Date: 2012-09-07
From: Horseshoe Canyon lean-to

To: ME 15 (Monson)
Miles today: 9.0
Weather: scattered clouds

I started the day with a clean pair of dry socks. I wanted to enjoy that feeling as long as possible. My feet were dry for all of about 20 minutes, it was good while it lasted. Getting into Monson involved fording more rivers and walking through the mud. It was a pretty cool feeling when we got out to the road. We're now on the edge of the 100 mile wilderness....We called Rebecca from the Lakeshore Hostel. She came and picked us up. When we got to the hostel we were shown a small room upstairs. There were three real beds with mattresses but I got a small cot stuffed in the corner. I felt a little bit ripped off since I paid full price like everyone else, but I didn't say anything. Slow Foot and I went to the bar/restaurant downstairs for lunch. While we were eating Rebecca asked if we'd be interested in a lobster dinner tonight. She really talked it up, so we said "OK." The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent upstairs in the hiker lounge trying to use the wifi. It wasn't working very well. As the evening wore on Slow Foot said He was about ready to get something to eat at the gas station. I was hungry and frustrated too, it's 8:00pm. I went downstairs to find out what was the hold up. I met Rebecca near the bar. She said that she'd been looking for us. That was obviously a lie because we'd been upstairs on the couch the whole time, when I told her that she changed her story. She said she told someone to come up and get us but they must not have...She then said that she had already cooked the lobsters and would reheat them right after she had her own dinner. Slow Foot and I were not impressed. When we said we were going to go eat somewhere else she became very apologetic. I'll be honest, I was already a little bit pissed off. But when Rebecca brought out the lobsters it was too much. She literally sat a lobster in front of me that was missing it's tail. The worse part was, she did it with a straight face. At first I thought it was a poorly executed joke, but sadly it wasn't. I let her know what I thought. She said we didn't have to pay for the lobsters and apologized. The only thing that I could think of was that somebody had started eating my lobster and she was too nervous to call us down to admit the mistake.? Still, it would have been better if she'd been honest about it from the start.Slow Foot tried to cheer me up. He told me some funny stories about things that had gone horribly wrong from his past. We walked down to the gas station. I got a sandwich and some chocolate milk. The ability to make light of a situation is a good character trait. Slow Foot got me laughing so hard I forgot about being upset...at least for the moment. It was late, I didn't feel like looking into staying somewhere else. I should have re-read an email from my friend Tarp Water. He came through Monson in July and suggested I stay at "Shaw's Lodge" rather than the "Lakeshore hostel". If I would have listened there wouldn't have been a problem.Slow Foot and I had planned to stay two nights here. We were also going to have Rebecca slack pack us the first 16 miles of the hundred mile wilderness tomorrow. But I don't want to spend anymore of my money here.