Due to service issues, day 40 and 41 will be coming out today. Also. Don’t forget to wish your mother a happy Mother’s Day

In a shocking twist of events, I was the first out of camp today. I was a bit chilly and decided I’d rather start moving and warm up. Breakfast could wait. I waved goodbye as the team was packing up and hit the dusty road. 

I stopped after a mile for the breakfast I had skipped earlier. Now that I had warmed up a bit, it was easier to stay warm and enjoy a nice breakfast of power bars and breakfast essentials – a nutrient dense packet of powder that mixes great with milk and well enough with room temperature water. 

Rocket caught up to me as I was eating and we walked off together. We then caught up to Viking who was standing next to a sign. He pointed at it as we got closer, “check it, boys!” The sign was the official quarter way marker of the trail. Not a bad place for a few photos!

Rocket and I walked off together. As a former philosophy major, rocket is not shy from bringing up bigger questions. And so with that in mind, the next 7 miles were spent walking through the woods and talking about free will, deterministic something or other and the probability of alien tourists coming by to see our solar eclipse. In short, it was a fascinating day and I’m sure we sounded crazy to any of the folks we ran into. 

When we came across a road, there was a sign for the quarter way inn 0.3 miles down the road. We had been told it was a must stop so we started to turn left towards the inn. But just then a pick up came by. We flagged it down. A man with a full gilly suit on rolled down the window.

“Any chance you want to drive us a quarter mile down the road? Happy to hop in the bed of the truck!” 

“That depends,” he said. “You see any turkeys out there? Tell me where to find ‘em”. We apooogized that we hadn’t but let us hop in anyway. It was a 3 minute drive but any extra walking didn’t feel necessary. 

Adventurine was sitting inside and so we sat down at a table with her and learned there were frozen pizzas, frozen vegetarian meals, chocolate milks, cocacolas and so much more. Second breakfast walked in as I was mid stuffing my face with all of the aforementioned goodies. 

Once we were fed, I took a minute to explore the inn. It was lovely! It was like being in a friends home. The owner Tina and her friend Kate (copy Rosenberg family names much?) were a delight. They showed us all around and showed off jewelry that Tina made which used beads to depict the trail. Best of all, when rocket and I start ripping on second breakfast, Tina joined in on the fun! 

It was tempting to stay but we wanted to get more miles in. Plus Viking hadn’t stopped by so he’d be waiting for us at the next shelter. “It’s going to be in the 30s tonight,” said rocket with a smile. “I mean… we could…” I laughed and told him that he could. But I was walking on. Begrudgingly he agreed it was the right call to keep moving. 

My knee wasn’t mad at me at the end of the 13 mile day but I did notice a few steps that weren’t 100%. So the first thing I did when I get to camp was stretch. And I stretched every muscle I could think of. By the time I was done I was feeling good as new. 

We were joined tonight by a section hiking couple from Florida. They were out for 150 or so miles and were fun to be around. They ate dinner with us and joined in as we made the fire. But when the cards came out, they retired to the shelter. They weren’t ready for the rummy action we were about to unleash. 

We wrapped up a game that had been running for a few days. I am a modest man so I won’t bring up that, once again, I was crowned the rummy champion. I would say I should quit my job and go pro in rummy. But that would require me getting a job first. 

Key stats:

Miles: 13

Elevation gained: 3,300

Mile marker: 561

Size of the new camp shoes I picked up from the free hiker box: about two sizes too small