Miles: 1.5
We woke up this morning, still tired but excited about walking into Hanover. The Trail goes straight through town... there's even a Ben & Jerry's five feet off the Trail. Sweet! We arrived in a soccer field after about 20 minutes of "regular" hiking. The Trail led to the left and then followed Main Street into town.
Walking into civilization straight from the woods shocked us all. We looked like a group of deer caught in the headlights when we popped onto the field (albeit, very smelly deer). The thought of a warm, filling breakfast at Lou's Diner drew us quickly into town. Down the sidewalks we walked, sticking out like sore thumbs in this ivy league town, following the white blazes painted on telephone poles.
Mmmm... we made it to Lou's for coffee and lots of delicious eggs, sausage, potatoes and toast. After figuring out the local transit system, we made it to a hotel and ran our errands. I picked up a pair of trail runners because the upcoming terrain doesn't require heavy boots. Additionally, my boots' seams have started to burst. Only 400 miles and they're ready to blow! tsk, tsk.
After errands, Medicine Man, Sunshine, Kevin and I had a long-standing date with Joe, Kevin and Cadence at Ben and Jerry's to take on the Vermonster. This monstrosity of a dessert contains 20 scoops of ice cream, 1 giant fudge brownie, 3 chocolate chip cookies, every topping in the book, whipped cream, 4 ladels of hot fudge and 4 bananas... true decadence in a bucket. The seven of us cleared it out well, with Medicine Man finishing off the sludge from the bottom for the privilege to keep the bucket.
After stretching out my dessert tummy, I waddled over to the library to catch up on e-mails and such. I'm starting to feel the end of this trip coming nearer... worrying about what I'll be doing and setting stuff up in Chicago is icky. After the close encounter with the real world, I met up with the gang for dinner at a local pizza joint - Everything But the Anchovies.
This day felt like a true zero (but it's only a "near"-o), making it a refreshing stop.
- Brownie Battered Bobo