Date: 2006-09-25
From: Dennytown Rd.

To: Fort Montgomery
Miles today: 8.7

Things are not as they seem fo¢ sho¢ looking at those numbers. I know what you¢re thinking- isn¢t Fort Montgomery 14.5 miles from Dennytown Rd.? Something doesn¢t add up here! Hey wait a minute!? Did you yellow blaze?! I don¢t really want to talk about it, cause it sucked and I REALLY didn¢t want to¢¦Fine. I¢ll talk.      Awoke to a gorgeous, gorgeous Fall day outside. Got packed up and moving by 7:30 or so. I had sort of decided to go into Peekskill with Florida because I thought, hey! At least I¢ll have someone to hitch in with then! Originally my plan had been to hike into Ft. Montgomery and to walk to the motel there. Seriously, it¢s amazing how my perspective changes when hiking alone. When with others I¢ll hitch anywhere, when alone I defs think twice about hitching anywhere.          When I left Kent 2 mornings ago I had the following for food: 2 multi-grain tortillas, 2 ziplocs whole wheat pasta, 12 cup olive oil, 1 loaf multi-grain bread, 1 baggie dehydrated black beans, 1 block cheddar cheese, 1 baggie mixed nuts, 1 head of garlic, 1 bag Goldfish, and a bag of granola sans raisins. I was now heading into Peekskill 2 days later with: 2 TBS olive oil, 1 clove of garlic, a piece of multigrain bread (about the size of my fist) and 1 bag of whole wheat pasta. Let¢s not forget that I did not cook last night, I ate the head sized slices of pizza instead. As I sat by the road waiting for Florida to catch up I polished off the bread and olive oil. Need resupply, NOW! Still, when I thought of being in Peekskill I got a very bad feeling about it. It is important always to pay attention to feelings as this¢¦especially on the trail. The other thought I had was¢¦I don¢t even know if I could hike another 7 miles if I had to to get to Fort Montgomery. Starving! Florida finally showed up and I vowed to give hitching only 12 of an hour of my time before moving on. After about 20 minutes a guy in a brand new Volvo pulled over and offered a lift. This was a nice gesture except that he didn¢t know Peekskill¢¦at all. After driving around for a while he was obviously done with us and dropped us off in random location Peekskill. The Companion mentions a main part of town with ¢several motels¢ and restaurants and this was obviously NOT it, or anywhere near it. Peekskill is a BIG place, especially in the way of trail towns. We had no business being there. Awesome.         I run into a gas station to find out where we need to be and discover that we are about 2 miles outside of the main street area. We don our packs and make our way in the proper direction stopping a couple of times to ask people what the hell we are doing. At last we reach Main Street. I¢m completely irritated and irrational at this point, which I¢m sure has nothing to do with the fact that my stomach is eating itself. A man comments to me that we¢re pretty far from the Appalachian Trail here in Peekskill. I want so much to look at him and say ¢No shit.¢ But instead I politely inquire about the ¢several motels¢ that are supposedly near by. He informs me that there is only one now and that it is about 1 mile down the road. I stop to ask another woman if this is true. She conquers and tells me I have a nice tan. ¢Thank God for that.¢ I hungrily think to myself. Apparently this sort of hunger turns me into a inconsolable, whiny, unnappreciative bitch- but only in my head, never out loud. Thank God.         We make our way the mile to the Peekskill Inn. As we arrive I know that we will not be staying here. The view from the Inn alone is worth $100 a night. Oh, apparently $120 a night¢¦and they won¢t budge on the price. We decide to have lunch in their lounge($$$) and then hitch back to the trail to hike the 7 miles to Fort Montgomery. Fortunately there¢s an onramp for HWY 9 right next to the Inn. We hitch for 20 minutes and the only person who stops is a guy in a cement mixer which amuses me to no end. What an awesome story that would¢ve made, if only he¢d had room. I send Florida back in to the Inn to check on the amenities included in the $120/night price. If there¢s internet and laundry I will spend the money at this point. As I¢m waiting alone a giant SUV pulls over. This guy, a volunteer firefighter who¢s 11 yr old son is completely skeptical of us offers us a ride. Fine. As we hop on 9 he informs us that he is headed in the direction of Fort Montgomery, not in the direction of the road crossing where we left off. -7 miles for me. But I¢m so relieved to be going somewhere I¢m familiar with at this point that I decide for the moment I really don¢t care. The bad luck doesn¢t end there.          The motel we are hoping to stay at in Fort Montgomery is pricier than we hope and as we open the door to the room, there¢s one bed¢¦I send Florida back to ask about a room with 2 beds. It doesn¢t exist here. Florida is stuck with the floor. We have to sneak into the Holiday Inn down the road to do laundry. The owners of the motel drop us 2 miles down the road at a really good Mexican place and then I run to resupply at the grocery store. It¢s beginning to get dark and I start to have concern about how the hell we¢re getting back to our motel on a very busy thoroughfare with no shoulder. We try hitching, I try calling a cab- he says he¢s too busy. At this point I realize that Florida and I are a very bad team. Nice guy but together we have zero luck. Thankfully a guy listening to smooth jazz pulls over just as the sun ducks under the horizon¢¦he stops in the middle of the road almost causing an accident, but at least he stops. Back at the room I exchange 12 an hour of ¢How I Met Your Mother¢ for a couple of hours of Monday Night Football. Oh, how I loathe football. I¢ll bet Florida hates ¢How I Met Your Mother¢ almost as much as I hate football. Is this God awful day over yet? Enough is enough.