Zeacliff

Took this picture this morning after leaving the Zealand Hut, where they let us work for stay. They let us sleep under the mess hall tables, gave us free supper, pancakes for breakfast, and a guitar to play. I would have been happy to take a zero day just to play guitar all day. I didn't realize how much I missed it. It alone was worth the folding of blankets and the sweeping of floors.

Last night I slept at the head of one of the tables in the mess hall, Red was sleeping underneath it. When we woke up, two women were sitting at the table enjoying a morning cup of coffee. Red, sorrounded by legs, looked up at them. They recognized him from a presentation he gave the night before to all the guests of the hut about what it's like to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. "I bet you've woken up in stranger places before," one of the women said.

"Umm... No. No, this is the strangest," Red said.

So, these are my beaten all to hell shoes on Zeacliff. They have carried me 360 miles on some very rough terrain. My hope is they will last another 140, even though the smell coming off of them is... well.. it's inhuman. I don't know how else to describe it. FYI, we have not had an opportunity to shower in 10 days. Or wash clothes. Jealous?

I'll be in Lincoln in a couple days. Might look for a dentist, get my tooth fixed, and wait for Thumper and Bambi, who took a couple days off to visit family.