Date: 2023-09-03
From: Grafton Notch

To: Grafton Notch
Miles today: 0.0

Mood: °¤©TODAY. WAS. AWESOME!!!! Moose Jaw did not sleep in this morning!! He woke up at 5:30 roaring to go! I couldn¢t believe it! I was like, ¢What¢s wrong with you!?!?¢ He just laughed manically, and said, ¢I don¢t know!!¢ (as he smothered me with a hug). I was cracking up. On zero days, you¢re supposed to sleep in! That¢s the rules that I made for zero days. HA! After we got out of bed, I grabbed all of our dirty clothes and took them to Ruthie, as she requested. When I opened the door, she said, ¢Why aren¢t you a pretty little thing!¢ That made me blush. I told her that I look and smell much better after showering. We both laughed. She was very sweet!!We walked right next door to the Gemini Cafe for some breakfast sandwiches. While we were there, we ran into Liza and Austin (the couple we saw on trial yesterday)! We chatted for awhile. Apparently they met when he was on trail thru-hiking. She was hiking for the day, and they talked for awhile. Now they are married and live in Maine!! We thought that was so cool! After chatting for about ten minutes, they left to go home and we continued looking at our map for the rest of trail. We want to be done so badly!After breakfast, we got a ride from Kevin to go to the outfitter down the road. It was so adorable when we got in the car, he told me that Ruthie walked back to say to him (after I dropped off my laundry) ¢my gosh, she¢s pretty.¢ He was like, ¢I told her so!¢ I was laughing. It really made my day. I definitely don¢t feel beautiful on trail. When we got to the outfitter, it was closed. So, we tried to find the owner but he must have been on vacation. So, we headed back to the motel to hang out and check things off our to-do list. As we were discussing what day we might summit Katahdin, we got a message from Liza inviting us to a cookout with her family! Moose Jaw and I thought that sounded fun, so we said yes! And of course, we decided to take another zero. Toaster called us, and she¢s only two days behind! So, we thought, ¢Even more reason to take a zero!¢ We miss her, and she¢s working so hard to catch up. We wanted to make sure that she could catch up to us sooner! Around 1:45, we got picked up by Austin and Liza. First of all, these two are amazing people, obviously generous and kind, fun, smart, and just bad ass!! They drove us to Liza¢s parents¢ place! It was gorgeous with a beautiful view!! We met Liza¢s mom Terry, and her step-father, Hank (Henry). We also met Grandma and some family friends, Tim and Candy. They made a delicious meal of burgers, chicken, hot dogs, corn on the cob, potato salad, cookies, and a fruit cobbler! We ate so much, we were stuffed!!! We sat on the patio for awhile chatting about trail. Austin lost 70 lbs on trail, and he was cracking us up about it! He said he lost an entire backstreet boy! HA! We talked about the little inside jokes and things we would say while on trail. We talked about trees laying across trail that have broken branches sticking out all over trying to impale you when you step across. He calls them neuter sticks. We were cracking up at that!! Then a bee flew by, and he called it a spicy fly. They will now forever be called spicy flies. HA!After super we took a tour of the property (this is also where Liza and Austin got married and lived for their first year of marriage,¢¦ there¢s a small cabin also near the property owned by her step brother) on a side-by-side. Liza and Austin drove an ATV. WE HAD SUCH A BLAST!! It was a ton of fun. The state saying is correct, ¢Maine, the way life should be.¢ I agree with that. Moose and I felt so free and happy! Liza is a total bad ass! She drives a Harley Motorcycle and has done some incredible things! Austin is pretty cool too! We played corn hole after our tour and it was a lot of fun! Grandma watched and was obviously rooting for the girl¢s team! She was cracking us up! She has a lot of spice and I love that!! Corn hole was a blast! We were laughing the entire time! It felt like we have known these two for forever! They are moving to Georgia in November, so I know we will definitely be seeing these two again! I hope we become great friends! As Liza said, ¢You meet the best people on trail!¢ I have to agree with that!! This was the best trail magic we have received so far! We were at peace the entire time!! I love spending time with these two and their family! It was truly a surprise and blessing!After they dropped us off, we hugged and headed back to our room to relax. I watched TV while Moose fell right asleep. Today was the best!