7/05/01
After a late night last night I slept peacefully until 11 a.m. while my fellow thru-hikers went to breakfast and walked the streets of Huntington. Around midday Beatle and Surefoot teamed up in the living room with an electric guitar and a baby grand piano for a jam session. Both are very talented musicians and I really enjoyed listening to the impromptu music that they so skillfully played. The desire for ethnic food motivated the four of us to walk to town. Huntington has a wide selection of restaurants to choose from and we settled on Ouxaca for Mexican cuisine. The food was fabulous and we stuffed ourselves thoroughly with deluxe nachos and combination platters. From there we hiked to Vivian's house (a friend of Beatle's) to enjoy swimming in the backyard pool and a two hour frisbee throwing session in the field next to her house. Then we went back to Beatle's house to relax and enjoy some more music and I took advantage of the internet access to send more E-mail responses to people who had E-mailed me through the jefftrek website. Dragon's Gate Chinese/Japanese food was for dinner where I got my first sushi dinner since before starting the trail. It was fantastic ! ! Some of Beatle's friends joined us for dinner then came back to his house with us after dinner for another fun evening in the kitchen partying. I managed to get in bed by 12:30 while Beatle and Surefoot were still playing songs together and Phantom was listening to their tunes. It was a super zero mile day to spend time with friends in Huntington, Long Island. Beatle was a great host and went out of his way to make sure we all had a great time.
As an aside, one of the greatest benefits of hiking the AT is that it brings people together who otherwise might not do things together. Beatle just turned 18, Surefoot is 22 and Phantom is 23. The four of us stuck together during the entire side trip to Long Island like glue. The trail has a way of bonding people despite any age or other differences. On the trail we are all equal. It's a snapshot of how life really ought to be off the trail as well. Acceptance of our differences and mutual respect and trust is the foundation of relationships amongst thru-hikers. This seems to be universally the norm of the hiker culture without all the crap and outside politics we all normally face. I continue to be amazed and in awe of the beauty of the trail experience.
