Date: 2005-07-11
From: Ten Mile River

To: Skiff Mountain Road
Miles today: 11.3

We were up early and running for breakfast this morning. We had a mission to get in to Kent, Connecticut. I kind of figured that Caralee¢s, which is the breakfast place, would not be serving breakfast after ten o¢clock, so we were running like hell to try and get in and eat breakfast there. Turned out that they were serving breakfast there until about twelve.Regardless, we were out on Connecticut 341 at nine thirty. Just before we hit the road, we went past a guy going up with a handful of pamphlets and a map that we¢ve been seeing in registers all along the way. We talked to him for a minute and started hauling down the road.Just as I was about to take my camera out to take a picture of the sign that says ¢Welcome to Kent¢, the guy who was handing out the pamphlets pulled up and volunteered to give us a ride. Very graciously. We accepted. We took us in and dropped us off right in front of Caralee¢s. We went in and had a wonderful breakfast. Very good stuff.After that we walked over to the Backcountry Outfitters to get our maildrops and to look through the outfitters. I ended up going for broke and got another new pack. I switched packs to the new Osprey Atmos 50; the same pack that I had recommended Estee get. I decided that I was going to try it out myself as well. I got a new fanny pack which theoretically is waterproof. I got all new waterproof bags for my sleeping bag and my clothes and my down jacket. When it rained last week, everything got wet in the bag. The bags have apparently got holes where they have worn out. I did not want that to happen again so I replaced all the waterproof bags.I was also considering experimenting with new shoes even though mine are working great. So I was testing out a couple pairs of shoes that they had in there. I had my shoes off and was wearing socks on their wood floor. I got a huge splinter on my foot. I had a hard time pulling it out. When I tried pulling out the chunk that was sticking out, the rest of it broke in my foot. I ended up having to go out on their front porch, take a razor and slice my foot open so that I could pull the rest of the splinter out with a pair of nail clippers. The thing had penetrated a whole inch into my foot. Surprisingly, the outfitter showed little or no concern considering that it was a serious thing for me to be injured in his place and that I had expressed quite a bit of pain. He basically told me where there was a doctor and took off. I don¢t know where he disappeared to, but he disappeared. Maybe he was afraid I was going to sue him. I¢m sure many people would have.Anyway, I took care of it myself. I took the splinter out and paid for everything.Then I walked over to the post office. My mail drop never showed up. There was some confusion with Kimberly. She did not send out the Kent mail drop. She thought I had told her to hold it. So that was the confusion, so I was short on food. I walked over to the post office to mail my old backpack and old waterproof bags and things like that. Then I walked over to the IGA to see if I could make up some of the food that I needed to carry me the rest of the way to the next mail drop. I¢m having her send it to Salisbury, which is a 35 mile walk from Kent. That¢ll minimize any problems that I have.After I loaded up at IGA I went over to Paison¢s Restaurant and Bar and had their lunch of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and Long Island Iced Teas. I started walking on out of there.I met Vern as he was walking out of the Chinese Restaurant. That¢s where he decided he wanted to eat. We walked over together to the ice cream store and sat out front eating our ice creams. I went back over to the outfitters to pick up my phone that I had left charging there. Tinkerbell and Beantown were sitting outside. They were looking at staying in town and asked if Vern and I wanted to share a loft at the Gibbs house. It is advertised in the Wingfoot book as being for three or four people. I gave Beantown my phone to call them to make the reservations. Essentially, what happened is that, when they found out that we were hikers, they dissuaded Beantown from taking the room and told him that only two people would fit in there. So, the lowdown is that they didn¢t want hikers in there, and they were willing to only allow two hikers in a room that normally will equip four people. So, that¢s what you¢ve got to deal with in New England or that¢s what you have to deal with in Kent. Let me just narrow it to Kent right now because I can definitely say that about this town because it is the second time I¢ve come through here. It¢s the second time that there has been a bit of a prejudice and disapproving looks from the local community. Regardless, it ticked me off. I told Vern ¢Let¢s get the hell out of here¢ and we walked out of town. It took us until four o¢clock to get to the Trail, so obviously we were going to run short of the shelter that was seven miles away. We could have made it by dark but we were both beat to hell. We were very tired. We stopped just before Skiff Mountain Road by a creek and pitched camp there. About seven o¢clock, a young Japanese guy comes walking by us who spoke very little English. We got out of him that he started April 16th. So, he¢s moving along pretty well. There was an empty cooler there from Trail Magic. It was full of empty cans. We crushed the cans and stuck our food bags in there so we didn¢t have to hang them. We put big rocks on top. After that we went to bed. At ten thirty at night some guy, some hiker, comes walking by on the trail with his red light on. Night hiking. All the power to him.