Day Five - Link gets an eyeful

Day five - Saturday

Early AOP. It's amazing that a good's night sleep can erase 80 miles of wear and tear. No shade cast on either the condo from night one or the campground for the last two nights, but this was the way to do it. Duly noted for next time (Like there would actually be a next time).

*SIDE NOTE*

-This happened earlier in the trip, but for the life of me can't remember when. Maybe end of day one, beginning of day two? We had lot of local media coverage in Maine leading up to the walk. Just before leaving, Joe's hometown paper (Joe lives in New Jersey) did an article about him and the walk. Joe told us about the coverage. Went something like this. Article started of with...."Bob McHugh of...". Joe became Bob off and on for the rest of the trip, Good stuff. -

Huddle in the parking lot then we were off to the city line of Danvers. Would like to make it to the Boston town line - just about 14 miles.

John brings us to the exact spot we stopped during our walk with Elsa the day before - The Boston Sports Club. Still a very hilly climb, now I know how the Hilltop restaurant got it's name, never actually dawned on me before.

First half of the day was straight along route 1 in Saugus. This must be one of the heaviest trafficked roads in New England. As a kid going down to Red Sox games I still remember the excitement driving in the back of a car (sometimes facing backwards in a rear facing seat of a station wagon) on this stretch of divided two lane highway of cars on each side, whizzing by, bumper to bumper, usually being ably driven by my Dad or Norm Payette (Denise's dad - one of the original four), what a thrill as a kid.

Here's a prior post where I pay homage to this road and a particular memory I have of it.

https://pompatusofpete.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-day-we-all-grew-up-little-bit.html

Bit of a recap of this stretch -

• Decent weather compared to the 90 degree days and tropical storm we had experienced thus far. Maybe low eighties?
• Still a lot of water in the breakdown (or for us, the walking) lane
• At the top of the second or third hill we had a break for a photo op

• The Cabaret is a strip club. Don't know if it's more or less seedy than the strip club across the street - The Golden Banana. Probably splitting hairs here.
• That's me and Joe tipping Denise as she makes her best non stripper pose. Note that they are hiring dancers.
• Cars whizzing by, we are passing all of the landmarks I remember as a kid.
• Here's one you might recognize

• The aforementioned Hilltop. Alas, it is no longer a restaurant. Super busy place back in the day. Always a long wait. Place was huge, Their rooms were named after old time Western towns like Dodge City or Kansas City. My wife's family breaks into a verbal rendition of how the hosts or hostesses used to make the announcements when your table was ready (cup your hands together around your mouth and say "Pandora - table of seven in Sioux City. Actually it was more like " Pandora - table of seven in Soooooo City"). Or something like that. They do it much better.
• Miles and miles of being sandwiched between fast moving traffic and every form of retail establishments imaginable.
• Hopping puddles, sometimes walking on sidewalks, sometimes breakdown lanes, sometimes just the grass or gravel.
• Admittedly some traffic dodging.
• Did you know the nickname of the Saugus High School mascot is the Sachems.
• One - Surprised that is still being used as the mascot (look at the Cleveland Indians, Washington Redskins, etc,)
• Two - Maybe the next best choice would be the Saugus Strip Clubs.
• Three - Saying Sachems make me giggle like the teen age boy I think I still am.

                            

• We're close to the point where we get off of Route 1 for the final leg into Boston - this was the recommendation from Dave and Maria the night before . Their advice -
• Stopping at Kane's Donuts was a must do. We got a few. Ok, maybe one or two more than a few. Handsome Joe opted for a slice of pizza. Even Denise partook in the donut haul.

• The second piece of advice was that this is where we would veer off of Route 1, onto Route 99. This was the way to get to Boston if you were walking, Coincidentally, that's just what we were doing.
• This is actually the spot where we hung a right on to 99.

• This guy used to be in a miniature golf course we used to pass by when we were flying by in the car back in the 1970's. Now he sits atop and behind an enormous wall, maybe in the same location? Right about here there used to be batting cages we would some times visit on our way through, Bob , I mean, Joe and I remembered the cages being built into a natural granite wall so all of your line drives and homeruns would careen off of that granite mountainside. Good stuff when you're twelve years old,
• Route 99- less traffic, more sidewalks. Interesting part of the walk. We are now on Broadway, This is our straight shot into Boston.
• We no longer have the traffic, but we do have neighborhoods, Lots and lots of neighborhoods. And sidewalks, Sidewalks are good,
• Saugus into Melrose into Malden into Everett. Lot's of ethnicity. Asian markets, Italian food stores, Barber shops with names like Zip Zap hair salon or Razzle Dazzle Barbershop or Style Cave.
• This should give you an idea of the density of this area

• A combination of blocks of apartment buildings, cemeteries that are the only green space for blocks and the occasional plantings between the sidewalk and the side of the road.

