Date: 2012-08-28
From: Monson, ME

To: Monson, ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

After two days in the hostel, and with rain keeping us inside, I am starting to get a bit of cabin fever.Helped strip the beds, gather the loaner clothing (the items folks wear while laundering their hiking attire), and shuttle hikers to the Trail. Seriously, I could run a hostel at this point. I am a little bored, but I also appreciate the folks who run these hostels and provide them for an affordable nightly rate, so I want to chip in and make their lives easier.Ready to hike tomorrow!! I have 8 days of hiking, but I am packing 10 days of food for the 100 Mile Wilderness. Pop-Tarts, tortillas, Spam, and horseradish cheese. I am going to hate my diet in a week, but these are things I really don't need to be eating off the Trail, anyway.One of the most famous Trail mooches is here today, sitting outside the hostel, waiting for someone to give him free stuff (he refers to it as "trail magic", but he never offers to pay back or kick in or help out in any way... bad hiker karma!). He still owes me $2 he borrowed back in Damascus, Virginia. He will never offer to pay it back, and I am chalking up the $2 as a lesson in discernment.To avoid the mooch, I have crossed the street to the Town Hall, where an administrator let me into the closed town library to use the Internet for free. I have had many folks emailing me about my Trail Journal updates. I don't think my readers realize I do not have cellular service on the Trail... otherwise, there would be daily updates, as these weekly or bimonthly mass updates can create an additional level of pressure to this hiker.Here are the steps to a Trail Journal entry.1) Power up my smartphone, then turn off the cellular service ("airplane mode").2) Open up the Notes application, and type up my thoughts for the day, up to 1500 characters per entry.3) Save the entry and power down the phone, until I get to town, where I...4) Power up the phone again open up the Notes and Email applications5) Copy and paste or cut and paste the note entry into an email message.6) Send the email message to myself (one per day), then power down the phone.7) Find a computer that has unlimited internet access (many instances, the time is limited to 30 minutes, max). Otherwise, I have to work QUICKLY.8) Open my email, open my Trail Journals account.9) Copy and paste or cut and paste the email message into the Trail Journals application.10) Calculate the daily miles, the destination, and the location stayed.Trail angel Miss Janet told me back in Erwin, Tennessee, "Honey, don't let your website and your Trail Journal take priority over your hike." Now, I believe her, as I have had to alter my plans and edit my hike to keep up my social media updates. Once, I missed the opportunity to stay at Trail angel Tom Levardi's house/hostel, go to a fun restaurant for dinner, then slack-pack with my friends for two days, just so I could rent a hotel room with unlimited computer access and update my journals. I feel like my quest to keep everyone updated and in the loop has changed my experience. Rather than being truly free and disconnected, I have made myself a servant to technology... in one of the least technology-friendly places in the country.I say this because I made the decision at the start of this adventure to bring as many people along as possible. I wanted everyone to appreciate my struggles as I made my way up the Trail. While I have BECOME a hiker over the course of these two hikes (JMT and AT), I started this quest as a FUNDRAISER... hoping to advocate for some important causes and bring attention to my beneficiary organizations.Because I have made these sacrifices, I trust everyone who has read and has appreciated my journal entries will make a gift to Pets are Wonderful Support (http://www.pawssf.org/page.aspx?pid=622) or the National AIDS Memorial Grove (http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Hike-Ross--Hike-.html?soid=1101784834305&aid=yvHoRno1i6A). Both organizations are in need of your support, even if it is only $25 or $50, and they would be THRILLED at amounts over and above $50.I gave up a portion of my hike to remain connected to you, my friends both old and new and real and virtual. I hope you will honor that by remaining connected to me by supporting these causes I hold dear. Thank you.