Date: 2017-05-27
From: Old Orchard Shelter

To: Homestay with Mitsy, Kenny and Mary
Miles today: 9.3
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and noticed a headlamp shining in the area. I guess someone else is camping nearby, perhaps we're closer than we thought to the shelter. In the morning, I popped my head out of my tent to discover, we were indeed close to the shelter. In fact, we were camped 50 ft from the shelter and had no idea that was the case when we chose our campsite in the dark. I guess we knew intuitively that we had made it to our destination. The Earth is so dry this morning, it's amazing. I was able to leave my sleepy socks on when I walked around camp in the morning because I knew I wouldn't be trudging through mud on my way to the privy. I also had the luxury of packing up a dry tent. I was low on food this morning but I have two oatmeal packets and one dinner (that has 700 calories in it) to last me 9 miles which is more food than when I rolled into Damascus. I always run out of food at the end of my resupply cycle. I've been moving slower than expected though which threw everything off. I've never had such minimal access to food in my life. When I run out of food on the trail, there's often nothing to do but outwalk the problem until you have the opportunity to fix it. The miles were rocky but at least the trails are drying out so traveling was slightly less tedious than yesterday.I was getting low on energy during my last two miles. A day hiker gave me a sleeve of Ritz crackers. I'd finished my food 4 miles ago so that was an appreciated energy boost. The guide book said there was an accessible resupply store 4 miles south of the gap I was hiking to. I've gone 500 miles without having to hitch hike, but today that would have to change. I didn't want to hitch alone so I asked around. I asked thruhikers if they wanted to join me and day hikers if they had room for me in their car. No luck. Finally, Gump Cheese, a thruhiker I met yesterday, came around the bend and he was excited to hitch with me. He didn't need food, in fact, he was trying to hitch in the opposite direction. But he had the time and didn't mind helping me out. The first 15 cars passed us but eventually, a car going the opposite direction, turned around and offered to help us out. Mitsy, Kenny and Mary were driving through the mountains for the afternoon and after talking for a bit, they invited me and Gump Cheese to spend the night at their place and enjoy the comforts their home has to offer. My clothing is soaked and I was hoping to having a night inside anyway, I couldn't pass on this gracious offer. I've had the most wonderful evening here and I can't help but feel the serendipity in this encounter. They fed me a hot meal, did my laundry, I got to take a shower and charge my items. We also played cards after dinner and painted our nails. It dumped outside this evening and was accompanied by a big ol' thunderstorm. I've had amazing luck with thunderstorms. I haven't had to hike or pitch a tent in one since my second day/night on the trail. It's as if the trail knows my aversions to them. I'm so grateful for this homestay! I was feeling quite low again today but the trail provides what I needed and reminded me about the beauty in the world and in this adventure. I found out I'm only a day behind the goon squad. That's reassuring because I've been traveling slowly and I was worried I'd be falling behind. I'm tempted to skip 14 miles and hike into Atkins tomorrow to join the crew but I think I'd feel too guilty doing that. I'll catch up to my friends next time they take a zero day.