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6/13/01, day 91. 501 Shelter. 17.5m Interesting day, this was. Woke up and went for a walk, como siempre, and around 9 I ran into Patti, Cheryl, and Ed, and the four of us promptly decided to get lost, which I at least found amusing. It was a terribly hot, muggy day, and my cotton shorts just got soaked with sweat, giving me some terrible chafing action by the end of the day. So when we got to a road near this shelter, Mermaid hitched into town with me, and I bought some nylon shorts (reserved for members of the local boys soccer team) and a white cotton T-shirt from a hunting store, of all places. I tossed the former outfit, containing about 2 pounds of sweat, as soon as we got back to the trailhead. This "shelter," if you call it that, is an enclosed building with a skylight, phone, shower, a place to order pizza, etc. So I had a cold-ass shower (heaven!) and pigged out on pizza with about 700 of my closest thru-hiker friends. After getting my ass kicked in hearts, though, it's time to get into my brithday suit and retire. I love this fucking Trail. 6/14/01, day 92. Eagle's Nest Shelter. 14.7m Woke up exhausted for lack of sleep, ate some pizza, sat around bullshitting, and walked very slowly here. Sky and Prez showed up, good. Tired and sleepy time. 6/15/01, day 93. ~9m Today was yet another one of those days when I planned on passing straight through town but I get stuck. I pulled into Port Clinton early this morning, had breakfast with Patti, obtained an umbrella from a hiker box (Thor was pleased to no end), and sat around with some folk. I seem to have lost my guidebook, which sucks an unbelievable amount of ass. It was off to the bar (the dining room doesn't want unclean hikers, so this unclean hiker doesn't want the dining room) for lunch and a beer, then a hitch into the next town for groceries and email. By the time I got back, it was too late to push on, so here I be. It was back to the bar for dinner and a second beer (can you believe it?), sitting around for several hours bullshitting with folk. Sheryl bought me some perogies, so I'm gonna have to carry her pack for a few days or something. Patti obtained a son and son's friend to hike with for a spell. That is all. 6/16/01, day 94. Eckville Shelter. 15.2m Left town early with 22.6 on the mind, found my wingnut. Tromped along in the rain, discovering that my umbrella does jack, as expected. So I holed up in a little cabin with just about every NOBO I know and their dog, eating ice-cream sandwiches and telling bad jokes. Life is good. 6/17/01, day 95. Camping south of Palmerton, PA. ~20m Today I woke up and realized that the zero I planned in Delaware Water Gap would fall directly on nude hiking day. So either I skip the zero, skip nude hiking day, or haul ass to get there a day earlier. So today I attempted a 25 over hugeass rocks. I was making a splendid pace until about halfway, when I realized that I had left my had back at the Eckville Shelter. My hat is my identity, so I hitched back to the shelter. I caught a great ride from these two guys who had no clue where we were going. They had nothing better to do on a Sunday, so we tooled around on this beautiful day with the windows down, getting lost and turning around every few miles. Somewhere along the way, a $20 bill got sucked out the window, and the afternoon found us combing the sides of the road. I found the cash, and we headed to the shelter, where I received a note stating that Ed and Sheryl (now called "Lost and Found," respectively) had nicely picked up the hat for me. So those guys drove me all the way back, and I sat at a restaruant with Patti, her son, and her son's friend waiting for Lost and Found to show up. When they did, it was 2:30, with 13m left to go. Moreover, the hugeass rocks made the going awful slow, so I stopped at a shelter to make dinner, then pushed on. I was beat, so I crashed at the first flat spot I could find. I was hoping to get to Palmerton for the night, where they let you stay in the town jail for free, but I guess that passed me by. :-( 6/18/01, day 96. ~5m. Borough Hall in Palmerton, PA. Well, tonight I'm staying where I planned on staying last night. This is due in part because I'm a big sissy, but also because this town is wonderful and I'm trying to pull a few shorts and zeros so T and W can catch up. This town is by far the best on the Trail. They let you stay for free in the basement of the town hall (I thought it would be a jail, so I'm somewhat disappointed), and when you check in they give you a care package put together by the local girl scout troop, with soap, a new toothbrush (nobody, I'm sure, wants a detailed description of the toothbrush I just discarded), postcards, etc. everywhere the already cheap prices are lowered for thru-hikers. A stranger gave Stranger his expensive watch. The guy at the bowling alley stayed open real late for hikers. Somebody got six beers at a bar for $1.50, etc. In short, there's a high concentration of very swell people here. I spent pretty much the entirety of the day in the library working on my webpage, which I've been wanting to do since hot Springs. I feel so comprehensively relaxed here. I am not at all lookinhg forward to life after Katahdin, in a world of responsibility, but that's a ways off. 6/19/01, day 97. 0m. Still in Palmerton. So I was going to head out this morning but, well, I didn't. I got a trial pair of contact lenses, which if they work out will certainly be a solution to my foggy glasses problem. Then I bummed around. The only exciting thing that happened today (and it was a very exciting thing) was that I caught up with Cynthia, a friend from the other side. We had dinner and talked about stuff. It was odd hearing about people on the other side; I've been out here so damn long I kind of forget there's anything else. Now my damn contacts won't come out. Perhaps not such a good idea. And there's reports that T and W aren't far behind! 6/20/01, day 98. 16m. Leroy A. Smith Shelter. Today out of Lehigh gap was the area they have dubbed the "zinc superfund site." In other words, a 5m dead area fucked over by some heavy metal emissions from Palmerton. Parts of it looked like a bomb site. I started real early 'cuz it was gonna be real hot and I didn't want to hike the exposed death zone in the sun. Since it was only a 16, though, I had more lounge time than I needed, so I took a good 3h nap. And now here I be. 6/21/01, day 99. 20.2m. Hostel in Delaware Water Gap, PA. Today, friends, was the first day of summer, and nude hiking day. I walked bareass for a few miles today, meeting a coupla weekenders. However, it was really just not that cool. I had hoped to rock the establishment, but it was kind of cold and rainy and just wasn't that fun. I hit a shelter along the way and found a bunch of kids making farting jokes and burning the register, so I pushed on to town. This hostel kicks ass, and on Thursday nights the members of the church have a hugeass potluck dinner for the hkers, which was swell. 6/22/01, day 100. 0m. Once again in the borough hall in Palmerton. Okay, so I knew today would be a zero. The idea was that I would hitch down to the Palmerton area for my eye appointment, then hitch back to DWG for the night. I looked at a map, though, and realized that it would be a difficult hitch, so I caught a ride with Patti's kid and his friend, as they were headed bac to Ohio this morning. Once I got here, I ducked into the borough hall to check the register to see if T and W had been by, which they hadn't. So I went off for my eye appointment and got that schtuff done. When I passed the borough hall on the way to the grocery store, I figured it wouldn't hurt to check one more time. And there was T and W! I couldn't believe it! So I decided to hang here tonight with them, play some pool, etc. it was all quite good. However, W is leaving tomorrow for a few days, which is of course frustrating, as I just caught up with the little tyke. Whatevah.
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