Tuesday, July 11, 2017 (Day 69)
I slept and slept.
“Giggles! Breakfast is ready!”, I heard a voice call from downstairs. Breakfast was provided by the hostel at a time pre-scheduled the night before. I had already rescheduled it from 7:30 am to 8:30 am. Maybe I should have cancelled it completely and slept, I thought.
A fellow from Mexico, who was touring the U.S. on his motor bike, occupied the bed beside me. He said I was snoring so very loudly. He laughed. I laughed as well, slightly embarrassed. “You should have woken me!”, I told him. “No. You were so peaceful. Everybody snores!”, he said.
Breakfast was oatmeal and almond milk and toast and homemade jam and fruit. Best of all: there was coffee. After the first few sips, I began to feel something just shy of alertness. I chatted and ate and wrote.
It was very hot out, though the forecast suggested rain that evening.
We all sat in plastic white chairs on the front lawn, moving seats on occasion to evade direct sunlight. We spoke of the trail and how quickly we needed to move to make it to Katahdin.
I was not moving quickly that evening, this was apparent.
I left the hostel at around 5 pm. The trail was very near, but I had to walk south about a quarter of a mile in order to connect my footpath to where I had originally hitched in to town.
By the time I reached a campground with a spring, only a few miles north from where I began, the sky was growing dark and my motivation waned.
I noticed that another hiker who stayed at the hostel had set up camp there as well. “You made it just as far as I did, huh?”, he called out from his tent. “Looks that way!”, I replied.
I set up my tent, as rainfall was anticipated, and went to gather water. the spring was not flowing well. It was cold and delicious, however, so I was pleased. I was rained on mid-collection.
Back in my tent I made supper, attempted to write, and soon fell asleep.