Date: 2005-06-16
From: Whiskey Spring Road

To: Boiling Springs, Pa.
Miles today: 6.0

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were all zero days at OC1's house. The reason I am hiking at all today is, I want to do the 6 mile section so that it is possible for me to start out on Monday and walk almost to Duncannon. Tuesday morning I want to walk into Duncannon and take the rest of the day off there.OC1 and I will be splitting up here for a while. The reason being, he has so many friends in this area that want him to stop and hike with them and I have people who want me to stop by.Some of these are only 11 miles apart, so if we were to stick together and visit everyone, we would be staggering through Pennsylvania, and it would take forever. He's going to take care of his obligations with his friends and I'm going to take care of mine. In about 100 miles, probably around Port Clinton, we will meet up again.   I'm not sure what Easy Goer is doing, I think he might hike with OC1, but he has the option of hiking out with me on Monday instead of Tuesday. i'm in the middle of the walk right now. I just popped out into the middle of a corn field. I'm well on the way into town now. This part of the Trail, for the next 17 miles, crosses from one ridge to the other. It is pretty darned flat, it's a walk through open farmland and corn fields.When we got to OC1's house, it wasn't a 'little uphill' going up to his house. He had forgotten that it's a steep uphill through rock scrambles where they weave you in and out of a bunch of boulders the size of houses.We hit Whiskey Springs Road at about 4:45, which is 2 miles from his house. We called his wife and she picked us up about 1/2 way down. The first thing we did was take showers and weigh ourselves on the bathroom scale. Everyone was pretty shocked. OC1 weighed in at 138 pounds, I weighed in at 142, Albert was 10 pounds less than he thought he was. This is an example of the kids of stresses that we put our bodies through while on the Trail: After we showered and weighed ourselves, we went to a Chinese All You Can Eat Buffet. When we came back I weighed 148 pounds! I did NOT eat 6 pounds worth of food. The next day I weighed myself again on the same scale and I weighed 154 pounds. In less than 24 hours, my body weight varied by 12 pounds. I ended up walking back out at 154 pounds this morning. You are in a constant state of dehydration when you're walking 25 miles a day, there's just no way to get around it. It doesn't matter how much water you drink, your body can't absorb it as fast as it releases it. I thought I would start out feeling crappy this morning but, in fact, I feel pretty good. I timed myself through a couple of spots along the Trail and I thought I was taking my time. I'm not sweating and I'm not walking particularly hard but I'm still walking at 3 miles per hour. At one point that was the hardest I could hike, now it's my leisurely pace. When we were getting ready to go to the Chinese All You Can Eat Sunday, there was a knock on the door. It was Fatty and A.J. They had taken OC1 up on his offer to put them up for the night. They had walked the 2.25 miles to his house. We waited for them to shower and went to eat. At about 9 pm we got back. Albert's brother, William picked him up and took him off for the week. The rest of the week, we have been kind of laying around and not exercizing, although we have been doing alot of gear work. We went into town every day and did some shopping at Wal-Mart and K Mart, the grocery store and the outfitter, picking up all kinds of odds and ends.I have been doing alot of modifications on my pack. There's stuff that's broken that needs to be fixed. I had my mail drops come here as well, along with about half a dozen other packages of supplies and water filters. I just about finished everything last night. Tomorrow afternoon OC1 is taking me back to Mark Z's house for my party there. OC1 can't go because he's having a party at his house. It's been good staying at Vern's house. Before we got here, he told me that his house is my house and I have felt that way the entire time I have been here. No pressure to do anything or act any way. His wife Betsy has made me feel very welcomed. She has cooked for us twice now. Tonight I am taking them out to dinner. I come and go in and out of the house, I use the tool in the garage, and get whatever I want out of the fridge. i really thank them for that. It's been very relaxing and soothing. my feet have started to swell from not walking. That's pretty crazy! OC1 is having the same problem. I don't know what's going on but, all the aches and pains are surfacing after we stopped walking. OC is going to pick me up in town in a little bit and we are going to eat lunch. I went ahead and packed my pack as if I were leaving completely. I wanted to test all the stuff that I did to it to make sure that it's all comfortable, and it is. I'm very happy with what I've done to it.Vern's house is a very beautiful place, it's very rustic. It's a 2 story, 5 bedroom house with alot of wood ceilings and beams inside. His driveway is 1/4 mile long. He lives in the middle of 45 acres of woods that he owns. He has done alot to keep it isolated. he has been having alot of problems with his well, the water has been coming up muddy for the last couple of days. It's possible that someone else in the area is digging a well. I gues that's it for now, I'll be back on the road for real on Monday. I'm goiing to be hauling ass through this valley; it's going to be a flat-as-a-pancake walk for a distance. Tuesday and Wednesday I'm going to party at Duncannon, that's more my half way point than Harper's Ferry or Boiling Springs. I remember sitting at the Doyle Hotel and saying to myself that I had earned the right to sit at the bar. I want to re-live that part of it. I want to hang around with a bunch of through hikers and tell a bunch of lies and in general have a good time before I take off for the second half of this hike. That's it for today.