Sunday, July 28th

Sunday, July 28th. Day 40

Today's miles = 12. Total CDT miles = 581.2

I woke up around 7:30 this morning ready to sit at the picnic table and drink my coffee. Picnic tables are taken for granted. Tables in general are taken for granted. Its so nice to have somewhere to set something that isn't in tall tick infested grass. It was a nice and relaxing morning. After a while of enjoying the picnic table I got my things together and began the hike down the car trail. It went by pretty fast and before I knew it I was in the back of a pick up truck headed to the hot springs! Today was the first hitch in the back of a pick up for me on the CDT. I feel like every other hitch on the AT was in the back of a truck. My first hitch flying down a curvy highway on the AT on a beautiful summer day knowing I was headed to food and a shower was the moment I first fell in love with long distance hiking. Every now and then you just need a ride in the back of a pick up.

The couple that picked us up dropped us of right in front of the lodge. My first thought was to walk across the street and eat at the cafe which was exponentially cheaper than eating at the lodge. There were no vegetarian options on the menu but the owner/cook was more than willing to accommodate me with a giant salad with just about every vegetable he had in his kitchen. After lunch (we got into "town"of around noon) we went back to the lodge where I booked a room with a fireplace in it for Monkeys very late birthday celebrations (he was in India for his birthday). It was worth it. The fire place was awesome and I only set off the fire alarm once!

We spent the day in and out of the hot springs pool and hanging around the bar listening to the live mountain band play. It was an awesome decision to go out of our way to Jackson. The town had the cafe and the lodge...that was it. But that was all I really needed.