Date: 2015-06-18
From: Port Clinton, PA

To: Hamburg, PA
Miles today: 0.0

One of the fun parts of sleeping in different places every day is waking up in the middle of the night and not realizing where you are. Then falling out of the bed. Or off my sleeping pad. At least the lamp still worked after it hit me in the head.When I got up this morning it was raining. I was pretty pumped to not be in my tent. Check out at the Port Clinton Hotel was an early 9:00 AM so I milked it all I could then headed the couple blocks to the barber shop. The barber shop was pretty awesome and a haven for hikers. This was very much an old school place and a social center for the town. We need more places like it. I got my head shaved after hanging out for a little while then walked the 1.5 miles to Hamburg.The walk down the busy road was a little iffy with cars and trucks humming by at 60 MPH. Fortunately it only took 20 minutes before I started hitting civilization. The first stop, as it was for everyone, was the largest Cabela's in the world. Yes, the largest Cabela's is in Hamburg, PA. I don't know why either.I poked around the store for about twenty minutes. Unfortunately these types of stores don't really cater to my style of outdoors. I'm not much of a hunter or fisherman and I don't really need an 8 man tent or a 100 liter backpack that weighs eight pounds. I would have felt more comfortable in the world's largest REI. If you're into those things though it's a really cool store with an aquarium and a huge room filled with stuffed deer. I figured my time would be better spent eating burgers at Five Guys.After a bacon cheeseburger, large fries and a generous share of peanuts I was ready to head to Wal-Mart for resupply. I was able to replace my camera and headphones and got enough food to get me to the end of Pennsylvania. While repackaging food outside quite a few people came up to ask me about the hike and wish me luck. One guy even mentioned how the hills of PA were brutal. I nodded in agreement.A few days ago Lightning and I had a discussion on which gas station was better, Sheetz or Wawa. I had never been to Wawa so I hit it up after Wal-Mart to stock up on 650 calorie honey buns. It was nice and on par with Sheetz. I think I'm just partial since I go to Sheetz all the time at home.By then it was 1:00 PM so I headed over to the Microtel to check in and knock out laundry. Mrs Rock Boat had also sent my fourth pair of shoes to the hotel. The rocks had ripped the tread right off the last pair and they were already 500 miles old anyway. Like I've said, these aren't the most durable but they're oh so good for my wide feet. I've been hanging in the hotel room most of the afternoon watching the US Open. I like that two of my zeros have coincided with golf majors. I also ran over to Taco Bell for two tacos, a cheesy gordita crunch, and a cheesy potato burrito. Then over to the gas station for cupcakes and Reese Sticks. As I type this I'm hungry again. Dangit.I'll be taking my time tomorrow and probably only going 15 miles. I talked with Die Hard today who's already in Delaware Water Gap. He had a few choice words for the terrain between here and there. Yay. It's only temporary though. I can't lose sight of that.