Date: 2005-05-13
From: Same

To: Trail Days Festival Begins
Miles today: 0.0

I¢ll start off today by filling in what happened last night after I left the library and then I¢ll fade into today, Friday the 13th¢¦After I left the library last afternoon, I went out to the main strip to play guitar because I remembered that I had gotten a meal ticket the entitled me to a free dinner at the church here in town. My ticket said the dinner was for 7:30, and so I went out to play some guitar until dinner time and mingle on the streets of this fantastic little town, and watch the other hikers come into town so I could greet them with music¢¦I was happily playing and chatting with people, and then I decided to walk down to the campground, to see if anyone had gotten in town that I had missed¢¦ I was SO excited to see my friend Mr. Fusion while I was walking down the street¢¦It is great to have him back on the trail¢¦ We exchanged stories of what has happened since we saw each other last, and talked about where everyone else was at on the trail, and then we headed to the Baja Mexican restaurant so he could get a HUGE burrito that must have at least seven pounds¢¦After that; He, Tortuga, and I walked to the church where my meal was going to be served and he went to the store to buy some drinks for later tonight at the campground. I was amazed at the gorgeous splendor of food as I walked into the church with the other hikers who were lucky enough to get meal tickets a few days ago. There must have been at least 40 casserole dishes with everything from baked beans, green beans, sweet potatoes, chicken, corn, everything¢¦There was also a huge salad bar that I crushed¢¦ I was proud that I didn¢t, once again, gorge myself and I only ate one really big plate of food and one really big salad. I didn¢t feel like a glotton after my meal, which was nice. After that, I went to my room, to get my coat and some stuff before I walked down to the party at the campground for the evening. I immediately got a ride into the campground, and luckily, as soon as I entered, MR. Fusion spotted me among the crowd, and we talked politics for a moment and then made our way to the bonfire where the craziness was starting¢¦There was this huge drum circle and we all were yelling like Indians and going nuts. It is nuts¢¦There is thousands of people, all going crazy, and everyone was dancing around the fire, but I just sat back and watched, because I wasn¢t feeling to connected to the scene. It was interesting to say the least. After talking about some funny things with mr. Fusion, I decided to leave because I just wasn¢t into the fire thing, with the millions of people. I walked back at around 11:00 which is a late night for me lately and I heard someone yell bottle-rocket, and I was super excited to see my friend Kelley who is ahead of me now on the trail, I told him he needs to show me a thing or two on the guitar, since he went to one of the best music schools in the country, Berkley in Boston¢¦I went back to the hostel after that and before I fell asleep, I realized that for the first time in a long time, I was starting to feel ready to get back on the trail..not quite yet, but soon¢¦Friday May 13:I woke up really early at around 6:30 and took a shower and went out to grab breakfast, and after some deliberation, and walking back and forth, I decided to go to the breakfast sponsored by the Damascus Volunteers Fire Dept because even though it would a few more bucks, I was supporting a good cause, and like I have said before, I am on this trail to do stuff like this and experience as many things as possible, and since I have already eaten at the Dairy King, I should support this good cause and pay the extra bucks, and it would also be more social of me to do so¢¦The breakfast was OK, but I enjoyed my coffee and it was nice to sit around the firehouse and read the paper after breakfast and drink coffee¢¦.Then Redbeard and Zen and Jorje walked in so it was nice to sit with them while they ate and chat. After that I decided to go to the health screening and see what was going on in my insides¢¦I thought it would only take a few minutes, but I was there for almost three hours¢¦I was talking to a nice guy about the trail, and how I don¢t have expectations and how I am just going with where I am lead. And I used this example, that I had planned on going to the library immediately, but since I was in a good conversation, I went with that instead¢¦Here are my stats from the Medical screening¢¦Weight 156BMI   23BMR   1780Body Fat % 5.9Fat Free Mass 148Sodium Count 145 (great)Potassium 4.5 goodGlucose   89 fineCholesterol 174Triglycerides 143hdl cholesterol 81ldl cholesterol 64blood pressure 100/70That is my day up till now¢¦I think I might go to a coffee house tonight at the church instead of going to the campground, because I am enjoying the laid back talks that I get into with the people I have been meeting at the church¢¦I am just calm and don¢t feel like getting wild at the campground. I am doing great and I am happy that I am at this stage in life. I am looking forward to this coffee house at the church tonight, and looking forward to meeting good people that I might hopefully hike with a little once I get back on the trail. It is just awesome to be around positive people that are trying to better themselves, and the best avenue I have found recently to meet good people that are positive and trying to do the right things in life for themselves are at these things like the coffe house they are putting on tonight at the church.At the same time, I am really excited to have my original hiking crew all at one place again, like saxy, fusion, funnel cake tophat,sunflower,gadget who I have seen yet, KB, and everyone so I don't know what i'll do because it would be cool to see them all and chill, so I don't know... I am also out here to experience new things, and so I am glad I have been given a good head on my shoulders to help lead me in this direction¢¦Cool¢¦Everyone have a good weekend¢¦Take it easy