Date: 2014-08-22
From: Day Off

To: Day Off
Miles today: 0.0

I didn't get a very good nights sleep but I shouldn't be complaining, I had a dry, warm bed with a mattress. I couldn't sleep because my foot hurt all night. I finally got out of bed about 7:00 so I could go downstairs for breakfast. The weather channel is showing rain until this evening. No Rush and I decided to stay another day but Puzzle is bound and determined to hike out today. I told the owner at the front desk that we would like to keep one room for one more night if possible. I said we would talk about it over breakfast and let her know if we needed the other room. THe coffee was good and the mushroom and cheese omelette was very tasty. I also had ham, fried potaoes, fruit, and orange juice. The dining room has a huge rock in one corner where the building was just built around it, there is also one in the bar. It definitely gives the rooms a distinct character. Engineer joined us for breakfast and said that he was feeling a little better, but would sit out one more day also. We offered to share our other room with him and save us all a little money. Puzzle decided to stay one more day so there will be four of us upstairs tonight. Triple P and Cheekie Chee came over after their meal and sat with us. Cheekie Chee is going home to Connecticut for a few days and Triple P will be going into Rutland to stay at the Yellow Deli. The rain continued off and on all day. We all took the bus into Rutland at different times to eat and have something to do. Rutland is a nice size city with plenty to see. We met a guy that said he hiked for a couple of days with Bill Irwin when he hiked through the area. Bill Irwin hiked the whole trail with a dog because he was blind. I am amazed that someone could pull off such a feat. Puzzle ended up at the movies with some other hikers. No Rush and I walked through some stores downtown. One was an antique store and one was a store that had toys and art made from wood. We had lunch at the Yellow Deli and Triple P and Cheekie Chee came in and joined us in our booth. Then we walked to WalMart and there was a big blue bus that you could walk through and get free vegetables. The Good Food Bus was ran by the Shrewsbury Institute for Agricultural Education and the veggies were donated by local growers. They had radishes, carrotts, turnips, kale, tomatoes, cabbage, garlic, and juice that tasted like V-8 juice. I took a couple of vegetables and sampled the juice, it was really good. I ran into Rambler after making a quick stop at WalMart. I hiked with him in Tennessee and hadn't seen him since April when I had to go home. On the bus ride back to the Inn I saw a sign that said Rutland, Vermont was the birthplace of John Deere. His name is well known in the farming community that I come from. He moved to Illinois as a joung man and applied his self-taught blacksmithing skills. He invented the self scouring steel moldboard plow that enabled farmers to turn over the prairie soil. It played a big part in making the Midwest one of the best producing farming regions in the world. Even though I wasn't doing any hiking today I enjoyed meeting other hikers and people from Vermont. When I got back I soaked my feet in an Epsom Salt bath, and it made my foot feel a little better. I also started taking an antibiotic in case some of the blisters become infected. I get a combination of blood and pus out of them when I lance them. I tried to take a nap but couldn't go to sleep so I worked on todays journal. We all ordered pizza from a pizza place in KIllington and had it delivered to our room. There is live Irish music downstairs in the pub but most of us were not in a party mood. I did walk around downstairs to stretch and found a set of scales in the game room. I weigh about the same as I did when I started hiking, it's time to get back on the trail.