Miles Today: 14.0
Mile Marker: 1,729.5
Have you ever gotten on a really good workout streak where you feel great and you're doing well? Then you take a handful of days off and you feel like you're back at square one? That's how I feel right now.
I'm still really tired and having a hard time hiking for more than an hour and a half without a break. I woke up at 5:30 this morning to the sun shining and the birds chirping and immediately said to hell with this. I popped in some earplugs and put my Buff over my face and passed back out till 9:00. When I first woke up I felt like I had been asleep for ten minutes, and when I woke up again I felt like I'd been drugged. I didn't get on trail until 10:00 this morning.
Around 3:00 I stopped at a farm store just off trail to have lunch. I got a Coke and a fresh, delicious tomato. I met Squire and his two sons Stretch and Remix. They are also NOBO, but this is the first time I've seen them. His sons are around 13 and 11 I would guess. Super impressed with them doing this. They were also hiking with Ghost Hiker who I hadn't met before either. At lunch I discovered my appetite is starting to come back, so hopefully my energy levels follow.
Shortly after I left I crossed another road and received a first. Drive by Trail Magic. This woman was on her way home from the store, spotted me, stopped in the road, gave me a “Danish Coffee Pastry”, and then drove off. It was so hilarious. The Danish wasn't very good, but the kindness behind it was incredible. This journey has really helped to restore my faith in humanity.