Date: 2006-08-15
From: Rte 23

To: Jerusalem Rd
Miles today: 11.0

Tuesday, August 15, 2006 Rte 23 to Jerusalem Rd, 11 milesTolland Campground in Otis. In the back of the Element, propped up on 3 down pillows. Amoeba reads ¢Fortunes Rocks¢ by Anita Shreve by the light of a 2 D-cell flashlight. The novel is set at Fortunes Rocks, ME, a place where she¢s just spent 3 days with Spinner and 2 college friends.More than 40 years since they were in college together. Different paths. Starting to experience the effects of aging, physical and mental. Kind to each other. Still able to have fun together. Joking about their families and youthful hang-ups. One person¢s mother always left soap on the dishes. They¢d be eating dinner and the father would say, ¢Taste soap?¢ Mother never reacted to or responded to the question. Father finally bought an automatic dishwasher.About 3 AM raindrops tap the metal roof of the Element. Amoeba puts her hand on the netting over the passenger¢s side window. Not wet, car is dry. Leave window open for airflow. About 4 AM, moisture has leaked through the netting. Close window.The Element is the best tent ever.Breakfast a pint of blueberries and some triscuits.Start 9AM at the Rte 23 trailhead. Annie from Arizona arrives and asks if she can join them hiking today. Sure. Purple Rose and Zig Zag met Annie in VA at Jennings Creek earlier this year. She started April 15 at Springer. She¢s got knee trouble and is not sure she¢s going to be able to finish. Wondering if there is bus service from Tyringham to Dalton, so she can slack both south and north out of Dalton.Annie is wearing bicycle shorts. She likes hiking in them but they wear out fast, she says. Amoeba has wanted to try hiking in bicycle shorts for a while now. Annie gets hers online at www.livestrong.org. For a living, Annie drives long-distance trucks. She doesn¢t have her own rig, she drives for a company. Less risky, she says.Hello to section-hiker Pete, who¢s excited because he¢s just seen a bear, right on the AT, about 100 meters south of Rte 23. He got a good look at it before it lumbered off into the woods.Hello Sarah and Don, NOBO thruhikers who started in mid-April. Hello Trailboss (not the Trailboss Amoeba knows), and hello Iroc from NC.Hello section-hiker Kevin from CT, who is in the process of relocating from CT to Athens OH, where he¢ll pursue graduate studies in cartography at Ohio State. He likes the design challenges of mapmaking.Past Wilcox S Shelter, where Braveheart had that bear encounter in 2003.A SOBO! Small Pot, started July 5. Before that he was on the IAT in Quebec. Quebec mosquitoes are THE WORST, he says, hands down.More SOBO¢s, Degoba and Rat Dog, the latter a dog. Booking, both of them.American Chestmut, hanging onto life by sending up strong suckers. Its 4-inch trunk is dead.Lunch by the side trail to Wilcox N. Kevin joins them. Thank you, Annie, for letting me sit on your Z Rest!For lunch Purple Rose eats a sandwich filled with homemade pimiento cheese. Her recipe calls for several kinds of cheese and bottled pimientos. Remember Avalanche at the Partnership Shelter talking about trail food cravings, his number one food craving -- pimiento cheese sandwiches.Pass 3 red efts, one of them acting stunned, like he¢s been stepped on. Probably was. He is trying to shake off his injury. Hello 3 section-hikers. They say breakfast at Goose Pond Cabin is blueberry pancakes at 7 AM.Suddenly a sharp scream. Gazelle Man (Purple Rose¢s grandson) has walked in from Fernside Rd. He¢s crouched in a chest-high sea of yellow jewelweed and he¢s just jumped out in front of Purple Rose.Kevin stops at Fernside Rd to chat with Purple Sherpa.Out at second Jerusalem Rd crossing. Purple Sherpa shuttles Annie and Kevin to Tyringham, where they¢ll spend the night at the fire station.Raw corn, sweet as sugar, for supper. Tonight and the next 2 nights will be spent at October Mtn Campground, handy to the AT.Journaling. To bed at 9:15.