Woke up to rain and cold, which made me feel even better about taking my second zero day on the A.T. Like most zeroes I've taken on long trails, it turned out to be a relaxing gorgefest. Reading articles out of Backpacker magazine, taking a look at the local paper which mentioned the rare occurence of two tornadoes touching down in Massachusetts, watching ESPN Sports and a few episodes of Dual Survivalist.For lunch Tom fixed us some tasty ham and cheese sandwiches and then we put on a DVD, My Blue Valentine, which turned out to be one of the most depressing films I've ever seen. In the middle of watching it, Tom mentions that he has somewhat of a sweet-tooth and asked if anyone else besides him would like a chocolate ice-cream sundae with sliced peaches. Needless to say, we were all in. Dinner was a pasta dish with tomato sauce and spicy sausage. As we were passing around the food, whenever my eyes met with another thru-hiker sitting around that table a hidden unspoken message was conveyed which was basically, "Man, can you believe this?!" As close to Hiker Heaven as one comes. Yikes and Thru had considered heading out today, but they're here at the table like everyone else. Magic Bag, Speedy and Tigger have been here for the past five days trying to get past Tigger's maladies with Tom playing the consummate host. I can see how a hiker could easily get sucked into this trail town vortex because if Tom's generosity isn't enough, Dalton itself is a fine town.
I had one last evening to enjoy the rest before prying myself away early tomorrow morning. Tonight's choice of DVD, a classic comedy, Blazing Saddles. Subsisting on hiker's fare and spending long periods in the great outdoors, I'm sure many could identify with Mongo as he was shoveling beans into his mouth around the campfire. :-)
The Title Says It All
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