[at-l] Ready's Journal July 28 TD 44

[kahley7@ptd.net (kahley)]

I'd spent the previous days "resting" in Poughkeepie. What
that meant was shopping, seeing the chiropractor and dentist,
repairing some gear, and icing my back. The time had flown
by and I'd barely had enough time to accomplish all my chores.
I was up at 6:00 and busy today! I had tons of packing to do.
Gene got to the motel at 8:45. We set out immediately for Kent.
I had my pack, along with some food to supplement our maildrop
provisions, which I'd be picking up in Kent. Our first stop was
the outfitters, where I swifty moved through the store selecting
the needed items: esbit fuel (for our backup), a new water bladder
to replace one we'd had to discard, and hiking pole rubber tips.
The clerk at the register asked me if I was "Ready" aand then
handed me a note from Spur telling me to pick up a new hipbelt
for the pack I was carrying. Apparently they had a size woman's
small - just what I needed to get a superior fit on the pack. (It
currently sported a men's medium and it barely grabbed my hips.)
I met The Flash while there. He'd met Spur the previous day
and was glad to see that I would be back on the trail.
At the P.O., I ran into Honey and Moon. Bounce box and maildrop
collected, our next stop was Falls Village. We'd have only 1 hour
  to get there, sort gear and supplies and get the bounce box and
a box going back to Atlanta prepped and sent before the P.O.
there closed at noon.
We got to Falls Village within 15 minutes. Gene went in to pick
up a package containing Spur's 803's (shoes) which he'd left at
my parents' house. His 804's were causing all kinds of foot pain for him.
I sat on the grass outside the PO sorting the gear and supplies.
40 minutes to get it all done and the boxes returned for mailing
today. One to Atlanta and one to Manchester Center where we
hoped to be in 14 days or so.
I got it all sorted and the boxes resealed with one minute to
spare! That mission accomplished, Gene and I headed into
Salisbury to eat at the famous Collins Diner. The diner was
this very day celebrating its 60th anniversary.
Gene is a real lover of diners, and I too am fascinated by
this very quaint American institution.
A quick stop at a supermarket for some cans of chicken, and
then back to Falls Village Pizzeria where I fiddled with the packbelt
to see if I could make it fit the new pack. I got it to work, gave
Gene the old belt to mail back to Atlanta on Monday. I met Foots
Aflame, Walk It Off and 2 other hikers there; we chatted as I
worked on the pack.
We said our goodbyes. Geene was heading back home and
the hikers were hitting the trail again. I waited there for Spur's
arrival. I used the time to repack my gear more proficiently and to
journal some. Shortly after Spur got out of a car in front of the pizzeria.
Izzy, Stump and Voyager Bob arrived too. We sat on the porch
dining on pizza and many cold drinks. The sun moved lower in
the sky and caught us. When we got too warm we went inside
to finish our meal. It's a great little restaurant and bar.
We headed out after 6 PM, having only a short distance to go to
find our stealth campsite for the night. We stopped briefly to
admire the falls that had given the nearby village its name. It's
a wonderful series of cascading little falls over some very impressive rocks.
We saw two beavers swimming unperturbed amongst a throng
of loud and boisterous teens swimming in the water and climbing
all around the rocks.
We found a site easily, pitched the tent, bearbagged and were
journaling by dark. It was a nice reunion. I was looking forward to
hiking tomorrow.


--- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
multipart/mixed
  text/plain (text body -- kept)
---