Hikers Welcome Hostel 1795.4 (zero miles, 770 total miles)
I woke up in the suite this morning starting around 5 or 6, and kept dozing off till about 7:30. It was hard to stay asleep, and I didn’t want to sleep in so late that my internal clock got all messed up. I’d run the day on a few hours of sleep and make up for it the next night I figured.
I had to dry my sports bra and shorts that I’d worn swimming the night before, because I didn’t carry a swimsuit with me. That took about half an hour, then I took a quick shower and packed my bag, trying to be quiet for Sunshine and Fallout. Tater was already up with me.
The other two woke up as I was getting ready to leave, and we said our goodbyes. I thought I’d probably see them in a couple days since I’d be at the hostel helping out, and they would be hiking from Hanover.
Tater and I headed over to Furps room around 9, where the rest of the group were slowly packing up. Everyone was quite tired from our late night, and coffee became the first priority.
Furps made us all amazing breakfast sandwiches and heated up a raspberry danish we’d gotten the night before. At Baked Potato’s good idea, Fallout, Sunshine, Tater, and I were all secretly signing a thank you card for Furps for everything he’d done for us.
After breakfast, I drove Tater and I back to Hikers Welcome, only around a half hour drive from the resort. We got to work right away transplanting day lilies from the backyard to the front of the bunk house with Legion, Acadicus, and another woman who was helping us out.
We made a run to the post office directly across the street, then took a break for some more coffee and writing on my part. Sour Cream was at the hostel, who I hadn’t seen since Warwick, and several other hikers arrived as well throughout the day.
Legz and Rude were still there, and I saw Daddy Long Legs had caught up as well. It was the first time I’d seen him since Eckville Shelter in PA, but I knew he was in the area. I also met Goose and Gander, who are fellow flip floppers.
I asked Legion if he had any more projects for me, and added that I’d noticed the bunk room floor looked like it could use a good vacuum. Legion got out the vacuum for me and I put some music on and started cleaning.
When I was about halfway through, Acadicus came into the room with some sheets for my bed, and I mentioned the vacuum didn’t seem like it was quite doing the job.
He said his usual method was to sweep the floor and carpets then vacuum the piles up. I did that, and things went faster the second half of the room. I’d wanted to hit the upstairs as well, but I was feeling sweaty, tired, and hungry so I went outside to get some food and put the vacuum and broom away.
I was surprised to find Furps, Fallout, and Sunshine all at the picnic tables outside, and made my way over to say hello, happy to see everyone. They were on their way to Hanover to get back on trail and stopped to say hi.
We spent a little bit hanging out, then Tater was nice enough to take Sour Cream and I to the store for food. It was dinner time in only a couple hours so I just grabbed some cheez-its and milk duds to hold off my appetite for the moment.
The others were still there when we got back, and we hung out a few more minutes before they left. We found out it was Ganders birthday, so Sour Cream gave her a beer and I offered her milk duds.
I laid down for a bit to rest, and saw that Goose had snuck a cake in for Gander. We went outside and sang happy birthday to her, which was a very sweet moment.
It had come to my attention that what I thought was a bug bite on my leg was actually poison ivy. I’d never had it before, so I was trying different lotions and treatments that I found in the hiker box, or that other hikers were kind enough to lend me.
I placed pizza orders for everyone at 4:30, and Legion let me use his computer to get my blog post up for that day. Acadicus took everyone to the store to pick up the pizza, and brought mine back for me so I could finish working.
The pizza was buffalo chicken ranch with jalapeños and very delicious. I shared a couple pieces with Acadicus and Baked Potato, then Tater went off to take a nap at our urging.
I was feeling very tired by then, too, the lack of sleep having caught up with me in a big way. The rest of the evening I just chilled with the caretakers and Tater, and we sat around a fire for a while.
I turned in just before 10PM, and started fiddling with the WordPress app again. I’d been trying to fix the problem all day, since now the only way I could blog was on a computer, which obviously didn’t work for hiking.
Somehow for giggles, I tried to link my website into my original WordPress account, which had a couple old websites on it already. I was completely shocked when it worked.
I was back in my blog on the app. I had several moments of pure joy and happiness, and teared up from the fact that it was fixed. I couldn’t believe it. I had figured it out all by myself.
I felt so relieved, and totally overjoyed. I was in the dark bunkhouse so couldn’t jump for joy like I literally wanted to, but it was one of my happiest moments all trip.
I was proud of how I’d handled that setback, and kept a positive outlook and knew I’d find an answer. I had a lot of support and help from my friends, and was so lucky it happened at the hostel and not in the woods. I was back in business.