Date: 2018-07-04
From: Stroudsburg PA

To: Delaware Water Gap
Miles today: 0.0

The boys and I were up a bit after 8am and Laura and Jamie had barely stirred yet so I took Cam and E downstairs to eat breakfast. We grabbed a table outside and navigated through the busy breakfast buffet. Laura and Jamie joined us a little while later and we thought we¢d go over to Delaware water gap and see about getting in the river today. A quick call to the outfitter verified that they had availability for the afternoon. It was only a 5 minute drive over and we first popped into the outfitter store where I was able to get my trekking poles re-tipped as the original ones were worn down to nubs. I also grabbed another Sawyer big bag for collecting water to filter since my first one had finally sprung a leak. 1000+ miles of use for anything tends to ruin it, I¢m learning. We crossed over to the river shop and started to get signed up for some duckies (rubber kayaks) for the day. I snagged a twelve pack of Coors light from the pizza place across the street because that¢s what freedom is for. They got us squared away with life jackets and everybody got on the bus for the 15 minute ride out to the put-in. As we were about to shove off, a local news crew from Scranton asked to interview me about my 4th of July plans. I obliged and gave them probably the most compelling 2 minute interview ever. People in Scranton are surely still talking about it. We shoved off and enjoyed a nice leisurely float down the river. Jamie and Everett teamed up in a larger kayak and the rest of us paddled our own. We enjoyed sunny skies and the green forested banks slid lazily past as we slowly bobbed downstream. We pulled off a couple times to enjoy a pebbly beach and get an obligatory ¢Crossing the Delaware¢ photo in a very patriotic nod to old GW. Near the end of the float, the thunderheads started to roll in  and with them a most frustrating upstream wind. The lazy float turned into work as we had to start paddling hard to keep from being pushed back by the wind. The clouds started to look like business so we really dug in for the last mile to get off before things got worse. Camden did not enjoy the last bit of the day much and I can¢t say I did either. Nothing frustrates a thru-hiker more than any kind of physical exertion on an off day. We hopped the van back to the outfitter and after switching into dry clothes we went over to the Sycamore Grill for dinner. I opted for a penne chicken dish and it was aces and gone quickly. Ibex and show pony had arrived around then and we walked back down to the bakery to meet them and introduce the tramily to family. We would sadly miss glow stick and chef though, she had stopped early after not feeling well and chef had already been picked up by his family for some days off in NY. Since ibex an pony were looking for options to stay for the night, I suggested the Hampton over in stroudsburg. Monica (now Moss) was with them and a four way split sounded pretty good for another hotel night. I wasn¢t probably getting back to the trail until tomorrow so I was content to live the town life a bit longer. I made arrangements with the hotel and went with the family up to Zoe¢s for ice cream in an old fashioned parlor with all the authentic touches. I polished off my malt and the latter half of Cam¢s sundae and then they gave me a lift back over to the hotel in stroudsburg. Since they have to fly early out of Newark, they¢ll stay closer to there tonight. We said our goodbyes and the visit felt far too short but we still managed to cram some quality fun in with what time we had. I went up to the room and the other three showed soon and we all walked over to Siamsa (the Irish pub) for dinner. Unsurprisingly, the Irish pub was quiet tonight being that it¢s the 4th. The patriots in town were drinking in parking lots, setting off cheap fireworks. We didn¢t have much energy for revelry and headed back to the hotel after dinner to make it an early night. The occasional pop/flash from outside the hotel window would not be enough to keep us up late.