Date: 2008-07-26
From: Rattle River Shelter NH

To: Northern Peaks Motel Gorham NH 
Miles today: 1.9
Weather: few clouds

Day 160 Saturday July 26 ¢ Northern Peaks Motel Gorham NH - Miles Today: 1.9 Total Miles: 1878.3We had a dry night last night, so with the lack of rain and the fact that we got to sleep in our own tent, we had a very sweet evening. We had an easy 2-mile hike into Gorham. As we came out of the woods and walked through a small parking lot, we saw a car headed down the road and as always, we said, "Drats, that could have been our ride." However, thanks to Brakeman who stuck out his thumb while we were still in the parking lot and not even to the road yet, we scored a hitch with that car! Time it took to score our hitch? A nanosecond. Very nice. The only odd thing about our Trail Angel was that he dropped us about 200 yards shy of our destination because he was turning left and we needed to go straight. Some of these Trail Angels are quite funny. They'll drive you 3 miles down the road but not 3.01 miles. Didn't matter. We walked through a bit more of Gorham than we would have and saw a beautiful old historic building that now houses the town¢s library. Unfortunately, it was closed because it was Saturday. Later we learned that the library building was donated to the town and moved across town to where it currently stands. They have the most gorgeous library building probably in the entire northeast. We found the laundromat located literally next door to the post office, which made it real convenient. The laundromat, unfortunately, did not have a rest room where we could change our clothes, so we changed our clothes in the laundry room area as discreetly as possible, while a lady was sitting at the opposite end of the room facing us. We held up a shirt pretending to fold it and then quickly pulled off the dirty shirt and put on our clean sleeping shirt, with our backs to the lady. Sitting on the bench, we wiggled out of our hiking pants and into our rain pants. Oh well, you do what you have to do. Mission accomplished.Once the laundry was started, Brakeman headed to the Post Office to pick up our packages. We scored some wonderful care packages. Mr. & Mrs. Grasshopper sent Grasshopper's mesh trail runners stuffed full of Oreos, truffles and a salty trail mix. The Wachovia team really went all out and sent us another huge package complete with letters from them, which we just love. In addition to the letters was homemade Rice Krispie treats with chocolate on top, homemade chocolate pecan cookies, dried pineapple, yogurt covered raisins, a plastic jar of Wayne's home stewed honey, cheese and jerky sticks, fruit letters, granola bars and Pringles. More food than we could probably eat in a day and a half but that's OK. Some of it is lightweight and we'll just carry it on the trail with us. As our clothes were being washed, we used the time to package and mail some items back home - Grasshopper's Gortex hiking shoes which are full of holes, her #3 layer pants, our sleeping bag silk liners, our Gortex gloves and the extra sunscreen we had requested for the Whites, but never used.   We had to stuff lots of newspapers in and around Grasshopper¢s shoes, as they were very wet. Sure hope they do not royally stink by the time they arrive home. We packaged our other items in plastic bags just in case fuming smells started erupting from the shoes.While Brakeman was in the post office, he counted 9 other hikers! Unbelievable but understandable as this town is the last stop before the Whites for southbounders, and, of course, for the first stop after the Whites for the northbounders. It's a very common place to resupply and swap out gear. I cannot imagine working in that post office with the amount of hiker traffic - 9 people in just a few minute stretch of time. We have also seen lots of hikers around town. It¢s the busiest hiker town that we have been at so far.   Grasshopper had fun talking to a little boy of perhaps 5 years of age in the laundry. After he saw that we had issues with one of the machines and had to seek help to get our money back, he decided he could fix any broken machine. Yep, he knew how. While explaining this to Grasshopper he noticed that she had duct tape on her arm and inquired as to what it was about. Grasshopper explained that she slipped and slid against the rock mountainside and tore off some skin, so she is wearing a Band-Aid that she made out of duct tape. He frightfully asked if we did not have Band-Aids in our house! She calmly explained the situation to put him at ease once again. Good thing she did not tell him that there was a feminine pad underneath the duct tape! Gosh, I¢d hate to think what questions and concerns that piece of information would have brought. Some things are better left unsaid.Once the laundry was done we headed towards our motel, cutting through the post office parking lot, where lo and behold was High Life driving a pickup truck. We had spent an evening with him at the Galehead Hut last Sunday, 6 days ago. We had not seen him since, so we were quite surprised to see him here in town. Turns out he has not finished the Whites yet, as he holed up for a day in one of the huts due to the rainy weather. But he was off the mountain running errands in a borrowed truck. He gave us a ride about 1/2 mile up the road to our motel ¢ Northern Peaks Motor Inn.   Crumbs and Pounder had mentioned this motel to us a few weeks ago, as being reasonably priced, so we decided to try it out. It was just fine.Since we did not spend any time in the library, we arrived to the motel earlier than planned ¢ 9:30! Luckily, a room was ready for us, so we checked in and got our gear spread out to dry. Brakeman has been thinking about Burger King for about 1800 miles, so he was pleased that we finally had a town with one and that it was within walking distance. Off to lunch we went. He got a double Whopper and a king sized milkshake. Grasshopper got a Whopper Junior and a king sized milkshake. We split a king sized order of fries. We decided that the Whopper Junior for $1 is the best deal. Just the right size at an unbelievable price. Hikers have been known to order 5 of them at a time! And the best news is that our receipt entitles us to a free Whopper if we complete a phone survey. Oh yea, count us in.   Guess we¢ll be back here tomorrow! A great meal - thanks to Brakeman for the idea. After lunch, we walked back to the room for showers - food always comes before showers. We spent the rest of the day R&R¢ing and watching HGTV. A nice relaxing day in the motel. It¢s 8:30 and time to crash. Goodnight from Gorham.P.S. We called home today. The family reunion is just starting, not finishing. We were one week off. It¢s hard to keep track of these things in the woods!