Why does the rain always make it hard for motivation? I could have stayed in my tent all day and been perfectly happy. I turned off both of my alarms before they had the chance to go off, and lay there wishing time would stop. It was said breakfast was at 7:00 so I packed up some things and made my normal breakfast to have later as a snack, and headed for the cabin. It was still drizzling a little which meant my tent was not going to dry out before I packed it up. I wasn't the only one who was lagging this morning, seems the caretakers were too. Breakfast was delayed a little so I went to pack up some more and try to dry my tent out a little. I hung my rainfly from the porch, and propped my tent up for some airflow. We then joined inside for some pancakes. We sat with a Southbound couple and they talked of how they lived in Alaska for the past year and before that a farm in Montana...so jealous. I will be checking out wwoof very soon I suspect. The pancakes were small and couldn't keep enough coming, after chatting it up for quite some time I finished packing and off we went on this crappy day-unmotivating. The rain stopped and we finally made it to the I-90 overpass we had driven under on our way up. After the photoshoot and sending photos to mom, we headed on and in no time I was hungry and ready for my normal oatmeal, carnation breakfast, and protein powder sludge. I stopped near a lake and snacked on that and then Lynn joined as well. Lynn wanted to try and make it 20 miles to Tom Lavarti's, I knew the 17 miles we had already on deck was going to be enough for me. I planned to stealth at the top of one of the mountains and then just meet her the following day. The terrain was very muddy and full of roots, which meant just because the elevation is flat for 7 miles; doesn't mean it is easy for 7 miles. I was getting frustrated with my feet and how time consuming mud is in sneakers. I got to the road to find Lynn sitting across the street, we walked over to the cookie lady's house to get some cookies. While enjoying our free, yet rather crispy crunchy cookies we bought a beverage to wash it down. At this point the daylight was drifting away and the calculations put us getting to Lavarti's no earlier than 8:30...doesn't sound fun. As we sat longer and longer I looked at the map and the cookie lady's offer to drive me to Lavarti's. I was not feeling the day mentally or enjoying myself so I took her up on it. Lynn planned to hike there, more of a personal challenge to see if she could do it; and I just don't have that in me. When I was slack packing sure, I tried to do 24 miles by 3:30 and succeeded. But with a full pack, no desire for personal challenges. We drove off and made sure to buckle up since the cookie lady would be qualified for a driver retest if there was such a thing. We stopped at an ATM so I could get some cash and almost got hit from either side while pulling out. A bunch of guys were already sitting on the front porch, I said hello and then followed Tom around back to pick a spot to set up. He didn't have a huge backyard, but enough to get the job done and that is all that matters. I was so excited to let my tent dry out from the night before. I set up right in front of a bed of flowers and settled in. After I went back on the front porch to hang out with the new faces. Tom was very adamant on keeping our voices down and not being loud for the neighbors sake, no problem. Tom told me I was being too loud, though I was talking at a normal tone. Again, the guys were louder than me with their beers and Tom came out of the house and said I was too loud and would be asked to leave. I decided oh, so you don't like females. I see how it is. I decided to whisper to the guys and they thought it was hilarious and I hope Tom picked up on it. I wrote out a note on my phone to Yeti next to me saying "I guess he doesn't like females." His response, "He swings both ways but no, he's all about the boys, not men, boys. But your fine; he won't kick you out. There was Ginja Ninja (not the one I had met before), Tumbles, 10:46, Yeti Legs, Break Time, Chip, and maybe a couple others I am forgetting. Break Time, Tumbles, Yeti, Tom, and I left and went to a Country Buffet for dinner. I wasn't that hungry, but then I put away two plates of food somehow. It was nothing special, just your average "Hometown Buffet" as we have up here, but as a hiker-food, is food. Tumbles got some ice cream with gummy bears and insisted I have one, so I picked out a turquoise one and it was so good. They were not normal gummy bears, had to be a tropical edition but this flavor was great. I went up and got my own dish with majority of turquoise, Yeti came back with all turquoise. After dinner we stopped at Price Chopper so Break Time could get some re-supply, the guys and I chilled out front while Tumbles smoked his pipe. Once we got back to the house more had shown up, mostly Southbounders and we hung out on the porch again with wine and beer. Tumbles and Yeti shared their wine with me and at 8:35 I saw Lynn walking up the road, I ran over with my wine and gave her the rest. I could tell she had some rough mileage and was ready to set up and go to bed. A few of us planned to watch The Big Lebowski inside and for the guys sake, I am glad they invited me. Alcohol wasn't allowed inside so we finished what we had and went in. It was the same crew as the dinner crew. Only Break Time had seen the movie before so we were all interested in this Lebowski. The movie as a whole was, well; just like Napoleon Dynamite. You only watch it for the no plot factor and catchy one liners. After the movie I went out to my tent and so did Break Time (to his tent of course not mine) and the other two slept in the house-brave souls.
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