Date: 2003-06-17
From: Eagles Nest Shelter

To: Port Clinton, PA - Pavillion
Miles today: 8.6
Weather: moderate rain

Today started as one of those days you just want to be at your destination. A short day, dreaming of hamburgers. But it turned out to be a nice, enjoyable hiking day. Cool breezes, low humidity, sunshine, & good company. Wench & I started out hiking alone, then we met up with Dirty bird & Fidodido resting in the sun (of course we joined them), then Paparazzi caught up. We all sat in the sun eating snacks, joking around, throwing rocks at a target (we couldn¢t leave until we hit it¢¦ it took a while). The rest of the hike was a stretched out line of hikers, pretty cool¢¦. The trail kind ogf sucked, but we expected rocks in PA. We had one viewpoint that was pretty nice, so we checked it out, then rolled (almost literally, it was a steep down) into Port Clinton. I think that was the steepest downhill grade on the trail so far. It was hard to slow down & not slide (I yelled ahead for everyone to look out, I was coming through! Gravity¢¦). But we got safely down the hill & into town by the train station. Some pretty cool signs & buildings here, old railway station, signs from the same time period, I had to take a picture. This is a nice town, there was a map for hikers showing where everything was (on a telephone pole), and a nice gentleman who also helped us out. He was on his walk around town & stopped to help us with any other information we needed. The first stop was the Post office to check for boxes, then the outfitter. I got a new food bag, socks, and checked out their food items to see if I could resupply there (but first a Power Ade to cool me off and hydrate me). Next stop, lunch at the Port Clinton Hotel, in the bar (a huge burger, cheese fries, a salad & a beer or 2, or more¢¦). Yeeha! The first Yeungling draft went down so sweet, and the second almost as good! We played songs on the Jukebox, talked, drank beer, we had a great lunch break. OK, so maybe we stayed longer.. We may have even had dinner there too. You never know, especially with one dollar drafts (at 4PM they dropped to 75 cents for happy hour). Hmmm¢¦ They were still 75 cents at 6PM when we finished a large plate of loaded nachos. And maybe a couple more drafts. Is there such a thing as HUI (Hiking Under the Influence)? We hiked back to the outfitter, resupplied our food for the next couple days, then hiked to the ¢thruhiker pavilion¢ to sleep for the night. The pavilion is run by a local church, (St Johns), for thruhikers & others to use. Cool, I¢m laying on an old sofa, writing in my journal. It¢s funny to think of an old beat to shit sofa as a luxury item, but it is. How attitudes can change in 3.5 months¢¦ 1201.5 miles down, 971.1 to go, holy crap!Hikers at the Port Clinton bar: Fidodido, Dirty Bird, Sunpig, Paparazzi, Sticks, Allright Burrito (bad feet, taking time off), Hotdog & Wench. Wow, I just had a thought.. Wench is hiking with her sister & sending time with her mom & nephews this week. After Tuesday, I will be on my own for a while. That is so weird, I¢ve been hiking with her for over 100 days, it will be like losing a friend when she is not there. Sniff, sniff¢¦ ;-) Hopefully our paths will cross again, you never know when or where people will catch up with each other again on the trail. I will be off the trail Friday afternoon (6/20) and back on Tuesday (6/24). I¢m visiting family in NJ and resting my foot (it¢s hurting me more & more). Wench will be off again when her dad and brothers come to visit, then I will be back off & then hiking shorter days when my wife, her cousin Mike & his wife Carol, and my brother & his family come to visit. So many people coming my way, cool. I almost forgot.. Uncle Graham & Aunt Mary too, we are going to their house. It¢s going to be a cool get together. Pennsylvania is going by so fast, I will be in Delaware Water Gap, PA by 6/26, out of NJ by about 7/1, and into Connecticut by around 7/7 or so. But one step at a time, I need to get to Lehigh Gap to get my rental car & visit NJ first. Life is good!