Cows blocking the trail.
Miles Today: 17.9
Mile Marker: 1,147.4
We grabbed our continental carbo-load and hit the trail just before 9:00. Another fast paced day with the intent of getting to town early enough to resupply, grab dinner, and check into a motel. About ten minutes into the day I could tell I wasn't feeling it. Much of the morning was spent walking through open fields in 80 degree weather. Around 1:00 I stopped for water and ran into Bill T. He did a 44 mile day yesterday. My brain can't even process that much hiking. It was his biggest day, but he has still been posting 30 mile days. I tagged along with him and rode his momentum all the way into town. He set a pace faster than I would have done alone, and he said talking with me was keeping his motivation going. After his massive day he said he was moving slowly. It worked out well for both of us.
Around 5:00 we got into town and hit up the Doyle Hotel for a drink. Shortly afterwards Cheese showed up and we started to coordinate our town stop. The Doyle is a historic building with a reputation or being a bit run down. It caters specifically to hikers and is more like a hostel. We were planning on staying at a motel outside of town, but Bob the owner told us one of the churches was taking hikers in for free. He said their rooms are too hot in the summer anyway because they don't have air conditioning. Next we hit up our resupply and then checked into the church.
With all of the chores out of the way, we headed to Sorrentos for some incredible pizza. Way better than yesterday. Hop Along had caught up, and we all hung out until heading back to the church.