The Not So Approving Sniffs of My Fellow Library Patrons

I am in Rangley, a quaint little ski town about seventy miles from the New Hampshire border. The people here give off the distinct scent of money, while I give off the distinct scent of...roadkill. 

I smell bad.

In fact, I smell really bad. This is the most "non hiker" people I have been around in 19 days, and in that time I have had two showers. My clothes have been washed twice. It is summer time. And I managed to step in dog crap five seconds after getting into town. So yeah. The people sitting next to me here at the public library, the librarians, the library, and probably the town fathers of Rangley itself are not happy, olfactorily speaking.

We are pushing on to Gorham, New Hampshire after this little pit stop. So far southern Maine has been just as difficult as advertised, though far more rewarding than I thought it would be. The views going up over Saddleback Jr, The Horn, and Saddleback yesterday were well worth the effort.

I passed the two hundred mile mark a few days ago, a cause for minor celebration. I split an orange four ways with the crew.  Cold Beer passed around a nip of whiskey. Six Strings played his guitar. Patches made mac and cheese. All was as it should be.

Speaking of oranges...I dream about them at night. I think about them during the day, at odd moments. I imagine that I can smell them. This is probably my bodies way of saying, "hey...um...remember vitamins?!" So I ate about five of them in Stratton and packed a few into the woods with me. They didn't even last two days.

Nineteen days and I've lost almost twenty pounds. That is pretty brutal math, but I still have another twenty pounds of fat on me, at least.  After that, I'll have to start going up on my food intake, or I will simply melt away.

The A.T. seems to be eating my shoes alive. I am predicting total shoe failure before the halfway point, although after New Hampshire the gnawing might stop, or at least slow.

Okay I am going to take pity on the man sitting next to me and walk around the library for a bit. They are having a book and bake sale today, and I might pick up something good for a dollar.

Happy Trails--
--Pawn