The news of today is it’s someone’s birthday. Get on the way way way way back machine to 1932—yes, it’s my dad’s (Haldonican’s) 86th birthday. That is: 1,032 months, or 31,411 days or 753,864 hours, or 45,231,840 minutes. Yes, Hal has reached middle age. Happy Birthday, Dad. I love you, Dad.
The rest of the day was pretty much downhill from there. Literally, downhill. We had an easy walk along the ridge before dropping 1200’ into Port Clinton. We did manage to run into a few rocks along the way. Still, nothing like everyone has been trying to scare us with.
We had another family breakup today. Just as a group starts to gel, EFG opens his mouth. Hard Hat, Nightengale, and Slip ‘n Slide decided to go 10 miles back to get away from us. They took off right after breakfast to head back to the 501 Shelter to allow us a day’s head start to get ahead of them.
Bunny and I headed north from the highway where we stopped on Wednesday. Jodie drove us up and dropped us off at 9. Before she took us up, she showed us some more things around their place. Jodie and Craig do an outstanding job serving the hikers, keeping everything spic and span (Bunny loves a clean establishment; some women love their husbands), and continually making improvements around the place.
We only saw three sobo section hikers today and had three nobo thru-hikers pass us. We are definitely in the lull between the April speedsters and the main April bubble. With any luck, we’ll stay ahead of the big bubble for another couple of weeks.
Two of the sobo section hikers tried to scare us with how terrible the trail ahead was going to be. It was a mother/daughter duo who are LASHers (Long Ass Section Hikers). They don’t have their trail legs yet. They had taken 2 days to get from Port Clinton to where we met them. The mom was really overplaying the rock theme for us. We did encounter a few rocky sections, but not that bad yet. The mom and Guthook made the drop into Port Clinton sound and look like we were going to need ropes to repel in. Of course, Bunny bought it all; hook, line, and sinker.
The trail may have been a little steeper than normal dropping into town, but no where near the worst we have seen. At the bottom of the hill I felt like we were walking on a Monopoly Board. We got to hike along the Reading Railroad (usually one of my first purchases in the game). We did pass go, but no money was handed out to us. I guess we need a new banker.
Maybe we got some money now that I think of it. I called Big Agnes at lunch time to find out why they were going to charge me full price for our replacement pads. Turns out, they aren’t charging us anything at all. They have been the best at customer service every time I call. When I call and say our pads are loosing air, they don’t try to tell me I’m using them wrong, etc. Instead, they do something radical. They apologize without question and say up front they will fix the problem to my satisfaction. This takes all anxiety and anger out of the situation. Even though we got some bad pads, Big Agnes has made us lifelong customers through the way they deal with problems.
I’ve read reviews of the free hiker pavilion in town and decided I’d rather stay someplace more comfy for the night. We found the post office and right across the street is a Bed & Breakfast. Two guys were out front having a beer. I walked up thinking they were a couple of locals when a woman walked out to give us info. The guys invited us to sit and have a beer, which we did.
The older guy is almost 81. We talked quite a while. It turns out that he was actually the owner of the B&B and the cook. We got a room and ordered our food. Hermy and Kathy took excellent care of us. They have dealt with hikers before and gave us much more food than we could imagine. I was craving a steak and I got the biggest porterhouse I’ve ever had. I don’t know why Union House Bed & Breakfast wasn’t mentioned in Guthook, but it has my endorsement (or will have when I revive from my food coma).
We are the only guests here tonight in the meticulously restored boarding house. There are only 5 rooms with each room named for a former owner of the house. Each room has an antique clock and wood burning stove. I’d love to come back in the winter.
EFG