Date: 2006-01-14
To: Hiking with Liteshoe
Miles today: 0.0

I had a good night's sleep. There wasn't a whole lot of disruptive snoring, fairly amazing given a room with six men all aged about in their fifties.I lay in my rack awhile, and so got to breakfast at the tail end. There was still plenty to go around though, with lots of people cooking. Orangebug seemed a tad stressed, but that didn't stop me from eating one of his excellent pancakes. Dawg made me a pair of over easy eggs, and I snagged a sausage link from a platter. If I don't watch what I eat I will leave here ten pounds heavier than I was when I arrived.There were two hikes this morning. I opted for the lesser of the two - the Slackpaker Special, led by Liteshoe. I was surprised to find she recognized my trailname, having seen my journals. I was even more amazed that others whom I had never heard of recognized my name from my online posts. Erk. Better watch what I say.Easier said than done. I try to make nice, but there is something about the internet that makes all my posts ambiguous and easily misunderstood, and also bring out the most critical and argumentative side of me.But I needn't make nice to describe this hike as a fun time. I missed the beginning of the hike, getting to the Community Center late, but I set off with Marta hoping that Liteshoe went south as Gypsy thought they did. They had, and we caught them as they crossed the main road. There were about twenty or so in the group. I walked behind Orangebug for a time. He was carrying a very young girl (granddaughter?) who was facing backwards. She kept asking, "What's that?" and Orangebug kept answering "a real hiker," obviously not seeing it was only me tagging along.We stopped at the shelter (Rufus Morgan?) and chatted and took mandatory pictures. (Thanks to whoever posted the one I have here on this page. I think it was Smile because I don't see her in the picture.)After yakking and fooling around for a half hour or so, most of us started back up hill. We only walked for about fifteen minutes though, before Liteshoe turned around. I wanted to go to the top and asked her how much further until the trail gained the ridge. She said, "About 11 miles." Okay. I turned around with the group, but I noted to myself that the hike into the NOC ought to be nice and easy.I walked into the middle of a showing of WALKING WITH FREEDOM, Lion Kings DVD of a 2003 thruhike. I had seen a bit of it at Trail Days and thought it was okay, but the rest of it was great. I watched mid-Maryland to the end, and now will buy the DVD and add to my collection of trail DVDs.After the DVD viewing, we had lunch. Chili, sandwiches, soup, breads, desserts. It should surprise no one by now that I ate WAAAY too much. I had a second bowl of chili, not because I was hungry, but because it was so good. There was delicious looking golden cake with white frosting and equally delicious looking chocolate cake with white frosting. Unable to make up my mind, I naturally had a piece of each. The chocolate was better, so I had a second piece of that. Oof. I waddled out of the community hall stuffed like a pig at a BBQ. If I don't start watching what I eat, I'll leave here fifteen pounds heavier than I was when I arrived. I'm going to start eating better. This time I mean it. Tonight at dinner I will eat healthy food and not stuff myself.Last night I had confused Hot Dog with Pittsburgh, but it seems I wasn't the only one. About a dozen people called Hot Dog Pittsburgh last night, so today we all called Pittsburgh Hot Dog. Barb, Pittsburgh's wife, called them "my two husbands," but is fairly certain she slept with the right one last night. She refused to define what made either the "right one."I am having a great time here, and sometimes wish I'd brought my wife as I once planned. But I'm sure she is enjoying some solitary time while I'm away. I try to remember that just because I like something doesn't mean everyone else, or even anyone else, will like it, and that time away from me is a good time for some.I bought a hat from Rockdancer. He makes fleece hats for sale, and uses the proceeds to make fleece hats, which he then gives away. Hey, he's a physicist, not a businessman. Seriously, he gives hats away to southbounders, his way of giving back to the trail. It takes him an hour to make each hat, so this is no small undertaking.I dozed off in the afternoon and then caught Pittsburgh's talk about surviving Georgia. He said to do all the things I didn't do, basically start slow, do low mileage, take zero days.Dinner was meatloaf and I did well, not pigging out badly. Until dessert, that is. I grabbed some apple pie and ice cream, then realized I wanted HOT apple pie and ice cream. So naturally I ate the ice cream, heated the pie in a microwave, then added more ice cream. Even with the double ice cream, I still did better than my previous meals.After dinner I took a nap, then watched Weathercarrot's PCT slideshow. I bought a couple of DVDs from him, the PCT and AT slideshows.Before I went to bed, I walked downhill and called home. My wife, son and dog were doing fine, but the Patriots were losing to Denver.