zero day

miles: 0

woke up at around 07:00hr and lounged in bed till 07:30hr. i was still the first up, so went downstairs, let lucas out and made a cup of tea.

didn’t do a lot today. nails and i did go out to REI for a food resupply. i’ve been enjoying the freeze dried meals. they’re expensive, but high calorie and extremely light weight.

i tried to warranty my holey darn tough socks, but REI literally didn’t stock my size in any sock. even if i had just wanted to buy new socks i couldn’t. sometimes it’s hard being wookiee sized.

nails suggested outdoor gear exchange (OGE) even though it was a little out of the way. it was huge! they had a zillion darn tough socks, and literally ONE of my size. i was tempted to go to the basement where they had the consignment gear, but i’m sure i’ll be back here at some point. i went to the counter, pulled my holey (clean) socks from my pocket and put them beside the new ones. i was obviously wearing a face mask. the checkout clerk tapped a few buttons on his console. “you’re all set.” it felt a little like i was robbing the place. new socks FTW!

we hit hannaford on the way home and i got all my regular heavy lunch foods, avocados, charcuterie, cheese, and sardines. i also got doritos, hummus, chips, bananas, apples, garlic, 3 pints of ice cream, and sour patch big kids. it’s nice to be able to eat whatever. i saw myself in the mirror when i took a shower yesterday. i’ve definitely lost some weight on trail, despite the candy and constantly eating.

at home we made paninis for lunch and generally vegged when not playing with lucas.

i got caught up on the blog, and read greta thunberg’s book “no one is too small to make a difference” i found in benton’s (ben, named after benton mackaye) room. it was a compilation of all her speeches from 2018 and 2019.

if i can be honest, i found it depressing. she’s 100% right. we’re faced with a crisis and we’re not treating it like one. i personally believe that the success of the human race hangs in the balance. we clearly have a significant portion of the population that is for one reason or another not able, prepared, or inclined to face this challenge. to be blunt, some of these folks are surviving. (i have no quarrel with them.) others however are just fucking stupid, and still others are greedy sociopaths. my small hope is that the portion of the population that understands the consequences can somehow manage to accomplish what needs to be done in spite of the push back from the other side. it personally makes no difference to my life whether our species survives, but i believe that this is the consequence that hangs in the balance. regardless of your political leanings, vote.

i also remembered to give nails her trail present. i had looked over all the rotten bog boards on the way back from canada and found two of the huge nails they use to hold them together. the photo doesn’t really do it justice, but the big one is probably 10” long!

taco bowls for dinner, something magz and i do often, and then a walk before ice cream and half “the secret lives of pets” movie.

i rolled my ankle numerous times to get as much healing blood flow to the area, and by the time we went for a walk, while it was still quite painful, i was able to walk without a limp. i’m hoping that progress continues.

my plan tomorrow is to do a lower mileage day over camel’s hump and then be off and running again.

i’ve also decided that blog posts are going to come a little less frequently. sitting on top of mountains (where signal tends to be the best) uploading photos isn’t an enjoyable part of the hiking experience for me, and it eats into valuable day hiking time. i will keep writing and taking photos, and i will keep updating the blog, but it’s entirely possible that i might get significantly behind.