June 28-29 in PA

June 28, 2005 | Day 93 | Miles: 9.6 | Total Miles: 1204.3
End: Microtel Hotel, Hamburg, PA
Danielle:
Hot, sunny and humid
Another hot, humid, rocky day in PA. We didn't get up too early today, as there were three late arrivals to the shelter last night. And one of them was a fellow Bowdoin grad. When she found out who we were, she said "I've been wanting to catch you!" There is a community behind us, of course, through people we've met and our shelter register entries, and she had found out we were living in NH and went to Bowdoin. Funny how small a world it is! There are four Bowdoinites out here on the trail this year. Pretty cool. It was fun to meet her and chat a bit.
In any event, this morning we wandered through the rocks, and down the steep trail into Port Clinton to pick up our packages at the PO and get some lunch. We have to say Thank You! Thank You! to our friends Gayle and James Lazarus. Gayle sent us some chocolates and July 4th "gear"--fancy earrings for me and a headband with stars and stripes pinwheels for Ryan. That should be a good photo :-) And James sent us all sorts of hiking goodies--jerkey, dried fruits, chocolate, trail mix. Yum! Perfect. Our food bags are full of great treats now :-) Thanks guys!
After we packed up our packs, and ate lunch, we headed about a mile down the trail to hitch into Hamburg to hit this hotel. As we came out of the trail onto the road, we met two section hikers who graciously offered to give us a ride. Good thing as the book's directions were wrong and we would have been wandering around aimlessly... But we made it and we're here in A/C, cleaned and in clean clothes, relaxing. Ahhhh.... Civilization :-) How nice.

Ryan:
three h's
rock factor - 6
really hot. rocky. ouch. we are tired. we were badly in need of a shower, laundry, and a real bed. plus, we decided to take a day off tomorrow. a little relaxation will do us good. we stopped in port clinton today to pick up our mail drop. we were amazed the post office was open, since it looked like the whole town was closed...and had closed about 30 years ago. not good times. (thanks to our friends who sent surprise packages.) we did stop at the one restaurant in town, but we couldn't stay at the hotel in town...because it was closed. interesting... oh yeah, three month anniversary...no wonder i'm tired. now, i must sleep...a lot.
today's song - running with the night, lionel richie (oh yeah...this little diddy was cranking while i devoured my veggie omelette, chicken parmesan sub and fries at the three c's restaurant.)

June 29, 2005 | Day 94 | Miles: 0 | Total Miles: 1204.3
End: Microtel Hotel, Hamburg, PA
Danielle:
Hot and humid with afternoon thunderstorm and rain
Ahhh, the zero day. A very happy day :-) After sleeping in, we dodged the traffic on the highway this morning to get breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, and then went up the hill to the Cabela's Superstore. It's basically a ginormous hunting/fishing/outdoor store. As we were walking in, we saw a guy walking out with a rifle. Yikes! And lots of trophy heads on the wall; a mountain display in the middle of the store with polar bears, dahl sheep, deer, bear, etc an aquarium with freshwater fish, plus all the gear and a restaurant. We spent about 3 hours wandering around. Quite a spectacle!
We are now relaxing in our hotel room, watching it rain and thunder outside, and very content with our decision to take today off! Back out onto the trail tomorrow...

Ryan:
cloudy, hazy, thunderstorms
rock factor - n/a
a great day off. we ate, we sat, we ate, we sat, we ate, we sat. perfect. we did tour the cabela's super store. wow. if you need to hunt or kill anything, go there. it has an aquarium and a mountain of stuffed "trophies." interesting. back at it tomorrow...supposed to be in the 90's again. ah, pennsylvania.
today's song - lowdown, boz scaggs (it was on while we were eating in wendy's...mmmmm frosty.)