Quick Check-in!

Hey friends :) I'm sitting in the library in Rangeley, smelling like a hiker, trying to figure out how to put some pictures up here! Can't decide if it would be better to use a remote photo-share site and just put links on the blog, or just slap a bunch of photos up, which is what I'm going to do right now b/c it's easier for me :o)

   So we're 32 or 33 days in! We took a zero in Stratton, ME b/c Lysandra's ankles and feet needed some much deserved rest, and also because we woke up to a horrendous thunderstorm (literally, thunder that shook the seat I was sitting in, everyone in the room jumped!) that continued for the entire day; 13 hours of rain = I'll happily sit and watch movies and eat Ben & Jerry's <yum>.

   The terrain here in Maine continues to be rooty and rocky, but we hit a couple of Mtns recently that have mixed a bunch of crazy steep climbs, with not so challenging trail (actual dirt!). I just posted a pic on facebook of us standing on one of these mountains called "The Horn."

   ...and we're continuing to meet a plethora of eclectic folk out here on the trail. Many are poor, some are downright homeless, some have ten grand to blow on this experience. I'm constantly asking people about their tattoos (b/c I'm always fascinated by what people choose to get imprinted on their bodies) and we met one woman about a week ago that had a tattoo of a kite on the middle finger of her right hand. When I asked her about it, she took a breath, kind of shrugged, and said, "Oh, I was in a cult." Kinda like 'whaddaya gonna do, eh?' She went on, "I got out, or escaped or whatever, about 3 years ago and when my oldest son went to get a tattoo he took me along to get a cover up, and I came out with this kite."
   Fascinated as I was, I couldn't think of any non-rude questions, so I don't have the full story.

   Other than interesting people, the days are starting to fall into a routine:
Breakfast,
Pack up the tent if we set it up,
Filter water
Hike, snack, Hike, lunch, Hike, snack,
Arrive at shelter or campsite: I set up tent and inflate mattresses while Lyss cooks dinner. (Dinner usually consists of boiling water and throwing stuff in, but she claims to enjoy the cooking aspect of it, and that's fine with me :)
Journal and/or chat with shelter peeps
Sleep not-so-well, b/c of creaky air mattresses or snoring shelter-sharers
wake up and do it all again.

That's the life! Pictures don't seem to be working right now, but I'll see if I can post some on facebook, which I'm pretty sure everyone reading this can see.