's flight arrived right on time. Dan is a financial analyst for Rackspace in San Antonio. He likes his job; he works with a bunch of smart, motivated, young people. It rained on us all the way to and from the airport. We returned to our motel in North Lincoln and started planning for tomorrow. The plan is to hike Mt. Moosilauke; the climb has a gain of about 4,000 feet, and it is steep. Today, being so rainy, would have been a rough day to hike it!Later on, Linda, Daniel, and I had dinner at a Greek restaurant in North Woodstock just up the road. Very enjoyable; good food. I was looking through AWOLs guidebook and the waitress asked me if I was a pilot (she thought the book looked like a pilot's flight book). I replied, "No ma'am, just a hiker." We met an older gentleman in the cafe who worked for New Hampshire DOT. He said he did not like the route up Mt. Moosilauke because it is like hiking up a rocky riverbed.Back at the motel, we went to bed. Big day tomorrow; got to get some sleep!