July 6, 2004

I woke up at 11:00 a.m. feeling fine.  I did the hiker hobble as I readied my gear and visited the Port Clinton post office where I picked up my food and supplies.  Bear and I were shuttled back to the post office in Hamburg to ship our bounce box northward to Connecticut.  We walked back to Cabela's to purchase three volt batteries for my water filter.  I had a ¼ pound hot dog and Coke as we sat on a bench outdoors and did some people watching.  What brings folks from hours away to Cabela's, I wondered?

I then walked back to the hotel, made several phone calls, paid some bills and wrote postcards.  Bear and I ate dinner at a neighboring Cracker Barrel where I ordered my usual meatloaf dinner.  I then gave Bear a haircut, did my laundry, and read my book called, Wildflowers of the Appalachian Trail.  The most beautiful flower that I've seen so far was a field of Queen Anne's Lace where the stems were four feet high in Central Virginia.  If there are beautiful flowers on the A.T. in Pennsylvania, I wouldn't know it because I'm too busy maintaining my focus on the nasty rocks.  I watched the weather channel and the forecast calls for storms on Wednesday and Thursday.  Oh no!