• Not far from this idyllic shot the five of us walk past a bus stop. In it was a veteran. Perhaps homeless, sitting alone with a newspaper in his lap.
• Denise walks by, no eye contact from him. Then Pete, Joe, and Tom.
• When Link walks by, he had moved the newspaper off his lap and , let's say, gotten a little more comfortable.
• So comfortable that his, I don't know the best way to say this, his member, or penis, or rumpleforeskin, or ding dong, or tiny tim, or frank 'n beans, or flagpole (need I say more? Didn't think so), had found its way out from behind the safety of his zipper and into the fresh air of a brave new world.
• He was happy to show Link, I don't know how happy Link was to see it. Link did say he was only flying at half staff.
• Why he picked Link to do the show and tell, we don't know, but he was the chosen one.
• We tried to get Denise to go back to snap a pic, but she opted to pass. Good call.
• Walked for blocks with a few of us needing a pit stop. Popped into a few establishments, none with a public restroom.
• Things were starting to get serious.
• Finally, a sub shop , DiBlasi's, had one, but we had to go around the back and use the rear entrance in a back alley. Very grateful.
• This picture of the back door does not do justice to possibly the filthiest bathroom I've ever had the displeasure of stepping into. Not as grateful.

• A few blocks up we did a pit stop on the side of Broadway. Building we stopped in front of was the Everett Masonic Hall. Tom is a Mason. The Masons were very generous to our fundraising effort. Held a pancake breakfast with the proceeds going to us...Tom went from lodge to lodge in Greater Portland spreading the word and raising money for the cause. I think this was Tom's favorite stop of the entire trip.

• John informed us that we were five miles from the Boston city limits. We pressed on.
• Joe or John (forget which) had been speaking with WBZ (I think it was WBZ) and they wanted to do an on the road interview with us. We decided to take a break at the Encore Boston Hotel and Casino. Good spot for an interview. Huge complex just before the Mystic River which is the border of Boston.

• Made friendly with the doorman, let five sweaty walkers and one non sweaty driver hang on the benches at the entrance while we waited for the camera man to show up to do our interview. We thanked him by giving him two of our custom made koozies
• Moved away from the entrance to do the interview. We had done so much media coverage over the past week, it was getting old hat. Group always seemed to have Pete be the spokesman, which is odd because, if you remember, I've got a great face for radio. TV, not so much.
• Check this out...

• Just had a bridge to cross then another mile or so and we'd end the day. Bridge we walked over was either the Malden bridge or the Alford Street bridge. Either way, it was a drawbridge, and guess what?

• Yep. Bridge was up. Slight delay.
• Get across the bridge, over the river and we were now in Boston, Charlestown to be exact.
• Spent a minute or two discussing what the Schrafft's building was all about. Joe voted for brewery (makes sense with a name like that) I was hoping for a candy factory. Turns out it did indeed used to be a candy factory, but not for the last 35 years or so, Still, I'm claiming victory on that one. 

• Finished our walk in the shadow of Bunker Hill Community College, For those of you with any movie trivia interest, this is where Good Will Hunting was filmed.

• Done for the day. We were just about four miles from Fenway. For the first time the end actually was in sight. We were feeling good. Extremely good. Almost celebratory. But not yet. We still had one more day.
• Brief recap of the rest of our day
• John brings us back to the Champions Pub. Remember John and I went there the night before with our friends Dave and Maria? Now we had to share our favorite spot in Peabody with the other walkers. Another one of the good choices for the trip. Some version of steak tips all around (straight tips, tips subs, tips salad, tips shake - well maybe not a tips shake - and so forth and so on). We looked relieved, right?

