Day 25 - Lake Texoma?

June 28, 2009

I left the Riverside Inn this morning and marched south on route 201.
On my way out of town, I briefly stopped at Irving's Lunch Counter to grab a quick bite to eat. Here, I was able to share with a few of the locals.
As I continued south into the town of Solon, I arrive at a convenient store right next door to the Solon Congregational Church. It's Sunday afternoon and the church has a sign out in front that announces a 2 pm piano concert. I couldn't help but notice that I'm about 20 minutes early for it. So, knowing that God has some pretty good timing, I head into the convenient store to find me some of that miracle salve I've been hearing so much about, Lewey's Insect Repellent. Apparently, it's the 'bug juice' of choice of all of the local loggers up here and it's extremely eco-friendly without all of that much frowned upon deet. At this point, ANYTHING's better than what I've got, which is nothing, so we'll see how this works out.
At 2 o'clock, I walk into the church next door to enjoy the concert and happily find that it comes complete with refreshments as well. Bonus!
After the recital, I had the opportunity to talk to a lot of the people along with the preacher and his family. They recommended to me a campground down the road. So, I went for it.
On my way to it, I couldn't help but notice a a severe lack in the town of Solon. With a name like that, how could they not have a 'Solon Hair Salon' or even a 'Solon Saloon'. What a disappointing oversight. If only people would learn to call me about these things. ;)
I also noticed more of the same sad theme found throughout these northeastern states... abandoned factories and plants. In many of the towns I'm walking through, it's easy to see the evidence of once thriving businesses and industry of yesteryear. Unfortunately, that's all that they are these days, just distant memories of a prosperous past. Bummer.
So, I finally get to the Evergreens Campground and check in. They assign me tent site 'H'. I wasn't able to get very far talking with the owners, though. They didn't really seem to care one way or the other about who I was, what I was doing or even what I had to say. I couldn't see any evidence as to what their belief system was, if they had any, but they certainly weren't open to anything I was bringing to the table. Oh well.
I did enjoy the campsite, though. I took the time to wander around and reminisce about my childhood experiences back at Lake Texoma. I can remember tagging along with my grandparents and their Methodist Church group as they would make a yearly rendezvous up to the lake for some fun and fellowship. (I'm from the Dallas, Texas area.)
The setup here in Solon gives me that same feel with the beach running alongside the back of the sites. There's plenty of room for the pop-up campers, the RVs, the tents and the campfire pits for those ever important gatherings of song, stories and, of course, S'mores. Those were really good times. And, now here I am all of these years later and so many miles removed, doing something I never would've even imagined back in those days.
Life is strange like that. If only we would appreciate those moments in life a little more while we're actually in the middle of them. Because, once they're gone, they're gone. There's no going back. The only moments we have are the ones we're currently in. The past is always there for us to cherish, but let's not forget to make the most out of the present. Because, it's the present that determines what happens to our future.
I think it's time for bed.

Day 24 - Here's the scoop!

June 27, 2009

This has been a good day to relax. Yet, I've also received some troubling news.
First off, I took full advantage of this wonderful room and let myself sleep in for a bit.
The Riverside Inn, where I'm staying, is less like a hotel and more like the old-time boarding houses that you see in movies like Forest Gump and such. It's the kind where all of the rooms on the same floor share a common bathroom. It's really great and the owners are VERY accommodating.
So much so, that when I discovered how inexpensive the room was, I decided to take an extra day to let my feet heal up and enjoy the extended luxury of being able to do my laundry downstairs.
I took the time to walk through the town for a bit and visited the local store down the street to pick up some groceries before I headed back to eat some lunch at the 'Here's the Scoop' Restaurant next door to the Inn. I MAY HAVE treated myself to some more ice cream, too. Just maybe.
Now, so far on this trip through Maine, my cell phone service (Sprint) has been completely useless. And, I do mean COMPLETELY.
I've gotten to where I don't even carry it on me anymore because it NEVER gets a signal. I just take it out of my pack every day or two and try it out to no avail. So, needless to say, I'm not able to stay in very good contact with anyone in the outside world. Therefore, piggy-backing on wireless networks is my only real chance to do so.
I have a friend in Pensacola, Florida (Marcie) who I like to refer to as my 'Executive Secretary' for this mission trip. She's my eyes and ears and my reliable real-world contact as I'm trouncing around coast to coast in this tiny country of ours. Well, I just received news today that she has recently been in a car wreck. From the look of things, it was just less than a week ago and she is now recovering in the hospital in fairly good condition. It was a head-on collision.
Wowzers!
The only way I know this is because someone has posted some information about it on facebook. While I am VERY grateful to hear that she is okay and that the REALLY bad bit is behind her, it certainly feels strange being so far away and so helplessly out of contact. The only real thing I can do now is pray and hope that she'll be back in action soon. We'll just have to wait and see what God has in store.
She's a pretty impressive woman of God so I'm hoping that this'll turn into an amazing testimony.

Day 23 - Soggy Sore Feet in Bingham

June 26, 2009

I am WORE OUT!
When I woke up this morning to get ready to get back on the trail, I didn't know what I was in for. I was greeted by my trail friend, Dan (Smokey). He had gotten up around 4am and starting from where I had lunch yesterday, he had already hiked up and over the mountains and back down to where I was. So, it was nice touching bases with him before our roads split.
I say split because his intention is to stay on the trail, while mine is to follow the jeep trail headed for Bingham.
I reached this conclusion yesterday and it was the culminating choice of several factors. The first and foremost of which is the crossing of the Kennebec River. That takes place further down the trail in Caratunk and the crossing is so severe that there's an actual ferry that is mandatory to get to the other side. Ultimately, I know it's a legitimate excuse for a short boat trip but I just can't help but feel like I'd be cheating if I didn't actually walk every step of the way to Mexico.
So, after consulting with the map and guidebook and talking it over with Dan, I take off in the general direction of Bingham, where my footpath won't be hindered.
Choosing this action is also beneficial in getting from point A to point B a LOT faster. These mountain trails don't have a very specific agenda when it comes to arriving quickly at your destination.
The map wasn't too clear on the roads of this area and how they connect up with the Bald Mountain Brook Shelter, but armed with my compass, a general sense of direction and the faith that this jeep trail that runs by the shelter seems to be headed, more or less, in the direction I think I would like to go, I'm off. So, it's farewell to Dan and I'm curious to see if his path will be as quick as mine. I'm pretty sure that I'll end up ahead of him further down the trail. I guess only time will tell.
The jeep trail turned out to be a logging road and, after several miles of twists and turns, I finally come to a roadsign that assures me that I'm only 13 miles away from the town of Bingham.
At this point, it's interesting to note that the past several days of tromping through endless streams and continuous mud bogs have rendered my feet into a perpetual state of wetness. More interesting still, is the fact that my feet have felt GREAT. No soreness, no blisters, no problem.
But, apparently now that I'm on the dry and rocky path, I'm finding things to be a LOT different.
Somehow the drying out of my feet and boots have not been conducive to my new hiking environment. So, with about 6 miles left to get to town, my feet are REALLY starting to feel it.
This is also about the time that the mosquitos decided to come out and express their appreciation for my presence along the side of their river.
Oh, what joy!
Rest assured, this was relatively short-lived because, with just a mile or so left in my journey, it started to rain. This was no ordinary rain, though. At first, this was a welcome deterrent from my insect escort. Soon, it was much, MUCH more.
It began to rain with such amazing vigor and determination that I could've walked through a full service car wash and not been able to tell the difference.
So, by the time I walked into Bingham, limping, itching and completely drenched to my very soul, I can only imagine what a sight I must've been.
I found my way to the small town Main street and wandered into 'Thompson's Restaurant' where they were able to tell me about an Inn on the other side of town. I cinched up my waist belt and gingerly made my way down the street until I ever so gratefully arrived at the Riverside Inn.
By now, I didn't really care how much it was going to cost. I just knew that I NEEDED a hot shower and a place to stay the night. So, I went for it.
As I drop my pack in room #4 and make my way to the hot shower, it occurs to me that my feet have NEVER been in more pain in my entire life. I'm finding it hard just to stand in the shower.
As you can guess, I made it out alright. As I headed back to my room, the owner invites me out with some of her friends to a local restaurant down the road.
It's called 'Patrick's Restaurant & Pub'. It's located at the North Country Rivers Cabins & Campground and it is, quite simply, AMAZING.
It turns out that this place is the headquarters of quite a river rafting and outdoor adventure company. The prices look a bit steep when you're perusing through the menu, but once you see the portions, it's ALL GOOD!
I had the Buffalo Chicken Salad and I can honestly tell you that normal people with normal appetites can NOT finish such a thing. I, however, am NOT normal. :)
I even saw a table full of teenagers not be able to finish the virtual vat of nachos that was oozing forth from the middle of their table. I don't know whether or not this place is like this all the time or if God is just treating me extra special to console me for the day that I've had, but this place ROCKS the house! Coming back here is a very appealing idea which I highly recommend.
This also became a great opportunity as God's purpose for this journey took center stage at this local watering hole. There NEVER seems to be a shortage of 'divine encounters' to introduce people to what God is doing in these last days. It's a real hoot!
And, just when I thought my day couldn't get any more adventurous, it turns out that the owner of the Inn is also the owner of the ice cream shop next door to it. So, on the way back to my room, she opened up the shop so that I could be treated to a free helping of that frozen goodness that becomes the cherry on top of this most interestingly diverse day of days.
I can't help but wonder if my friend Dan has had as exciting of a time in the past 24 hours.
I am truly blessed!

Day 22 - Staying Out of the Stream

June 25, 2009

Well, I got up this morning and hiked about 4 more miles until I FINALLY got to the next shelter. From the night before, I wasn't even close!
It was the Moxie-Bald Shelter. So, I decided to stop here and grab a quick bite to eat.
But, BEFORE I got there...
Yep, you guessed it...
there was another stream crossing!
This one turned out to be quite the adventure. The water was raging pretty good and somebody had rigged up a string stretching across the water. It ran along the top of a drop off which created a tiny waterfall of sorts.
There was absolutely NO WAY that string was going to support any weight and it certainly wasn't going to keep me from getting wet. So, I spent the next half hour trail-blazing my way upstream for an 'easier' crossing.
'Easier' is probably NOT the word of choice but at least I stayed dry and that's something, right?
I only wish that somebody could've been there to capture it on video for me. That would've been pretty special.
Anyway, lunch at the shelter afforded me the very first time that I had to replenish my water supply from a non-potable source. (It's called the stream.)
It's okay, though. I'm traveling with purification tablets.
Iodine is tasty!
As I continued on after lunch, by the time I got to the tops of any peaks, the views were obscured by clouds of rain as well as clouds of insects. So, I quickly made my way back down into yet another valley and found the Bald Mountain Brook Shelter.
On this day, I only encountered one group of hikers headed north. It was a couple of adults with their sons on a one-week expedition. They turned out to be Christians, so witnessing wasn't an option but they were definitely supportive of my goal, so that's cool.
I think I'm going to call it a night.
"It's a night."

Day 21 - We don't need no stinking bridges!

June 24, 2009

I packed up all my goodies this morning and headed out.
Rebekah had taken off earlier on a hike of her own so I wasn't able to say good-bye. But, she did leave a note for me so that was nice.
I hiked down to the trail head and for the very first time on this trip, I was able to come face to face with the Appalachian Trail.
It was EXTREMELY muddy and I noticed that this would be quite the test for my Asolo hiking boots.
Other than the CONSTANT trudging through mud bogs it was actually pretty refreshing to NOT have to walk along the side of a road.
After several miles I made it to the Horseshoe Shelter and met a 28 year old hiker named Dan. He cruised passed me earlier this morning. His AT moniker is 'Smokey' and he plans to go all of the way to Georgia. Although, he's tempted to just ditch the trail at some point and head across the country to California. Interesting coincidence don't ya think?
My mission seemed to intrigue him a bit so, hopefully, God's doing some work on him. I guess only time will tell.
It was still so early in the day that I'm pretty sure I made a 'rookie' mistake. I decided to keep hiking and try to make it to the next shelter.
That was not such a great idea.
This is where I found out the difference between miles on the road vs. miles on the AT.
The AT miles take just a 'bit' longer to navigate with a LOT more obstacles.
Now, the first river crossing wasn't too bad. It was definitely a surprise, though, because in my mind, fording a river means that something has gone DRASTICALLY wrong. Apparently it's quite the norm here on the trail. You just keep following those 'white blazes' and suddenly, BOOM, there's a river with more 'white blazes' on the OTHER side.
Did I sign up for this?
So, I took off my boots and socks, put on the Teva's and marched myself through the knee high water. Needless to say, rolling my pant legs up to my knees was a wasted effort.
By the time I came to the next river crossing (regretfully), I was a bit more weary and a lot more stir crazy due to the onslaught of mosquitoes and such.
At this point, I went through the boot removal process again and waded out in the the EXTREMELY swift moving current only to find that it came all of the way up to my 'nether' regions. It was difficult and slow to manage but once I made it to dry land I realized that I was only half-way across the water. Oh boy!
So, back into the 'almost' waist high water I went as it suddenly occurred to me that my sleeping bag and tent are stored on the low end of my pack directly behind my rear. That's what caused me to perk up to my tiptoes, almost get washed down stream and fight my way to the shore where I spent the next 20 minutes warding off the insect swarms and trying to get dry.
Oh, what fun!
Here's where I discovered that I was losing daylight and the 'next shelter' didn't appear to be as close as I had hoped. So, finally, I GAVE UP.
I eventually found a suitable spot along the side of the trail to set up camp and I was MORE THAN happy to crawl inside and be done with the day.
That's when it suddenly occurred to me, "The Appalachian Trail is NOT going to be the quickest way to get to California!"
That's quite an understatement, to be sure.