Mom. Dad. There's something I need to tell you. I'm pregnant.

Day 71 - 6/26/10
At least it seems that way with all these food cravings I'm having.
Anything from chocolate milk to Dr. Pepper to hamburgers. I go through
phases. And today I tried to satisfy my most recent craving, a
McDonalds Big Mac, but let me back up a bit first.

Woke up unsure what I'd be doing for the day. I hadn't set any goal
the night before, something I usually do, which was kind of nice for a
change. A goal came soon enough though when a couple (thru-hikers from
'07 who actually met on the trail) rolled up to the Pavillion and
handed out sodas, Gatorade, and hard boiled eggs. Then they told us
they were doing a hiker feed a few shelters away later on in the day,
about 15 miles. So that's what I decided to shoot for.

Like I said I've been really wanting a Big Mac, so I rode into town
with a couple other hikers in the Cabela's shuttle at 9am. It dropped
us off at the store, which I had no interest in, so I immediately
walked over to the McDonalds a few hundred yds. away. When I got
inside the first thing I did was look for an outlet to charge my
phone, but no luck. Since it was too early to order off the lunch menu
I decided to try the BK across the street and see if they had any
outlets. I got inside and thankfully found one. Since I was using
their electricity I felt obligated to give them some business, so I
bought breakfast. Had some hashbrowns and mini cinnamon rolls with
coffee.

I was there for a while before other hikers started rolling in. Black
& Tan, a guy I had just met at the Pavillion the night before, came in
to get some eats and charge his phone too. We talked for a while about
philosophy, pretty fun convo. At 10am you can start ordering off the
lunch menu, so since I was already there I decided to get myself a
Whopper Jr. as an appetizer to my Big Mac. A warm-up if you will. It
tasted very good.

Some others rolled in and they got food too. I guess there's some
Twilight related contest going on right now at BK, so they have those
peel-off game pieces. One of the other guys won a free Whopper, but
since he had just eaten one he didn't want to use it, so he gave it to
me. Sweet. But now I was in a dilemma because if I had the Whopper
then I wouldn't be able to eat a Big Mac too. However this one was
free, so I went for it, then added a large fry and Hershey Pie to the
order. All in all I had quite a lot of food at BK. I still didn't
satisfy my craving though, so I'll have to do up a Big Mac somewhere
further up the road.

I got a ride back to town from a nice guy named Jeff. He works (or
maybe volunteers...I forget) for the fire department there in town. He
dropped me off at the post office, which is right across from this old
timey barbershop. As I was situating my pack an older guy walked out
of the barbershop and told me there was water inside if I needed any.
Since I did I went in, and there was one barber doing a haircut. I got
talking to him, and on a whim decided to get my hair cut. It's gotten
pretty long since I started back in April, and with this heat it gets
so sweaty and gross. I went to the ATM down the road to get cash for
it, and when I came back the older guy who had told me about the water
was inside. Turns out it was his place, and the other barber was his
son. A regular father/son barbershop operation they've got going. So
the father gave me the cut, and he seemed really proud of it too,
telling me how good I looked. The son pulled out a guitar and did some
mellow free-jamming while the father cut my hair, and I started
getting really relaxed and comfy, so much so that I almost fell asleep
in the chair. It made leaving and going on to hike a bit tough for the
first 1/2 mile or so. I'm so glad I did it, my head felt ten times
cooler, and much less sweaty. And in case you're wondering, the beard
is still fully intact. I made sure he didn't mess with that.

The hike out of Port Clinton was steep, and rocky, and full of poison
ivy. Thanks Pennsylvania, once again you've proven your cruddiness.
Once I got to the top it was flat for a while, then took a couple dips
up and down, and then leveled off again for a spell. Then I had a
steep rocky uphill to this decent viewspot called Pulpit Rock. I saw
Ace up there, so I stopped, had lunch, and talked with her. She was
doing a slackpack, headed to the hiker feed as well. When I started up
again I did 2 miles to another nice viewspot called the Pinnacle.
Supposedly it's the best view you get on the AT in PA. I'd have to say
it's definitely the best I've seen in this state thus far, but that's
not saying much. Nothing to beat really. But it was a nice spot, so at
least PA isn't all bad. After that the miles started flying, and I did
5.3 to the shelter where the feed was in an hour and 40 minutes. The
name of the place is Eckville shelter, and it's literally on a road so
they have a house nearby where the maintainer lives, much like the 501
shelter I stayed at a few nights ago. This shelter isn't as nice (so
I'm camping), but the shower is way better and there's actually a
flushing toilet...Score!

So the hiker feed was awesome, with steak & cheeses, sodas, chips, and
cookies. They did a great job putting this all on. It was a nice
evening hanging out and just talking, and I met some new people here,
including two hiking couples both from Maine. One couple was from
Waterville and the other from Gorham. Lots of Mainahs out here, ah-
yuh. Anyway, after eating I set up my tent, then showered, then just
hung out talking to everyone. Did that until about 9:30, then thought
I'd better get to this before it was too late and I'd be tired.
Haven't set any goal for tomorrow, but I kind of want to take it easy.
I was supposed to do that today, but I got on the trail after 12 and
rushed to make the feed, so it wasn't all that leisurely. Guess we'll
see what happens tomorrow.

Total miles: 1223.3