Date: 2004-07-17
From: Shaker Campsite

To: Kay Wood Lean-to
Miles today: 27.5

In the last few days the shelter journals have had entries from No Worries & Minus One, Nobody & Alright, Rising Sun & M, Over & Under and Flora & Fauna. I don't know it yet but the first three pairs will to one extent or another all be part of the rest of my hike. Pony Express made an entry in a journal yesterday that said ¢Moving on into the night.¢ I passed this journal today at 1pm. I feel pretty good about my 25 miles yesterday but he had to have covered at least 35. That's something else.The bugs are still annoying, but today is a resupply day. There were nice views and ponds and, a little after 1pm, the trail crossed over the Massachusetts Turnpike, Interstate 90. This was pretty cool because once again I have driven under this footbridge so many times on my adventures to the west. The sign on the bridge would always make me think. A dream is being fulfilled. It's still hard to believe.A half mile later it was time to hitch a ride into Lee, MA. US-20 was a narrow 2 lane affair taking a banked turn as it came down a hill past the AT. There was a little gravel pullout here at least. None the less it was a bit scary standing there with a thumb hanging out. There was a camp group waiting for a van pickup which showed up before my ride. Of course my ride was yet unaware of it's existence. It finally arrived and dropped me at the Price Chopper Supermarket in town.The store was small, jammed with stuff and people. Most all my needs were met but not quite all. Some how Total Raisin Bran was often hard to find these days. It was kind of a staple for me with all the vitamins. Some thru-hikers take a multi-vitamin daily. I got regular raisin bran and some of those instant breakfast packets to substitute for moo powder thinking this might be a good replacement. Sometimes Tang was hard to come by too. There was always the quantity issue with Moo powder and Tang. Sometimes they were skipped for that reason.Outside the store, my usual repacking ritual commenced on a bench right between the door and the carts. It was busy with lots of folks coming and going constantly. My expectation was that someone from the store might ask me to move but folks were quite cordial and conversational. A guy named George offered me a ride back to the trail but he had to do some shopping first. This was great but my heart was set on a sub at Angelina's. That was ok, he said he'd pick me up there.After my packing was done someone answered my question for directions to Angelina's. It was a short walk into the heart of the town. Lee looked like a nice town. While my sub was being made I found a pay phone on the street and checked my voice mail. Buick had left a message that he would be catching up soon. My veggie sub was ready just in time for George to pick me up. Perfect. It was a big sub and I had a few bites on the ride. It was delicious too, highly recommended. George and I had a good conversation.Back on the trail I had a nice lunch part 2 with Animal Mother. That Angelina's sub was just getting better as it smashed and aging in my pack. No, really. Thanks, George. It was a good time hiking for a while with a ridge-runner named Scott on the way to October Mountain Lean-to.Although it was already after 6pm when I got to October Mountain, inspiration had returned. Perhaps it was reading in the journal that Rocket had passed through earlier or that Twister had been here the day before. Who knows, it was time to keep on truckin'.Seven O'clock saw the crossing of the Pitsfield Road and the momentous decision to pass up on the Cookie Lady. Many would later question my judgment on this issue. That's life. Her place was just down the road a piece. She was another landmark on the AT. It was still another 6 and a half miles to the next shelter and that was my calling today.A few minutes later the strangest thing showed up in the trail. It was a 5 gallon pail with lid suspended over the trail by 2 pieces of clothes line tied to trees. It was just about at eye level, maybe a bit higher. Inside there were little fruit cup single serving cans and some other stuff. Cool. There was a little register too. The first page was a note from the trail angel. It seems she heard about trail magic from her son who was thru-hiking this summer and decided to do her part. Wow, that was great but it was time to go. Eat fast and go. Dark was coming.A 20 something thru-hiker was sitting on a rock at the next road crossing. He looked to be hurting. His name was Red. He said he'd be OK, just resting a bit. I kept going but started to question myself. It was late. Was he going to be OK. Well it did get dark and that slowed me down. It wasn't till 9:30pm that the power lines came into view. The lights of the town below demanded an attempted photo. The shelter was only another tenth of a mile. Dinner was the second half of Angelina's sub. How sweet it is. Red showed up and that made me feel better. I apologized for just abandoning him at the road but he said it was fine. After dinner I crawled into my bag. It was late here at Kay Wood Lean-to but still a good 27.5 mile town/resupply day. It occurred to me that Buick would have a tough time catching up if I kept up this pace. Strange how driven I can be, yet it's still just fun.A couple of journal entries have had times written in them that seem to contradict the time stamp on the photos from my camera. The camera might be an hour fast. My journal entry says my arrival was at 9:45 not 10:45 as the photo of the city lights would suggest. I wonder how long it has been like that. Hmmm. What to do. (all this got worked out and the time and date stamps on all the photos got corrected. What a pain.)