I decided not to slack-pack today. 6:00am was just too early for me to get moving in a town. The bunks at the church hostel are tucked in a room with no windows. It’s a cave. I woke up around 7:30am through because I needed to get some chores completed and hike out at a reasonable hour. I went to the DWG Diner and had my usual breakfast. French toast, eggs, bacon, and a bagel. Afterwards, I picked up my mail drop at the post office and packed my bag. I could have left for the trail right then, but I didn’t. Instead I went back to the cave to sleep. I slept from 10:00am to 1:00pm.
I woke up to the single chime of the church bell, after somehow sleeping through 23 chimes of the other two hours since I had gone to sleep. I pulled my weary body out of bed and exited the cave with squinting eyes. I found Moses bored out of his mind, sewing his five fingers together. He passed the needle and thread through the thin layer of dead skin on the tips of his fingers from one finger to the next and back again twice. Pulling the thread through the holes looked like it hurt worse than passing the needle through. I went down to the minimart for snacks. I ate a pint of Phish Food, a usual Ben & Jerry’s flavor of mine since Katie introduced me to it a year ago. By the time I finished my snacks, the others began to trickle into the hostel, returning from their slack-packs.
I wasted much of the afternoon goofing around. I sat at a picnic table a while and threw the Frisbee a bit. At 4:30pm I finally left. I just hiked seven miles to the first shelter south of town. There were several section hikers there, including one former thru-hiker named Guns of Jesus. He completed a northbound hike this year and is out on the trial for just a few days. I talked to him for a bit, but most importantly he gave me four Snickers bars. They are like gold on the trail. After thanking him a dozen times, I retired to my tent for the night.
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