Groundhog Day 3 at Pine Ellis. We met in the kitchen before heading to the general store for breakfast once again. Bear has found a hole in the breakfast ordering—he orders 2 easy over eggs and, inevitably, she is in such a hurry that she forgets and scrambles them. She then makes him an additional 2 eggs the right way but he’s forced to eat 2 scrambled abortions while he waits. I refuse to walk behind Bear these days remembering how Round About was effected when she ate her dozen eggs in a single 24 hour period. I have noticed a strong competition for the caboose spot when we are hiking now that we regularly get town food in the morning.
After breakfast we came back to pack up but Sassy couldn’t find her prescription anti-inflammatory meds. This doesn’t really surprise me as Bear and Sassy usually misplace at least one thing a day which causes them a little panic attack before they remember their safe keeping place and retrieve the missing item. We waited for 20 minutes while they searched through everything. They haven’t taken this long to find something since Bear “misplaced” his underwear in Sassy’s sleeping bag. Good Chip Norris, Bunny, and I sat on the porch and discussed taking a zero if they couldn’t find her pills soon. It was past our shuttle time and I knew Sassy really did need her pills because she had given me her old pills (800 mg ibuprofen with Pepcid) because they weren’t strong enough for her. I went and talked with Ilene about staying another night. They were hesitant until she found out I was including Good Chip in the additional night, then she was all on board.
Sassy came down and said she was ready to go. We asked if she had found the pills. She hadn’t. We told her we would take a zero if she could get a refill. In the interim, we tossed the room. A crack addict wouldn’t have searched as thoroughly as Bear and I did. We went through every item and checked on, around, and under all the furniture. We even pulled the carpet up and checked. There was only one possibility, they had to have be stolen because they were on the bed when we went to breakfast. There were several other hikers staying at the hostel whom we haven’t met before. Sadly, there’s always someone willing to pop unknown pills. We made sure to let everyone know that anti-inflammatories (and NOT OxyContin!) were missing in the hopes that the thief would put them in the hiker box when he/she discovered no buzz possibility. No luck.
Bear and Sassy got a shuttle to a drug store in a nearby town to get a refill while BT and GCN napped. I chose to make more productive use of my time by watching a Vin Diesel movie; Triple X. I now understand why Vin Diesel accepted the role of a tree in Guardians of the Galaxy. After Triple X, he’s lucky to get any work at all. Playing a tree that only makes one sound, although not challenging to most actors, is definitely stretching his abilities to their limit. Let’s keep it to “groot” and call it a day.
One of the hikers staying here is a fellow named Hollywood. He’s approximately a day ahead of us on the trail and tells us everything about what we will be encountering in excruciating detail. If we were asking for the info, this might be nice, but we’re generally just waiting in line for the bathroom and don’t want the f-bomb laden narrative. I’ve tried to interrupt him on several occasions to ask if he’s waiting for the bathroom, but I can’t break in to ask. In reality, I am very impressed by his ability to talk non-stop for 20 minutes without taking a breath—talk about potential cardio/vascular potential.
When Bear and Sassy got back with the new shipment of drugs, we continued to have a leisurely afternoon eating ice cream and chilling. The women seemed very happy to have Good Chip one more day. He has a bunk room to himself. I’m convinced that they are giving him space in the hopes of getting lucky. I’m sure that if would put out a little, we could all get our bills comped. Give one for the team Good Chip Norris.
At supper, we did see a bear, but we have decided to not add it to our overall count. It is hunting season in Maine and BooBoo was quietly hiding in the back of a pickup truck. Truth of the matter, he was sleeping so soundly that we walked right by him without him even flinching. Bunny wasn’t interested in the bear, she only has eyes for moose these days.
EFG