Saturday, July 17, 2010

Peg legs and mosquitoes

Hello all from Dalton, Mass. Things have gotten a bit crazy since Right Way left me. For starters the trail became a steep rocky, rooty, slippery mess. Not so much a problem, but the bugs also arrived at the same time. Being a skilled hiker with much practice in the art of walking I am able to negotiate most types of terrain, but it becomes difficult when in the midst of sliding down a mossy wet rock and trying to regain your balance a mosquito flies into your eyeball. Its a lot to handle, but I will persevere. The bugs are horrible up here. I have been in many situations with far more bugs, so that is not the issue. These bugs are akin to a driver on the interstate who wanting to pass a semi-truck are in the passing lane, but are too timid to make the move. They have the nerves enough though to stay right next to the trucks rear bumper making it impossible for a right hand pass to cut them off and pass the truck causing a frustrating back up on the highway. These mosquitoes and gnats fly around your head endlessly for hours on hours buzzing in your ears and hovering in front of your eyes, but they never land to bite you. I wish they would land, bite me, and move on. I hike with trekking poles in both hands so swatting at them isn't really possible without whacking myself in the shins with the poles. So I hike, trying like the dickens to achieve some state of Zen with the bugs, but I always fail and throw a tantrum. The tantrums are not pretty. Its usually a barage of curse words (salt, pepper, ass, republican!) an abrupt stop, I throw down my poles, and go on a bug killing spree which to a bystander probably looks like a freak show, this guy with pink toenails frolicking in the woods clapping his hands together. Think woodsy flamenco dancer. That has been my last few days with the addition of a couple of bear encounters bringing that number up to 18 wild 2 caged.

New England is different than the south. I knew this before, but its amazing how quickly a region changes, and it is noticed all the more when you walked there. The south didn't really end till northern PA, which led way to the "how you doin'?" part of the country. I asess the character of a place by eateries with counters, be them bars, delis, or diners. In the south it was the elderly farmers exchanging witty insults and weather forecasts, in NJ and NY it was public service workers like cops, firemen, and paramedics talking about accidents and girls that just got out of high school (yikes), and in New England thus far it has been the idle rich talking about God knows what. I can't listen because I'm too busy sitting in the corner with the other hikers feeling ashamed of our attire and trying not to mess the place up.

Some things never change though. The other day I was walking into Salisbury, CT to go to LaBonne's Epicure Market (Connecticut talk for you'll spend 10 bucs on a bag of pretzels, some candy, and a chocholate milk) when this car pulls over and I hear, "Hey you wanna ride?" I wasn't hitching and to this point nobody had ever pulled over like that before, so I was kind of shocked. I was even more shocked when it turned out to be my two trail friends Marty McFly and Achilles the Red. Where they had gotten the car from I had no idea, but rather than stand on the side of the road and ask questions I figured I better get in before the cops showed up looking for a stolen car. As it turns out Marty and Achilles were walking along when a lady started yelling at them. They couldn't make out what she was saying so they went over to her. She was a one legged woman hopping to the bus stop to ride to physical therapy. Being the only logical thing to do when seeing a couple of hikers she handed them the keys to her house and her car and said she would be back later. So they went into her house did laundry, took a shower, and took the car out to lunch where they picked me up. Amazing the things that happen.

I'm going to head into town now for some food. Y'all be good out there and if you see some guy wearing a backpack who looks kind of sketchy I don't recommend giving them the keys to your house, unless you've only got one leg. Whose gonna steal from a one legged grandmother, its an instant one-way ticket to hell.

-Wrong Way

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