Date: 2022-06-28
From: Williamstown

To: Williamstown 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men.Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.-Zora Neal HurstonI read these paragraphs this evening. I¢ll be working on them in my mind as we walk again. These paragraphs speak a lot of truth about why we¢re living this adventure now. I¢m a creature of habit to a fault: still living where I grew up, taught at the same school for 20 years, dabbler in many hobbies but master of none. I¢m as comfortable in my skin as my feet are in my leather moccasins - why mess with what¢s working? I have a hard time imagining we¢d be here on my gumption alone. Now that we are here, I feel in my element. Life is simple & straightforward. The choices are black & white with limited shades of gray. I¢m thriving. Thanks for getting us here, Joni. Thanks, too, to Eric for some PT advice, to Peggy from Ohio (a mystery friend who called Joni today at the motel to share a shin solution from her own thru-hiking days), to Skogmoopers for prayers & encouragement, to Jordan, Susan, my own parents, my sister. All these people have acted today to affect our trip for the better. We continue to meet new friends daily.We all slept last night like an old bear hibernates. The boys headed to continental breakfast at 7:30. While there wasn¢t a make-your-own-waffle machine (we need this?) there was a fabulous breakfast of fresh fruit, muffins, and coffee. We all laid around reading & journaling until about 9:30.The boys and I loaded up daypacks with the essentials - Pok©mon, snacks, water bottles, current book - and headed west into Williamstown. First stop: Where¢d You Get That toy store. We burned an hour there before quick. Then we walked Spring Street to the far end searching for lunch. Years ago we backpacked with our friends. Jennifer and her kids Daniel, Abigail, and Lydia did a stretch of trail with us just north of their home in Franklin NC. We played a round of ¢It¢s your birthday. What¢s for dinner.¢ A good get-to-know-you game made better by trail hunger. Toby couldn¢t hike with us so we ask Jennifer what he would say. ¢Oh. That¢s tough. He likes anything.¢ After a long thought she said ¢He¢d probably choose Indian buffet.¢When we later put the question to Toby. his style and manner of reply were shockingly similar to Jennifer¢s. He landed on ¢I¢d probably have to say Indian buffet.¢ The room cheered. That moment has stuck with the boys for 4 years. Spice Root - Indian Cusine - was just across Spring Street from us. Mom was back at the hotel, we¢re on budget, we have gads of time - so we went in. It was a fabulous lunch. Chicken Tikka Masala with lots of sides and that Naan bread. All on hungry stomachs. Delicious.We next went to the campus bookstore and burned another hour reading books. Then to the game store - underwhelming. We headed back to the motel about 2:00. Grayson and I set out soon after for the Stop & Shop about a mile-and-a-half walk east. We were shopping for meals for the next two days as well as food for the 3 trail days in front of us. Jasper and Baxter started The Hobbit movie a bit after we left.On our walk back from the Stop and Shop Grayson and I swung in to Walgreens for athletic tape (Peggy¢s orders!). I had a full pack of groceries on with a daypack of drinks riding in my chest. We met some hikers in the parking lot headed in with us. ¢Is it weird to wear a full pack into the Walgreens?¢, I asked as we walked in behind them. ¢That¢s Jay¢ Grayson said. Jay is the star of ¢Jay Wanders Out¢ - his YouTube channel (updated daily) documenting his 2022 AT thru hike. Joni is an avid watcher and had been keeping tabs on Jay & his girlfriend, Pocket Rocket. Grayson recognized him right away so I went and asked ¢Are you Jay?¢ Sure enough. We¢re hanging out tomorrow night. Good eye, Grayson.We came back to the hotel and called my friend, Eric, a physical therapist back home. He gave us some food for thought about Joni¢s injury. I went to Walgreens again and bought some Voltaren cream on his recommendation. We made sandwiches for dinner and watched some TV. Pepper into the day some book reading, calls to home, good conversations with friends, and showers and you get a pretty good zero. We¢re moving motels tomorrow. We¢re headed across the street. I had some free nights with travel points. The boys and I will go hike the three miles from Wilbur¢s Clearing into town tomorrow afternoon. Joni¢s going to sit them out.Will Smith said to me: ¢You¢re out here living your dream!¢  I hadn¢t realized that until he said it.