Tuesday, 6/9

AT Miles = 0 / 959.6
Other Miles = 0 / 35.8
Total Miles = 0 / 994.4

When I got up this morning it was raining, which made it very easy to
decide to stay here today and kick back instead of slogging through
the rain and mud out in the woods. It did clear up later and I spent
the early afternoon sitting out by the pool reading my book and
jumping into the pool to swim a lap whenever I got too hot. I also had
a nice long phone conversation with Anju, which made me feel really
good.

In mid-afternoon another line of thunder storms rolled through and I
retreated to my motel room. Finally around 5:30 I ventured out again
to get some dinner at a local downtown restaurant, and only then did I
realize that I had not packed up my bounce box and taken it to the
post office. Damn! There goes my plan of an early start in the
morning, as now I have to wait around until the post office opens at
8:30.

Coming into town yesterday was an easy hitch, but the road through
town carries very heavy traffic and there is no shoulder for a vehicle
to stop on, so I think hitching out of town back to the trail could be
very difficult. I think I will call a cab for the 4 mile ride out of
town in the morning.

Yesterday morning when I started walking I had a sharp pain in the
front of my left ankle, and it stayed there all morning. Once I got to
town and switched from boots to sandals I forgot all about it, but
this evening, since it was raining, I put my boots on when I went out
for dinner and it hurt a lot. Now that I am back to my room I poked
around with my fingers and some tendon or something is very tender and
inflamed. I've taken 800mg of ibuprofen and am sitting with ice on my
ankle. I sure hope I can get this under control, because there is no
way I am going to cover many miles when every step hurts this much.

My plan is to be just a few miles south of Harpers Ferry on Friday
night, then stop in at ATC headquarters in Harpers Ferry on Saturday
morning, where a food resupply from Jodi will be waiting for me. From
there it should be another 6 or 7 days to Boiling Springs, PA, my next
overnight town stop.

—
~~~~~
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com