7/24/01
Having the most popular camping area along the entire AT in Vermont to yourself is a great way to spend a cool sunny morning in the sleeping bag. I drifted off to sleep last night to the sound of loons calling out to each other on Stratton Pond. I was abruptly awakened an hour later by my own coughing which lasted an hour before I returned to my slumber. When the morning light awakened me I rolled over and slept in until after 9:00 a.m. Eventually I rolled out of bed and casually packed up knowing that I had a short mileage day ahead of me. Just before 10:00 I made my way around the beautiful pond and returned to the trail heading north, alone for a change since hiking with Phantom from Delaware Water Gap to Stratton Peak. The miles flew by easily as I cruised to Prospect Rock six miles from the pond. The view to the west of Manchester with Mt. Equinox rising high above the village was quite impressive as was the building cumulus cloud which urged me to move on. I stopped at Spruce Peak shelter to pump some spring water where I ran in to Diablo, who I hadn't seen in a few hundred miles. He had taken two weeks off the trail to work at a YMCA camp in New York to make some money. He was down when I talked with him and said that he thought he was going to quit the trail to go home and see some friends before they return to school. I tried to motivate Diablo as I was celebrating the fact that we had just crossed the 3/4th mark on the journey to Maine. But Diablo seemed resigned to his contention that he was satisfied with his experience and was burned out with the thought of going any farther. Diablo left the shelter before me, but I caught up to him at the road crossing to Manchester Center, VT.
I didn't hesitate to stick out my thumb immediately upon reaching the road and within 10 minutes had a ride with Diablo in tow to town. The gentleman who picked us up was kind enough to take me to the Northshire Medical Clinic on the outskirts of town where I popped in to put my name on the waiting list to see a doctor. The wait was two hours so I smiled and dialed an assortment of people in town including the chamber of commerce, the recreation center, the outfitters, and various motels to find out what lodging options were available in town. With tourism as the major industry in town, motel rates were high with extremely limited availability. I took a risk and obtained a room at the Wedgewood Motel next door to the medical clinic, in hopes of finding some roommates to share the cost of the room. With 30 minutes until my appointment, I thought that it would be a nice gesture to take a shower so the doctor wouldn't find me quite so offensive upon examining me. Dr. Natasha Jager saw me at 4:30 p.m. For the first time in my life the doctor was younger than me...that made me feel old. Natasha and I agreed that most likely I had a bacterial infection in the lungs, so she agreed to treat me as if it is bronchitis with some antibiotics and some codeine to help me sleep at night. A free shuttle bus to town ran at 5:08 from the clinic and I just made it outside in time to avoid the mile walk. As I hustled to the outfitter to beat the 6:00 p.m. closing time, I ran into Mojo and Pandora who had secured lodging at an old English inn which began offering rooms to hikers just this week. My box from Stratton Mtn. that Phantom was going to retrieve for me was there just as planned.
As I was leaving EMS outfitter I ran into Redneck who agreed to share my room with me for the night. He and I agreed with Pandora and Mojo to rendezvous outside the town movie theater at 7:00 to see a movie together. Redneck and I hustled to the Rite Aid where I stopped to pick up my prescriptions while he hitched a ride to the motel to grab a quick shower before the movie. I had to book it to the motel and arrived just in time to turn around with Redneck and head back into town to see the movie. We tried hitching as we walked due to the distance back to town and rain, which was now falling fairly heavily. We were not successful with a hitch and made it to the theater just in time to catch the opening scene of the movie (America's Sweethearts). After the movie we walked to P.T. Nelsons where we were hoping for a cocktail and dinner, but the kitchen was closed for the week. We left Pandora there as the top priority for Redneck and me was food. A quick dinner at Friendlys left us happy and full, so we returned to P.T. Nelsons to catch up with Pandora and Mojo who were already there. The bar area was nearly full with hikers (SoBo's and section hikers), so Redneck and I took a seat near the end of the bar. While there, a local nurse (Robert) introduced himself and started bending my ear about thru-hiking the AT. The conversation lasted quite a while and I nearly forgot that Redneck and I had seen Beatle and Animal in town as we hustled to make it to the movie and had told them that they could split the room with us. Finally, after Robert bought us a couple of rounds as we talked, we knew we needed to get back to the room, so Robert kindly drove us straight to the motel, saving the mile or more walk we would have other wise faced. Sure enough, on the front porch of the bungalow type room, sat Beatle and Animal when we pulled up at 11:33 p.m. Soon the four of us settled in for a good nights sleep with a freshly showered Beatle and Animal on the floor and Redneck and I in the two queen beds. Life is good. It was great to be in a real bed again with friends to help share the cost of the room. Today's stats: low 65, high 83. Partly cloudy a.m. Showers scattered p.m. Today's mileage: 10.4; cumulative mileage: 1632.1.
