I blame Little Blue for me getting out on this day. It’s all Blue’s fault. He’s a dead man if I ever see him again. The most satisfying part of the day was when we left him standing on the side of the road in the rain waiting for Sunshine (the girl and the sun, both).
Neville thanked me for convincing Blue to come to the hostel. I think her actual words were “Whatever your name is, thanks for convincing Blue to stay here. He’s been so much fun. I don’t care if I ever see you again, but Blue was such a joy.” As I said before, he’s dead to me.
Initially, Vagabond Jack wanted to get up and hit the road before 8 (which is breakfast time at Woods Hole). I’m not a chicken abortion eater, never have been. I’m working on it. Neville uses farm fresh organic eggs that she gets from her own chickens. They still taste like abortions, but I discovered Sriracha sauce can make even poop taste good (just guessing, I haven’t actually tried this yet). It poured all morning. Everyone stayed and ate and contemplated taking zeros. Only Gnome was smart enough to do so.
Blue convinced me to NOT take a zero because he wanted to catch up to Geo, Summit, and Bear Foot and ditch all of us. I’m assuming that he did catch up with them. I know that he did ditch us. The longer we waited, the harder it rained. Finally, PC and I had waited long enough and decided to go. The only thing I learned from today was that the ultra-light umbrellas that our angel, Alice, sent us will work out fine on the trail. I learned how to attach them to my pack so I can still use my trekking poles. The biggest problem that I ran into is that my umbrella is ahead of me waiting at Angels Rest.
We stopped at Doc’s Knob Shelter to get in out of the rain for a few minutes. We met Duracell there—I just assumed she had red hair from the name and I was right. I told her the only other person I know with that name is an older guy that I met in Spain last year. I don’t think she liked being compared to an old man.
There were no views today—they were all blocked by fog. There was standing water in the trail the entire way. The rain penetrated everything on me and what I was carrying. I wore my rain kilt today and it did help keep my crotch dry (as long as the boys are dry and happy and I can keep the water off of my glasses, I can survive—not thrive, survive). Once my kilt was off, my shirt was so wet that I couldn’t tell that I had been dry. All in all, it was a miserable day and the only person to blame is Little Blue—purveyor of misery.
As we got near the road, we discovered that PC didn’t have a phone signal. At least he has a phone, I don’t even have that. Down below, we could hear voices. It was Vagabond Jack, Curb, Stylo, and Blue. They had already called for the shuttle to Angels Rest so it was not an issue after all. When the shuttle arrived, Blue couldn’t decide what to do because this was his first day hiking with Sunshine. He contemplated going on and asked if that would make him an asshole if he didn’t wait for her. We all said yes. He had no choice but continue standing in the cold rain as we drove away…sweet paybacks!
Hot showers, laundry, Mexican food, a dry bed, and knowledge of an impending zero while Blue is camping in the rain tonight makes me feel better. Add in an unexpected surprise from Postcard and life is sweet once again. Postcard left me a big bag of M&M with peanuts. I thought I might have to pack my fears out of town once again, but I ended up eating the entire bag before dinner.
EFG
OMG…Docs Knob! That’s not the shelter I spent a cold, damp, sleepless night in after being completely spooked by the encounter I had near Sugar Run Gap!