Date: 2007-04-29
From: Fayetteville, PA

To: Fayetteville, PA
Miles today: 0.0

Sunday at the Rite Spot Motel, Rt.30, Fayetteville PA. I couldn't help but wonder if "Fayetteville" was named after the French commander "LaFayette". My uncle "Fayette Dickinson Couden" was as people 100 years ago very much honored LaFayette for his role in the war for independence. $55 a night and it doesn't include a lightbulb in the lamp, a coffee cup to go with the coffee maker, walls between units that block TV noises, or keep a fire alarm unit from beeping that it needs a new battery! On the other hand, the room is directly attached to a pizza parlor. I didn't see a single Boy Scout yesterday, not a one. And in my five miles I met only one other hiker, a "union carpenter" from PA who was doing sections of the trail until he retired in a few years when he planned to finish out the whole thing. He heartily recommended section hiking as a much more enjoyable way of truly seeing the trail. I believe he's right. There's such pressure tofinish off "miles".   One reads that the average AT hiker does 12 miles a day! 12 miles is six plus hours of hiking. I haven't been able to do more than 4 or 5 hours at most and clearly, from the state of my FEET that's been too harsh. Incidently, I couldn't help but notice that the carpenter hiker had strips of florescent tape tied around his head and backpack. "Is there something I ought to know?" I asked him, pointing to the tape. "Oh, yes," he said,"today's a hunting day for turkeys." This rather startled me, of course, but then he looked at his watch and added, "Oh, but don't worry, its noon now and they aren't supposed to hunt past noon." (And do they all look at their watches, I wondered.) "Actually," he continued, "I don't worry about turkey hunters. You have to be smart to hunt turkey. Its the deer hunters I worry about. You can be real stupid and hunt deer." (Well, that's a relief. If I'm shot it will be by a smart guy.)I'd hoped the night at Best Western would have sufficed, but here I am again, "recovering" and I'm staying another night this time to try and be better prepared for the week. Also, I won't do more than 3 hours a day when I go back on - one hour in boots, the other two in my sandals, until my feet lick the blister problem. Fourth toe, right foot, will always ache, but that's the way my body was permanently designedso that's not the issue. I'm not discouraged so much as just disappointed. My legs, back, even shoulders are fine and I can tell that 8 days of backpacking as made me much stronger generally. Releif comes from hiking in sandals, but that means extra caution so as not to stub my toes or twist an ankle. I'll test my new resolve tomorrow, Monday, the beginning of a new week. It surprises me how quickly my being is now all about the trail. Even resting here at the motel, watching tv, reading a novel- they don't really bring me back to the "real" world. My mind endlessly dwells on the trail, its conditions for the next few days, the weather, my feet, the endless reflection about gear and appropriate clothing. I'm sure this would make for a very boring conversation for anyone not also caught up in it. This, of course, probably explains why backpackers feel so connected to one aonther. I've particularly enjoyed this fact when meeting young people. The very age difference that so divides generations in real life just doesn't exist here. Used to having Amherst's college kids "look right through me", I've enjoyed being treated as "someone" to these same kids on the trail.