Date: 2018-08-02
From: VT 103 to Rutland

To: Rutland
Miles today: 0.0

It was me who eventually ventured out from under the covers last night to find the pop machine. Cole tried to bribe me to go. ¢I¢ll scratch your back. I¢ll rub your foot.¢ Finally I just went. The machine had a small hand written ¢out of order¢ sign taped to it. So,across the street I went to the gas station and brought back Mountain Dew, Coke, chocolate milk, donuts, cheesies and smart food. I guess that I was still hungry.In the morning, our grumbly tummies woke us up early. The hotel had an all you can eat breakfast which included an array of both hot and cold food. I couldn¢t tell you everything that Cole ate, but he sure did his best to clean them out.Michael had offered to drive us to the hostel this morning. Our intent was to take a zero to resupply and rest. However, when we saw that the hostel was only just over a mile away and the hotel check out wasn¢t until noon, we decided to take full advantage of the luxurious gift we had been given and enjoy the room for a bit longer. Cole crawled back into bed while I soaked my feet in the tub.The time went by quickly and all too soon we had to move on.The hostel was above a place called The Yellow Deli and is run by an organization called The Twelve Tribes Spiritual Community. I had read both good and bad things about the place and the people, but the only way to know for sure is to check it out for yourself.When we arrived at the Yellow Deli we were greeted very warmly. We were given cold drinks and then taken on a tour of the hostel. What some people find odd is that women and men have to stay in different rooms whereas other hostels are unisex. This didn¢t bother me. Privacy was nice. First on the agenda was laundry. The hostel provided clothes that you could borrow. The ladies cloths were a little old fashion. A sign above the clothes closet asked that you please wear these clothes if you are going to help out. There are many work opportunities in the hostel, the deli and on the farm that the community owns. I donned a shirt and a skirt that was about five sizes too big for me. It had strings so I was able to fix it around my waist so that it didn¢t fall down. Cole didn¢t want to put the clothes on, but I told him that it was the only way I could get all of his clothes clean. He selected a pair of shorts and a polo shirt. He didn¢t look bad at all really, but made a point of telling me that I looked a lot younger in my hiking clothes. (But Cole....these ones are clean! What happened to clean clothes making me look young?¢)While we waited for the laundry to finish, a lady from the hostel asked for a volunteer to fold sheets. I took on the task. Afterwards we prepared to head to Walmart for our resupply. ¢Should I put my own clothes back on or just wear these?¢ I jokingly asked Cole. He was quite certain that I should put my own back on. Another through hiker sitting in the common room added, ¢You are going to stick out either way.¢ I agreed and decided to go in what I had on.Walmart was all out of fuel for our cooking stove. We ended up having to take a bus to Dicks Sporting Goods in order to buy fuel. On the way back to the hostel we picked up a pizza from dominos. As we settled in to eat our pizza in the now packed common room of the Yellow Deli Hostel, I heard a familiar voice from the other side of the room say ¢There¢s faces we know.¢ It was Tom. They had decided to get off the trail at VT4 to come into town. After eating and talking for a while, I headed to bed early, our ¢rest day¢ having not been full of running around and not very restful.