Date: 2018-06-02
To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Here¢s a miscellany of things that I meant to write about but never got around to. ¢What if they tow the van?¢  One day Warren parked the van, which contained all our tents, sleeping bags, food, spare hiking shoes, and the like on a paved country road in New York - right below a No Parking sign. We knew when we set out for the day that the van was parked there. Arlene worried that the van would be towed and impounded, leaving us without any camping gear or food. In Southern California, where she lives, towing is standard operating procedure. ¢What if they tow the van?¢ she remarked several times through the day. Bill kept reassuring her that this was unlikely. When we got to where the van had been parked it was still there, although there was a $50 parking ticket on the windshield. Warren, being Warren, ripped it up and threw it away. A day or so later, Arlene wondered aloud if she had Lyme disease because she was so tired. Because we¢d been hiking some high-mileage days, there was good reason for her to be tired. Bill fired back, ¢What if they tow the van?¢ After that, the expression ¢what if they tow the van?¢ became our group response to any type of worrying.  AThe cost of our hotel room in Kent, CT: About every 10 days we had a town day to pick up mail, buy food, do laundry, and take a shower. We hiked on these days and then were driven to town in the van. We arrived tired, stinky, and bedraggled. At most of these stops we made reservations to stay in a hotel. Warren doesn¢t approve of staying in hotels. His philosophy of hiking the AT is that you should be able to hike it for next to nothing. This is fine for him, but he tries to impose his philosophy on the group members. And he makes fun of people for spending money. At age 68 I resent someone telling me how to spend my money. When we approached our town stop in Kent, Connecticut we decided to book a room at the Fife and Drum Inn. Arlene, Bill, Terri, and I booked a room together and split the cost. The Fife and Drum is pricey but nice, and it¢s on Main Street directly across from the only supermarket and laundromat in town. That morning before we started hiking Warren asked, ¢Can I ask how much a room at this hotel costs?¢ Arlene replied, ¢No.¢ The next morning Warren asked Terri how much the room cost. She replied, ¢My lips are sealed.¢ Warren responded, ¢This is the first time any expedition members have ever stayed in that hotel.¢ Arlene riposted, ¢Then you can add that to your book.¢  Call and response: Bill, who is cold-natured, loves summertime and everything about it. Early in the hike, when we were learning how to follow the trail, the person in front would call out, ¢White blaze!¢ when she saw one. Bill would call out, ¢Summertime!¢ This was both an acknowledgement that he had heard and also an expression of happiness that summertime was here. This became a call and response for everyone in the group. Are you still crazy? The night that Lizzie was admitted to the hospital our group was camping in a big public park in Port Clinton, PA.  Warren called us all together for a meeting.  He noted that our group has had way more injuries than any other expedition he has led.  In this context he told us that Lizzie wasn't coming back.  What?!?  Arlene, Bill, and I were stunned.  We just couldn't believe that she would quit.  We were extremely upset.  We decided to call her in the hospital to see if she really was going to quit.  We called and put her on speaker.  We talked for a while, but we were afraid to ask if she was quitting for fear that it might be true.  Finally Arlene bit the bullet and asked, "Are you still crazy?"  What she meant was, are you still crazy enough to do the thru hike?  Lizzie answered that she was definitely still crazy, and we heaved a collective sigh of relief.  Foods associated with each group member: Most nights Lizzie, Bill, Arlene, and I ate dinner together, and the whole group always shopped for food together, so we became really familiar with each other¢s food preferences. After a time I began to associate certain foods with each person. I still think about them when I see these things in the grocery store. Here are a few: Almond Joy bars - Lizzie; red Twizzlers - Terri; dried mangos (which I¢m now hooked on) and Takis - Arlene; mint chocolate chip ice cream, mint chocolate M & Ms - Bill. I have no idea what Rennie ate because he¢d already eaten, brushed his teeth, and gotten ready for bed by the time I finished hiking each day. I do know that he drank prodigious amounts of coffee and ate most of the food that the rest of us deposited in the communal food box.  I miss living with my trail family, but we communicate almost daily by text, Facebook, or phone call. Bill, Lizzie, Rennie, and I saw each other at Trail Days several weeks ago. And most of us will be hiking the Allegheny Trail together the second half of June.  Stay tuned for my Allegheny Trail journal, coming soon.