A midnight run to the neighboring Subway kept me up late with a full stomach. Totally worth it though. I still woke up around 9am, because the included breakfast beckoned. We wasted a lot of time today enjoying the comforts of the clean indoors, it was very nice and very lazy.
We got moving at around 12:30pm (thank you late checkout) and made a beeline for the Dollar General, which is a massive market here in Daleville. We quickly stocked up, as we will hit another town tomorrow, and walked outside into a torrential thunderstorm. After divvying up the food and throwing on rain gear, we made our way back to the Mexican place for another delicious meal. One of the waiters showed a lot of interest in the trail and we chatted for a little while. I also got a chance to watch a couple of movie trailers there including Django Unchained. Thank you Tarantino for being such a badass filmmaker!
Walking past the trailhead, we made our way to the gear shop. We saw Meta on the way, and Tapeworm with his new shoes. I followed suit, and picked out my new vehicles for the next few hundred miles. I stuck with the Salomon brand, but went with shoes that have a thick grippy tread.
Swapping my Super Feet out of the old shoes and into the new, I donned my footwear and we jumped back onto the trail. By the time we got started we were limited in our shelter choices to one only 5 miles up. It sounded good to me since I now have to break the new shoes in a little.
The hike was easy in its brevity, and at least so far the shoes have worked out beautifully. The biggest difference between my old worn boots and these is that when I stepped on a rock with boots it felt like a sharp point, and now it feels like a dull edge. My feet are grateful!
The shelter is a little crowded tonight with plenty of dogs wandering around. Good bear protection. It's nice to have company again, even if some of them are a little odd. Kooky but entertaining.
I'm looking forward to my first full nights sleep in a while, and we're both very happy to be back on a normal schedule. It feels great to get everything done before the sun sets. Tomorrow may be a long day, but we may end up at a shelter with Tapeworm, Meta, and Shenanigans. That'd make for a fun night, and the possibility for fun is what each day out here is about.
