Date: 2021-05-26
To: Dennytown Road Campsite. 
Miles today: 14.9
Weather: overcast clouds

I was troubled by strange dreams involving late shipments of books, friends lost on the golf course, and being unable to get clean water. The last is explainable in that I found two pin-holes in my Katadyn water filter bag that I can¢t explain. The holes are patched for now with Gorilla tape, but I may need a replace soon. I saw two hikers eating breakfast at the hotel as I hit up the coffee bar and had ran into two others in the elevator last night. I¢m not in a ¢bubble¢ at the moment, but a lot of the early Georgia crowd is now passing through the flip-flip gang. Even though I¢ve been on trail for 45 days, those Georgia starters just have a different aura around them. I forgot to mention in yesterday¢s entry that my wayward glasses that I lost three weeks ago in Maryland have been located! My seventh call to Kelly at the Port Clinton post office paid off!  She told me they had arrived on Saturday and were likely misplaced at the Baltimore mail hub. Color me shocked!  She is forwarding them to Great Barrington, Ma about 110 miles up trail. I should be reunited with them early next week and once again be able to read what I type here! I caught an Uber back to the trail and was hiking by 7:45. First order of business was crossing the Hudson on the Bear Mountain Bridge then a road walk to where the trail went back into the woods. Yesterday marked the physical low point of the trail at the Trailside Zoo at only 129 feet above sea level. Nowhere to go but up from here!Today¢s hike had just one view to offer (a 3 on the trail scale) and was mostly just a lot of walking up and down ridges in the woods. The one diversion came about 10:30 when the trail crosses the road about 100 feet from a deli. Though the food looked really good, I was still reeling from yesterday¢s dinner throw down and the left over chicken wings I ate before leaving the hotel. I did indulge in my new obsession: cold chocolate milk. This new fixation really came out of left field: I don¢t drink milk anymore and chocolate milk is a true throwback to my childhood and the Hershey¢s syrup we¢d add to a glass of cow juice. But I gotta tell you, it really hits me in all the happy places right now, so I¢ll roll with it!Had another one in one with a rat snake laying on the trail. I told him I was cool going around him and didn¢t want to harsh his mellow, but there were five hikers and a dog coming behind me and it might be time to slither into the underbrush. Strangely, it didn¢t answer. Snakes can be so aloof. The afternoon heat, a whiny, petulant Dudley, the threat of strong thunderstorms, and the availability of fresh, cold drinking water led me to end my walking today at 25000 steps (aka - 15 miles) here at the Dennytown group campsite. There are the five hikers and Fido that I mentioned here along with two other hikers: Bookworm and Easy (not that Easy, this Easy).  Bookworm mentioned he was posting on Trailjournals and when I looked him up, I realized I had read part of his journal back in March before I started. Random coolness to end the day!I am laying in my hammock right now, hoping the early end to my day and the time it allowed me to set up will pay off when the storms hit. The thunder is announcing it¢s presence with authority right now but I think my hatches are all battened down and ready. We really could use the rain. Many of the creeks are just pools of stagnant water and the trees could use a solid pollen-wash.Tomorrow promises a short road walk to a deli about 10 miles into the day. I¢m already jonesing for another chocolate milk!