Monday, April 16, 2012

Another exhausting Zero Day

I know that we are supposed to be getting rest when we pull a zero day in town, but so far, everytime we do this, I end up exhausted, and I think it's because we end up being busy all day, and walking everywhere. 
We started our day in Erwin by meeting Swamprat at the Huddle House (like a Waffle House) for a really great breakfast.  I had gotten up pretty early and soaked in a hot tub again with Epsom, still trying to get my shoulder to feel better.  It was a bit better, but still nagging me.  I also rubbed my feet a lot, as my arches were doing plenty of complaining.  We ended up planning the next few days of hiking with Swamprat, as he was wanting to get on the trail today and do about 5, then 7 tomorrow, trying to break himself in a bit more gradually, and then we would still catch him tomorrow. 
After breakfast, I gathered up laundry, and when I walked out of the hotel, there was Miss Janet again.  She insisted on giving me a ride.  It looked to me like her car was already plenty full, but the other hikers, who were all young men, all insisted that they could fit more people into the car!  Since I really wasn't excitied about walking to the laundromat, I squeezed in.  The three guys next to me (yes, four of us in the back seat!), had been working in Peru for two years with the Peace Corp, and when I commented that I thought they were the perfect age to hike the trail, Miss Janet announced that I had the best chance of finishing out of all of the young guys in the car.   I was rather astonished at her statement, and askied her why she would say that.  She said it was due to her many years of experience with hikers, and because:
1.  I probably listened to my body, and tried to rest and let it recover;
2.  I probably didn't care you was passing me up, and that I realized it was not a competition;
3.  I probably knew that it didn't matter when I reached Mt. Katahdin, but just that I did make it.
I told her that she was certainly right about all of that, and then the guy next to me, said, "Wow, she really burned us on every one of those!"  Guilty!
We all laughed really hard at this, and I knew that I REALLY liked Miss Janet!  I called her later, and she will pick us up at the hotel at 9 in the morning to return us to the trail.
















I heard a great trail name yesterday. Wild Turkey and Feathers caught a ride to Walmart with former thru-hiker the Abominable Slowman. Lol.

No comments: