Beard Update

No shaving for two months. It's rather hideous, I know, and eating an ice cream cone isn't quite as clean and carefree as it once was. Be that as it may, I want to see where my face is going with this. I have to trust it knows what it's doing. I suppose it's no worse than the bandanna and headlamp.

The girls wanted to get off the trail for a couple of days so they hitched to Rutland, about 21 trail miles away. I went with them as far as Woodstock to have dinner. The restaurant didn't want to sit smelly hikers with the rest of their guests, so they sat us in the chairs where people normally sit to wait for a table. We ate hamburgers from plates sitting in our laps.

After we ate, I walked with them until they got a ride to Rutland, then hitched back to the trailhead. I wondered if hitching would be harder without the girls, but I got a ride pretty quickly. As my ride pulled away, a man on his front porch yelled out, "You wanna sleep in my barn tonight? You're welcome to it, and you can get your stuff dried off." It had been raining for most of the day, so I took the offer.

So, tonight it's just me in an old leaky barn, during a thunderstorm, reading a book... I feel like the boy in "The Neverending Story". Atreyu!!!!!!!

Anyway, I hope to meet back up with the girls tomorrow night.