Recovering fom "Mega-Mile Day"

   The morning after "Mega-Mile Day" I woke up in the motel room. I quietly got ready and left the room. The truck driver was still sound asleep when I left. I was extremely hungry, but I didn't have any food or any money. All I could do was start hitch-hiking. By around 10:30am I finally made it back to the town where I had left my pack. I went to the fire station and looked for my pack. It wasn't where I had left it. After a short panic, I found that it had been moved to a storage closet. One of the volunteer firemen begrudgingly opened the door and I retrieved my pack.
   I was just getting to leave when I discovered that I didn't have my hiking staff. Where was it? By this time the fireman was busy in the office. I went to him again and asked for him to open the storage closet so I could look for my hiking staff. He was quite irritated! He tried to tell me "no", but finally realized that I wasn't going to leave. So he trudged down the hall (huffing and puffing the entire way) and opened the storage room. Sure enough, there was my hiking staff!
   When I left the fire station the first order of business was to get some FOOD! I opened my pack and ate everything I could get my hands on! Once my hunger was satisfied, it was time to hitch-hike back to the point where I left the trail. That took most of the afternoon. And by dinner time I was walking into the town called Deleware Water Gap. I had heard about a Presbyterian Church that took in thru-hikers. Sure enough, I found the church and there were several hikers already present. I was welcomed to the crowd. I don't remember exactly where we slept that night, but I think it was in some Sunday School rooms. I had survived "Mega-Mile Day" and now I was back on track. It would be the last time I would try to do something foolish like that again!

   Here in 2011 I weighed in at 173.0 pounds. I was able to walk my regular route this morning, followed by some unsuccessful work on my old 1973 Mazda (trying to fix a coolant leak). Right now I am eating a bean buritto. I'm going to try to stay on track!