[at-l] Jan Day Six Part 2

[kahley@ptd.net (kahley)]

The link for Jan's Journal on Trailjournals is
http://www.trailjournals.com/liteshoe/  and is now current and the site is
working.
I'll continue to post her entries here, just in case there are more access
woes.


Manchester was a flurry of eating, phoning, rude Vermonters, drug stores
shopping (compeed, batteries, ear plugs for Clyde and he's the one who
snores, bandaids, ibuprofen, reading glasses to replace lost ones,
sunglasses to replace lost ones), and getting Clyde's pack fixed. The
suspension has been trashed since day one.
We hit the laundromat and washed everything, sitting around in our rain
gear. Man, I love clean clothes! People were starting to look at us,
surreptitiously then quickly looking away, so I know we were starting to
look pretty rough.
Clyde was eager to push on out of town and up Bromley mountain, so I had to
bid a heartbroken goodbye to my dreams of a hot shower. Instead, I took
another spitbath in a sink, but if I don't get one soon I am going to sit
down in the middle of the trail very soon and weep.
A female thruhiker, Foxfire from Indianapolis, IN, was taking a couple of
zero days in town, and had a car. The angel drove us all over. In the drug
store, she confided she had lost 50 pounds while on the Trail. Go, girl.
The fellow from the Mountain Goat Outfitter fixed Clyde's pack for free,
then drove us to the trailhead. It started uphill easy, then the last half
mile went straight up. Dang. We hit the open ski slopes in time to see a
fabulous golden sunset.
on the way up the slope, Clyde was ahead and flushed a flashing brown
creature into the open. A bobcat! I called out, but his fat-rumped self was
gone in a flash.Trail magic.
The wind was creaming. I have this fire tower jones, so as soon as I
shucked my pack, I went up to the top to see the remains of the day. The
360 view from up there was the best so far, mountains everywhere.
Stratton's firetower, which was taller, did not offer such drama, yet we
were still very close. Only 17 miles, and what a difference in view.
Inside the warming hut, another discovery - a phone! The gods smile. It's
45 degrees and raining sideways. Glad to be here, and not in the hammock.