Absolute Zero

So, I woke up this morning (June 27) at the Quality Inn in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, with nowhere to go and really nothing I needed to do except hit the Sheetz at some point for some basic resupply. So I spent some time literally just laying in bed, which felt bizarre, but I rolled with it. I was kind of wishing I could teleport home for the day. When S. booked this room for two nights, she kept telling me I needed to take a “real” zero and do as close to nothing as possible. It definitely felt foreign, and I kept thinking I could have been hiking so maybe should have been.

But I think with my new shoes and this additional full day to recover, I'll be practically a new person when I get back on the trail tomorrow. And the guy at the shoe store made me feel better. I'm not crazy. I'd actually been hurting myself for hundreds of miles.

There’s an old-school diner basically next door to the Quality Inn — there’s a walkway that connects the hotel and the diner’s parking lot — and I decided to go there for a “real” breakfast over going to the hotel lobby. [Wife note: It was the Middlesex Diner.] I got eggs and hash browns and pancakes, the whole thing. It was pretty good, too. I made my way to Sheetz after that, but I didn’t really need much.

Back in the room, I spent a little time watching a National Geographic program on Greece and fell back asleep for a bit. Then I worked on trying to figure out the best way to get from the trail into New York City and when I might be able to get there. Taking a train from Peekskill seems to be the way to go. I’m going to meet up with another one of my friends from college there, and he’s going to be hiking with me for a week or so. If I can get there a day or two before he arrives, there’s a possibility that S. could take the train up to meet me first, but she’s still struggling to find someone to watch the pets. So we’ll see.

For dinner, I went back to the diner. The special was chicken parm, and the last time I had that for dinner, back in Glasgow, I had a fantastic hike the next day, so I figured I should try that again. And I absolutely hoovered it.

I went back to the room after that, had a call with S., and then watched some Seinfeld reruns while I repacked my backpack. So, not a very exciting day, but it wasn’t really supposed to be, I guess. It’ll be interesting to get back to the trail tomorrow and try out the new shoes.