Date: 2006-08-04
From: Monson, ME

To: Monson, ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

One of the all time best zero days EVER¢¦ and that¢s saying a lot!Awoke to the smell of breakfast ¢ eggs, bacon, coffee, yum. Breakfast here at Shaw¢s is ordered by number. If you say 6, you get 6 eggs (cooked your way), 6 bacon, 6 sausage links & 6 French toasts or pancakes. I ordered 2 ¢ no meat ¢ oh yeah, you get potatoes, too. Two was plenty.Since breakfast was so early, I was able to journals and organize my stuff ¢ which meant much more relaxing later. Did one more check of the e-mail at the library. Made a stop at Monson General Store for HEET and some granola bars ¢ which ¢[Transcriber¢s Note: Teatree¢s Journal stops here abruptly. The rest of this page is blank. The next page has some random notes on them, followed by another entry (probably her intended entry) for 8/4. Because she sent all of the pages to me, I¢m going to transcribe all of them. Here goes¢¦]>RANDOM NOTES ON PAPERWash tub bassCaulk, keys to be madeMr. CleanMandolin banjoEveryone hugging each otherLulu¢sMONSON JOURNAL ENTRYI¢ll be that most long distance hikers wouldn¢t list towns as one of the top five reasons they hike, but for me towns are probably at the top. To experience a trail town in its entirety is absolutely phenomenal and my time spent here in Monson today was just that, creating for me one of my hands down all time best zero days ever ¢ and that¢s saying a lot.First there was the hospitality of Shaw¢s Boarding House. The new team that runs the place is helpful & the house is so clean and bright, creating the EXACT atmosphere I was hoping for while I was in my tarptent during each and every downpour. Shaw¢s was where I was dreaming of being & it proved to be a dream come true.Next was the new pub behind the Laundromat. Wow¢¦ what a great spot ¢ right on the water, with food you wouldn¢t expect to get in a trail town. The bruschetta with fresh pesto & buffalo mozzarella is a must have. And the no-nonsense attitude of the server was just perfect for that idiot hiker who had maybe one too many drinks and was relentless in his inappropriate comments. Bless you for dishing it right back and letting him have it before I had to.But the best, best, best, absolute highlight of the day was experiencing Friday Nights at MGS (or Monson General Store). As I was in doing my resupply at the General Store, my thoughts drifted between whether I could justify potato chips since they had no partially hydrogenated oils in them and the thought that this ENTIRE store was the size of the department I bought for at Whole Foods. As I checked out the man at the register, owner Tim Anderson, asked if we (meaning the hikers) were coming for the music tonight. [Transcriber note: I think she meant that she wasn¢t checking out the man at the register. I think she meant that she was checking out and the man at the register, who was the owner, asked if they were coming back for music. She could have been checking him out as well, but I don¢t think she would have put it in her journal without a note to me about how cute the man was.] All I needed to know was what time ¢ this was experiencing Monson 100% and I never pass up that chance.I arrived around 6:30 and there were 5 or so men & women with instruments. By 7pm, there were at least 12 musicians with a huge variety of instruments ¢ guitars, harmonica, fiddle accordion, slide guitar, banjos, mandolin, a drum of sorts and even a wash tub bass. Owner Tim was anxious for someone to take over the register so that he could jump on his guitar, too. He told me that one night last summer 116 people crammed into the store to jam & enjoy the music ¢ and that he felt high for two days afterwards from all of the energy in the room. The locals started to pile in. Everyone greeted everyone ¢ they all knew each other ¢ they hugged, they teased, they smiled¢¦ The music was everything from originals about the mountains we hike over to classics like I¢ll Fly Away and What Do You Do with a Drunken Sailor. There was no possibility of not tapping your foot to these tunes. And the setting ¢ I don¢t know if I can even capture it in words. The musicians sat in a circle set against the wall of the store¢s video selection, amongst the auto repair selection, the keys to be made, the caulk, the Mr. Clean. The aisles were lined with listeners and empty guitar cases ¢ as well as Apple Jacks, canned beans and peanut butter. Occasionally folks would come in to buy groceries of some sort ¢ usually stopping to listen for a minute. And I swear there kids and teens and those so old they could barely walk. And HIKERS!! All there to enjoy the wonderful warm sound of the ¢hoe down,¢ as they were calling it.I got really tired around 8:30 from getting up at 5am for the wonderful breakfast at Shaw¢s, and so I left ¢ even as the music continued on into the night. All I felt like doing was smiling after leaving Monson General Store. Would I EVER do something like this at home?? This, dear readers, is EXACTLY WHY I HIKE.