Date: 2003-08-10
From: Moxie Bald Lean To

To: Monson ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

In one, slow motion second I find myself viewing the clouds that are slowly drifting by. One misstep and here I am flat on my back like an overturned turtle. Arms splayed out, my neck twisting back and forth as my mind does a quick checklist of all my body parts. When I fathom that I've only bruised my left hip and my pride, I slowly twist around to my hands and knees, rising like some 90 year old man after a really long nap. I hate falling. I love sliding and even loosing my balance but when I cross the line and actually fall then the fun stops.In the past couple of days I've meet some really nice hikers. Today I just happened to end up hiking with a section hiker from MA. He was a super nice guy who impressed me by having hiked all 48 of the 4000 foot peaks in NH. What impressed me more was how modest and open he was about his life, his work and his ability to hike the trail. Said- Guy and I flew down the trail and in 3 hours we hand knocked out the 9 miles that I had planned to hike. We took lunch at the Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to where all I ate was some peanut butter crackers. Major mistake only eating that small amount but I just did not have an appetite.It was only 9 more miles into town so together we made the decision to crank out the rest of the miles to Highway 15. His car was parked there and inside he had stashed two lukewarm Sam Adams beers. Being men and being thirsty caused the beers to be incentive enough to move onward.The trail kept having these small climbs followed by going back down followed by yet another small climb. We were both doing fine until about mile 15 when our pace began to slow. Up to that point we had been telling stories but suddenly the conversation ceased. It was probably due to the fact that he was tired and I was exhausted or it could have been that the conversation stopped after Said Guy told me a story that could not be topped. Seems him and his best hiking buddy came to a shelter where they came upon a kind of weird looking and weird acting guy. Said Guy goes off to filter water and when he gets back he finds his big, Marine hiking friend and the freaky guy both sitting naked in the shelter. Needless to say he left the shelter in a quick manner.As we reached Buck Hill at the height of a whopping 1400 feet I told Said guy to just wait for me in the parking lot. He trudged on as I dropped my pack and just laid spread eagle on the forest floor leaves. I just had not eaten enough and my energy was super low. I rested for 5 minutes and started to walk back up the trail. I started to play mind games with myself, pretending that I had to make it to the highway to get help for an injured hiker. Finally I heard cars and then saw the road. As I spyed Said-guy sitting on the bumper drinking a lucky warm one, I slipped. The Maine sky was very pretty but it sucks to fall 12 steps from the end of an 18 mile day.I guess I was pretty dehydrated because I caught a nice little buzz before I had finished the beer. As we were about to pull out of the gravel parking lot a southbounder emerges from the trail. Now Said-Guy and I both smelled but this boy REEKED. We made space for his stuff and headed into town. Our choice was the Pie Lady's house since we had heard it was quiet and not the party place. We went in to see this very harried little woman who informed us she only had a single room left. Our southbound hiker friend said he would tent in the backyard and off he went. The Pie Lady told us she had a roll away bed that we could move into the bedroom so it seemed like we were all set. When we moved the roll away bed into our room there was maybe a 6 inch path for us to maneuver in. Said-Guy had this saying that was "Oh, it will be good to get this under our belt". He was nice and took the roll away bed to sleep since it looked as if my feet would have hung off the end.I had made the major mistake of putting my stinky socks in the clothes bag with the rest of my clothes. I thought I had a half way clean shirt but when I opened the bag and pulled out the shirt the whole room took on a foul odor. The shirt I was wearing didn't smell as bad so I stuffed the stinky one back in the bad and headed downstairs to take a shower. The shower felt wonderful but as I reached for the shirt I could smell the stink. We were going to go grab dinner with the super nice couple from Quebec and I didn't want them to get a whiff of me over dinner and gag. I saw a can of Rainbow Spring scented Lysol sitting behind the commode so I grabbed the can and sprayed it all over the shirt, paying added attention to the underarm area.The four of us went out to find something to eat and found that the local Bar-B-Que place was busy so we stopped in there. It had to be over 100 degrees in the place and there was a guy in the middle of the small sitting area playing a guitar and singing ballads. He finishes a song and as I walk buy I ask him if he knows any James Taylor. Next thing I know, Said-Guy and I are ordering a $19.00 plate of ribs while a bad version of "Carolina On My Mind" is being sung behind me. I grab a beer, get a table outside and simply enjoy the images that song brings to mind as a kid growing up in North Carolina.Ten minutes later this huge platter of ribs comes out. You had to hold them up for a good 20 seconds before the grease even started to slow down from dripping off of the bone. They were so over the top nasty that they were downright good. I'm sure Penny would have winced with every succulent, chin smearing, grease dripping bite I took. Some excellent conversation, a couple more beers downed and before I knew it the ribs had been devoured.Afterwards we all went outside in the cool night air and talked on a multitude of subjects. I've always been interested in how individuals from other countries, even Canada, really view the United States. It was interesting to hear what Stephon and Pascal had to say about the different actions that the US has recently taken. We talked till the restaurant closed down and then it was off to our suite at the Pie Lady's. It had been a very long but for the most part a very enjoyable day. It felt great to be clean, well fed and among nice people. Take care,Pasta & Crockett(Maine in 2003)