We had decided a ways back that we were going to take a double zero here to make sure we were fully recovered and in the best shape possible to tackle the Whites. This is our “chill and recover” spot. It was also an opportunity for Bear and Sassy to check out the hostel and see if they wanted to be caretakers next year. I was also owed a good movie since the last one I went to was “Mamma Mia, Here We Go Again.”
There was a good crowd at the hostel, maybe 20 people including Tiger and Compass, and some guys that parked their campers out back and were doing some work for stay. We had the upstairs of the bunkhouse to ourselves more or less. One of the guys in a trailer was Bag of Tricks. He’s an older guy that’s been around AT circles for years and is kind of a legend. He knows the trail well and has lots of stories and advice for hikers passing through. He does tend to dominate conversations and can be a little offensive at times. He gave Sassy and Bear crap about being section hikers. We would try to avoid him after a while because we like to talk, too.
Bear and Sassy did a morning inventory of everything they had in their car since it had been a month since they had seen it. Bunny and I got our winter clothes that Peter and Marcia had mailed to us. We also did an inventory of food. Once we had everything figured out, we went to Farm Way in Vermont to get some of the stuff we needed and eat a couple of meals. We didn’t leave enough time for us to get a movie in today, so I satisfied myself by microwaving some popcorn and watching “The Return of the King” with the other hikers.
On our second zero day, I whined enough about not getting to see a movie that everyone agreed to go to Lincoln, NH for lunch, visit an outfitter, go to a movie, and do grocery shopping. We saw “Mission Impossible” in honor of us attempting to hike through the Whites. All I can say for the movie is that there is one Scientologist that can really run. We were the only 4 people in the theatre so Bunny didn’t complain about me making too much noise eating my popcorn and chewing my ice.
On the way back to the hostel we did what Bunny wanted since I had gotten to eat movie popcorn. We saw a moose in the road. When we stopped to try to get its picture, we actually saw that it was a cow with a young calve—two moose for the price of one. The only problem was that it was too dark to get a picture so Bunny’s moose sighting isn’t officially documented. It doesn’t count.
We’ve been looking for Leuko Tape wherever we go. We tried to order some from Amazon, but they wouldn’t deliver to this hostel (too remote?). We found a small roll in the hiker box. Actually, another hiker had it and was putting it back. Bunny grabbed it. Bag of Tricks was standing there and said he’d like to try some since he has heard so much about it. He said he’d get some from Bunny.
On our third morning, Bag kept bugging Bunny for the tape. I went up and got the roll of tape for him to have some and told him we were going to take it with us since we had been looking for it for a while (it was a partial roll). He started yelling at me that it was his tape and my wife had taken it from him. There were a few expletives involved. I don’t take well to being sworn at or yelled at and don’t deal well with either. I exploded. I guess this will be known as “the NH Leuko tape explosion.” All filters are gone when I’m pissed (not that there are many to begin with). It was an ugly scene with a lot of tension.
In the end, I went back and apologized to Bog of Tricks and he to me. I gave him what was left of the tape after the four of us had pulled some off for our personal use. We even hugged and I listened to some of his stories about Earl Schafer. But it doesn’t end there. One thing he told me was that he had been away from home too long. When we got back in the evening, all of the trailers out back were gone.
Now I felt like shit. One of the things I’m hoping to accomplish through hiking this trail is to control my temper better. I thought I was making progress but blew it big time here. I also want to become more flexible with changes to plans, dealing with schedules, letting details go, not getting in the last word, not correcting people when they have facts/details wrong, and learning how to shut my mind off. I’ve sometimes got a brutal inner voice and I’m going to get that bastard one way or another. Looks like I’ve still got a lot of hiking ahead because my progress is slow.
EFG