Saturday, August 10th

Saturday, August 10th. Day 53

Today's miles = 20 Total CDT miles = 795

It was still dark when I woke up this morning by the lake. I had given Monkey my word that if he woke me up early I would actually get up and start packing my things. It wasn't until he woke me up and I realized that it was still dark outside that I began to regret my word. I begrudgingly rolled to my side, unscrewed my Neoair (sleeping pad), and laid there trying to convince myself that the darkness didn't mean it was early. It was lies...it was all lies. It was F*cking early!! The sun was still struggling to peak over the mountains by the time we got hiking. The first 7 or so miles were through a valley and up over a pass. There was not a trail for most of this section. With Baboon and my forces combined we were able to navigate over the pass and even get ourselves to a road that led to a Subway where we ate lunch. Across the highway from the Subway was a gas station that just happen to be giving away free hotdogs, some other meat product, and soda for a customer appreciation day. They also had a raffle. There is one other hiker around at the moment and he happen to win the grand prize of a grill!! He sold it for 100 bucks. I stood outside the gas station for a good time this afternoon watching the people drive up in their ATVs (with their 5 year old kids driving), and eat eat eat like they were thru-hiking. American flags waved from every car and ATV. Kids running around the store unaccompanied and barefoot. Every of age male with a six shooter had a cold one in his hand. No helmets, no seat belts, small children in the back of pickups cruising 70 down the highway, 10 year olds riding dirt bikes in the street. Man, it felt like America!! Haha.

Baboon and I took a ride from the man that bought the grill from the hiker to the Macks Inn resort. I ended up riding in the back of a pick up that was covered in oil and grease and full of random tools and other things. I sat on the chain saw between the dog sleeping on the tire and a bucket of gasoline. I will say it was my first time every positioning myself and a pack on top of a chain saw. Once we got to the resort we got a camp spot for the night and did laundry and showered before heading over to the cafe for ice cream and pizza. I ate myself silly like the Idahoans and their hot dogs and meandered back to the camp site to have a little fire and wind down from my 'American Flag-packed' day. My brain hurts from today. I came out of the mountains over a pass this morning after having a snack at the "most remote headwaters of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers" into the land of grills, guns, gasoline, and obesity. *Culture Shock*