Date: 2013-07-09
From: Beer Stein

To: Delaware Water Gap, NJ
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Yesterday a friend of mine, Stephen, picked me up off the trail. He took me to get some food and then to Walmart for a resupply. It was really awesome. He's been the first non-trail friend I've seen since I started my hike!I am taking a zero in Delaware Water Gap, PA. I wasn't planning on zeroing, but couldn't find the motivation to hike out. I'm staying at a free hostel located at a church. It's nice, but unfortunately there's no AC. Shady, Old Boy, The Hunger, and I decided to go see Despicable Me 2 at the movies. We caught a ride there. The theater is in a mall. The strangest thing happened during the movie. I actually forgot I was hiking. I felt kind of normal. Then, halfway through I remembered that tomorrow. I have to hike and sleep outside. Afterwards, we walked around the mall. It was strange to be in a mall and not buy anything. Before coming on the trail, I thoroughly enjoyed shopping. In fact, one of the things I miss from my real life is my wardrobe. Out here, I wear the same damn clothes every day. It is boring. There is a line that divides Goldilocks' life from Liana's life. Being at the mall brought me really close to that line. It was just weird for me. I stopped at a nail salon for a fill-in. The boys went off to do guy things. When I met back up with them they said they met a chick who was going to take us to a hookah lounge. But we had to wait until she got off work at 9. She worked at a store that sold hippie/grunge type stuff. We arrived at the lounge. Her apartment was above the place. First, we went up to her place. I was not prepared for what was about to happen. She took us up a flight of stairs and down a hallway. Then, there was a shorter flight and another door. She unlocked the door and lead us up some more stairs. As I crossed through the doorway I noticed a thick pile of white stuff. I asked her what it was. She said it was salt to keep out evil spirits. Ok, weird. There was graffiti all over the walls as I went up the last flight of stairs. There were satanic looking symbols and funky designs in red and black spray paint. I began to feel uncomfortable. We finally made it to her apartment. The place was sparsely furnished. Two sofas, a chair, and a coffee table sat in the center of the large room. Her roommate and her boyfriend were there. We sat down and talked with them while Allie got ready for work at the lounge. There was artwork all over the walls. The guy had done one of the pieces. It was a pen and ink drawing of a demonic animal looking thing with a long tongue that penetrated the head of a zombie looking person next to it. There was a giant pentagram around the zombie's neck. It was creepy. I was greeting such a bad vibe from this place. I kept praying for the people who lived there. I know there were evil presences in that apartment. I could feel them around me. I think what freaked me out the most was how familiar it felt to me. It reminded me of places I'd been to in college, before I knew Christ. I never thought God would bring me to a place like that on the trail. It didn't feel right. I was relieved when we left. We didn't even go to the lounge. We took a cab back to the hostel. The guys thought she was pretty cool. When they were talking about the night they noticed I was quiet. They said they could tell I wasn't feeling it. They all know I am a Christian. Shady even said he was wondering what my thoughts were while we were there. Even he could sense the demonic presence in that place. But I guess I was the only one who felt uncomfortable because of it. I am going to sleep. I hope my clothes dry. It's been 2 weeks since I last did laundry. And it wasn't even with laundry detergent. All I had was fabric softener at the time. So today I washed a few things in a bucket outside of the hostel. I'm getting tired of taking a shower and putting on stinky clothes. I'm gonna have to burn my clothes after I finish this hike. There is nothing that can get this stink out haha!