More of the Pre-AT

Flew from LA to Washington, got to see the Washington Monument for half a second as it flashed past the window as we landed. Great, I said to the guy next to me, now I've seen it I can cross that one off my list. Plane was late and boarding for the next flight was due to start 10 minutes after we landed. Made it myself but anxious if my checked bag could be sorted out from the rest of the luggage and transferred to my plane in time.

Why can't people just sit in their assigned seat? Why is that so hard? The seat number is right there on your ticket as you board the plane. Like 70% of the time there are disagreements as to where people should be sitting. Grumble. Grumble. Grumble. You can play swapsies once everyone is boarded, not seemingly just grab whatever seat you fancy and then try negotiate with the person who's seat are clearly sitting on while the line of boarding passengers behind them has to wait.

Despite the seat drama, the rest of the flight was fine. The person next to me commented on my accent, saying "you sound too well travelled to be in Bangor". I think she was not exactly filled with love and pride for her home town. A few of the other passengers chimed in and we had a discussion on hiking, bugs and bears.

Also exciting news of the American experience, I've now had my first police stop! I'd arrived at Bangor airport at midnight, since the hotel was only 2 kms away (or 1.2 miles over here) I decided to just walk it. I was about halfway there when a police car pulled over and asked what I was doing wandering the streets alone in the middle of the night. Though I could tell immediately that my G'day and apparently heavy Australian accent had confused him, not what he was expecting. After some brief banter he told me to not walk on the road and drove off. Brian later opined that it would have been hilarious if I'd entered America only to be immediately arrested. Oh well, there is still plenty of time for that!

At the hotel I had what I thought of as my Last Shower and Last Breakfast Buffet for a while. Although I'm in a hotel in Millinocket and doing the same (The AT starts tomorrow - woo hoo!)

I did a bunch of organising for the AT at the hotel. Called the Baxter State Forest people to book a camping spot, as is required when ascending Mt Katahdin (Ka-Tah-Din not Kata-h-Din, my Uber diver corrected me), and got laughed at for trying to book during a holiday long weekend. Oh, what holiday is that?, I naively enquired. Oh it's just the 4th of July Independence Day weekend. I did a mental face-palm. I was in America at the start of July - how had I not connected the dots? Anyway, the lovely lady could squeeze me in but earlier than planned. Did some rapid rescheduling, dropped my plans for exploring Bangor, rapid shopping for supplies (thanks Walmart!), and with 3.5 hours of night hiking (just completed that) I could just make the timetable.

Other fun things that happened - Walmart, it is huge and has everything. Even guns. They even have colourful miniature guns for the kiddies. Very American. - Bought bear spray from Dick's Sporting Goods, the one thing Walmart didn't have. - Downloaded and called my first Uber. - Had lunch at Wendy's. Have always wanted to do this because of the memes. But it was underwhelming, a notch or two below McDonald's, and place was kind of dingy. - Asked the Uber driver what he was doing on Independence Day, he said "drinking lots of beer and blowing stuff up".

Finally brought my pack up to its full weight by adding the food and water. Now kind of concerned at how heavy it is.

Night hiked from Medway to Millinocket along the road. Lots of mossies. Once a large animal crashed through the forest just off to my right, I had my bear spray ready but fortunately a long column of cars appeared, putting a barrier between me and it. But the time the cars were gone I had moved far enough away from whatever it was.

That's it from this reporter, coming to you from the exotic lands of America. Tomorrow I start the AT!!! Woo hooRead more