Day 115 & 116 - New shoes!

Trail registry has only one name I knew. I was with Deep Dish about a fortnight ago, now he is a week ahead of me. That kid must be fanging it. Maybe all the bears he had seen had given him extra speed (grumble, grumble, grumble...).

Exited the trail and Ubered into "Mechanicsville". Certainly there were a number of car service centres here, that presumably employ more than a few mechanics. I guess it's not the worst way to name a town. Yes, I'm talking about you Rutland.

The hole in my shoe had kept getting bigger and is now about 2.5 times larger than the day before. Glad I was able to replace them now and not later. Ubered to the hotel, this was again a very cheap one but none of the issues from the previous one. In fact it was a very nicely appointed room and I felt it should have cost more. My room was next to guest laundry though, but no-one did their laundry so it wasn't an issue.

Walked about 45 mins to REI. Rough part of town but after nearly 4 months my clothes are scruffy and my hair long and unkempt, without my pack and poles I have the 'desperate homeless man' look, so I felt safe to wander around after dark. Arrived at REI and bought a new pair of Altras. The sole is thicker, meaning they are a bit heavier but also the rocks on the trail now don't poke my feet so much. Trade offs.

KFC for dinner (yay!).

My uber back to the trail was in a Tesla! Obviously the driver was very smart and very cool.

It is the afternoon now. Shoes have held up well enough for the first day.

Bonus pic of 3 rail lines you need to cross. Always feels a bit sketchy crossing them. In movies/tv there is like a 90% chance of getting your foot stuck (somehow?) and then a dramatic scene trying to free said foot while a train comes screaming along. I always look at them and wonder how would your foot even get stuck? Maybe all the rail lines I've crossed have a different configuration? The not-foot-stucking configuration?Read more