Kevin's AT Thru Hike

Day 111, Tuesday, 7/5 – I went to sleep last night without setting up the tarp. I was essentially gambling that it wouldn’t rain overnight. I woke up at 5:45am to an overcast sky, but I was dry. I packed up and was hiking by 6:30am.

I hiked alone again, and hardly saw anyone on trail. I like hiking with a group, but its a nice change of pace to hike solo every once in a while. I get to be alone with my thoughts. I’ve also had more opportunity to call the family and catch up with life back home.

I was enjoying the hike without headphones for most of the day, but there were a lot of road sounds. The farther I hiked, the louder they got. Then I got to a clearing and saw a race track. If you zoom in to the photo below, you can see a circle track with a hose wetting down the road. A single car was repeatedly drifting around that circle. That explained all the noise. It was relatively distracting, so I put on headphones for the last couple hours of the day.

I hiked 16 miles into Falls Village (Mile 1497), and arrived right at 2:30pm. I had taken a few long breaks and was worn out by the time I arrived. There was a cafe in town that I had been looking forward to stopping at for a late lunch.

I went in and started to order when the barista told me the kitchen closed at 2:30pm. I definitely should have checked the hours before taking all those breaks, but she said they would make food if I picked an easy item to make. I ordered a turkey sandwich, a coffee, and a milkshake. As my food was being prepared, I went to use the bathroom. By the time I came out, I saw Laughing Loon, Apollo, Wizard, and Fudge Stripe all at the counter. They were also ordering food, so I no longer felt as bad about ordering right before closing.

The cafe closed at 3:00pm, so we all ate out front. I love drinking coffee and sitting outside a cafe.

At 3:30, Connor picked me up from the cafe! What a great reunion, I haven’t seen Connor in a year. We drove for an hour over to his folks place in Monroe, and caught up on the drive. When we got to his folks place, I chatted with Tony for a bit, then immediately took shower. This was one of the most needed showers I’ve taken in trail. I had an armpit smell resembled a gas station bathroom that’s been neglected.

After showering, we drove over to his house in Bridgeport. I started cleaning some gear in the yard and met his girlfriend Angie! She’s awesome, Connor did good.

Connor, Angie, and I went out to dinner to a place that served seafood. Connor and I split a dozen oysters and I got seafood Linguine.

After dinner, we took a walk to the Long Island Sound and then through the Black Rock downtown area. I can see why Connor likes it here. It’s got a relaxed vibe, but there’s still plenty of stuff going on.