As soon as we went to bed last night, the wind picked up. So much so that a limb blew down in the woods behind our tent. Even after taking Benadryl, Bunny was wired for disaster. With the intermittent rain and winds, she claims not to have slept. The snoring in my ear tells me otherwise. When we woke up at 7, it was gently raining and Bunny told me to go back to sleep—the same Bunny always telling me we need to get up earlier. If nothing else, I am an obedient husband; back to sleep I went.
At 7:30, there was just too much movement outside of the tent for me to continue sleeping. We got up to see Baby and Mummy packing up in the barn while Nonna and Freeman were moving around in their tent. I went into the cafe to check out the electrical situation and scope out the menu. As soon as Bunny got in, we ordered and grabbed a big table. Pretty soon, the cafe was hopping and people were even sitting outside. When you’re the only cafe in town, you’ve got a captive audience, but when your good to boot, people come from up to an hour away to partake. The couple who own and operate Toymakers are friendly and know how to serve customers.
We sat around talking with Nonna, Freeman, Baby, Mummy, and a local woman. Norvegan and her brothers came in, but the place was too packed for them to sit. We are about to lose another group along the trail. Nonna is going back to Switzerland in a couple of days so they are only hiking 4 miles today. Mummy is heading back to NYC today so Baby will pick up his miles to catch up with his trail friends. Norvegan’s brothers are leaving tomorrow so they aren’t going far today. We’ve been ditched again.
After we got all packed up, we said our goodbyes to everyone. We’ve kind of set our sights on about 12 miles for today, but rain is in the air and the forecast for tonight is not good. I know we have to hike and camp in the rain, but if I can minimize it in civilization, I’m willing after 5 months on the trail.
Climbing out of Falls Village led us to something we didn’t expect; an actual water fall. There is a hydroelectric dam above the village and the power company provides charging outlets for hikers as well as an outdoor shower which has been described as having “limited privacy.” The shower has no walls and is facing the street. It’s an exhibitionist’s dream location.
We climbed to the top of Prospect Mountain around 1500’ which is the highest elevation we have been to for a while. At the top, we met Sir Stops a Lot whom we have seen in various log books along the trail but haven’t met before. Early on, he was hiking with his son, but his son hurt his knee and has been off the trail for almost a month. He’s hoping to recover enough to rejoin his dad in Maine.
We hiked and talked with each other the rest of the day. It didn’t rain, but it kept threatening to in between short bursts of sunshine. Every weather report has told us it is very likely to rain today and it will definitely rain tonight and tomorrow. With the rain of last night and the sun of today, it was humid as hell (aka southeast MO). We wanted a shower and to get laundry done. Sir Stops a Lot told us about a new hostel he was staying at in Lakeville—Hanta Yo. It includes free run of a five bedroom house, WiFi, hot showers, free pickup and return to the trail, and laundry. He had us at free which is all we wanted to hear, but free it isn’t. Still, with the prospect of rain, we were in.
Our 12 mile day thus transformed into less than 8 miles with just a single word—shower. Unlike Chad the Dad, we are following his Dr’s advice and hiking less than 10 miles per day (its thankless and time consuming, but if Chad won’t do it, we will). Chad has been nursing a potential stress fracture for the last few weeks but he’s also a retired type A army ranger that can’t sit still (unless there is open beer nearby).
The day thus reduced, we only had one mountain to climb over. There was an interesting rock formation just past the summit—it is called “Giant’s Thumb.” I am pretty sure that every male over the age of 50 has encountered the index finger right next to this thumb. Yes, the giant’s chosen occupation is proctologist.
Having turned our moderate day into a nearo, we got in early enough to shower and do laundry before heading out to eat. We had great success with Mizza’s pizza last night for delivery. Tonight, we decided to dine in. As soon as we sat down, we saw Mule at the next table. We haven’t seen him since Tiorati Circle when we slept by the vending machines. As with every town meal, we overate, but not so much so that we couldn’t squeeze in a bit more ice cream.
Lakeville is a charming little town. Rip Torn (Men in Black) lives just down the street from the hostel. Meryl Streep also has a place in town that the next door neighbor goes fishing in one of her ponds. But no town is complete unless you can play the original “6 degrees of” Steve Johnson. By that I don’t mean that one of the 600,000 Steve Johnson’s live here (actually, 5 do according to the phone book), but the man himself, Kevin Bacon, has a home in this village. We are 1,000% out of our price range here. We will be back on the trail in the morning.
EFG