• During our meal Joe gets a call from his older brother, David. Dave wants to know where we are, says he and his wife are in town early for tomorrow's game, maybe they can meet up with us there. Joe gives him the deets.
• David and his wife never show up, but when we go to pay our bill, we find it's already been covered. Joe's brother. Well played you sneaky bastard , well played. Another random act of kindness we were blessed with on our journey.
• Back to the hotel, showered up, and head to the lobby.
• Turns out David and his wife actually were planning on meeting up with us and do so here.
• Denise's sister Donna (who was also a big part of our pre trip planning process) also pays us a visit. Donna brought candy. Divvied amongst the six of us, just in case we felt like having a snack in our rooms. Just in case.
• There is a wedding reception going on in the hotel (yes , it was a nice place... not Tidewater Campgrounds nice but nice enough for a wedding reception).

• Pete, a little slow on the download (and I'm not blaming it on our pre-celebratory drinks we were partaking in) sees a captive audience and dispatches someone to get the Fenway for Our Fathers sign and a Jimmy Fund donation canister out on a table to see if there might be some takers.
• Turns out there were, but if we had been about an hour quicker - pre reception - we would have been raking in the dough.
• Talked to a couple of the party goers that were interested in our story, Gave them our website info, and got a few donations that way as well.
• Only John and I felt like getting some dinner so we ordered pizzas to be delivered to the lounge of the hotel. Funny, when the pizza showed up, turns out it wasn't only Pete and John that wanted dinner. We made quick work of those pizzas.
• We each headed back to our rooms, one day left, we were feeling good, Very good.
• Pete was the last one in the elevator and when he got on, rode up with two women that had some interesting pastries with them. Making small talk up in the elevator, seems these were available for the asking, if you knew who to ask.
• So...Pete rides back down, gets a platter of creme brulee and brownies, and delivers them to Tom and Joe's room, Denise either wasn't interested or I didn't think she'd be interested, so Link and I made sure the extras didn't go to waste.
• One day left. The culmination of over a year and a half of planning was upon us.

• Up next - Final day. Papa gets to get back on the field 48 years later.

Day Four - Elsa comes to town

 It was a dark and stormy night.

No bears heard overnight, but plenty of wind and rain. I vaguely remember having to get up in the middle of the night and going outside (you can all guess why) and getting fairly soaked.

We're all up early, since that has worked every other day. Made the decision to call John (remember John was staying in a place who's "front yard" was not under four inches of rain like ours was) and decide to wait it out for a bit. 

We had an eight foot overhang off of the camper, so picnic table and all chairs were huddled under to keep us as dry as possible. This is where we formulated our plans for the day. We were one day ahead of our planned schedule, so we could actually walk zero miles today and still be on track for making it to the field prior to the game on Sunday. But you've got four Red Riots (and Tom), and that ain't how we play that game. We had built up a bit of a road warrior mentality over the prior three days, plowing through the heat, and the aches, and pains, so no tropical storm was going to stop us. Especially one named after a Disney character.

Here's the other thing, this was move out day from the campground. Next two nights were in a hotel in Peabody MA. (For you non New Englanders - that's pronounced Peebidy). So not only did we have to get ready for the walk, but we also had to pack all of our belongings into John's truck for him to schlep them to our home for the next two nights.

While we waited out the wind and rain we did things like constantly check the weather maps...communicate with John from his dry hotel room...packed...did our radio interviews...and tended to our wounds.

I "eliminated" two monstrous blisters I had been walking on for the last fifty miles or so. While not implementing operating room certified hygiene practices, I did my best not to worsen my condition. Much to my relief the procedure was successful, and with the help of the right combination of bandages, antibiotic cream, first aid strips, duct tape, etc. it made my next 40 miles fairly comfortable. Sometimes you make the right decision.

After a few hours is seemed like the animal pairs we saw walking by on their way to the ark that was docked down the street, we decided to bite the bullet and hit the road.

A brief breakdown of the next few hours -

• John shows up and he maneuvers his truck between two trees and under the canopy to try to stay as dry as possible to load up our supplies. John takes pride in his driving skills. I was impressed.
• We (he) load up the back of his truck in the pouring rain. He's got one of those canvas covers to keep everything dry and in place, but obviously that needed to be peeled back to put the load in. This was where John earned his money...wait a minute, he wasn't paid for this...so let's say this is where John earned our respect.
• The weather maps showed the rain still with us for a few hours, but we were getting antsy and could not wait any longer. We were driven, but we were not necessarily smart.
• John brought us the the spot we had left off yesterday, much to the chagrin of Joe because it was at the bottom of another immense hill. The same hill that we decided we could not reach the summit of that day before.
• So, driving rain, layers of clothes, wet feet, and a positive attitude and we were off. Had to be better than 90 degree heat, right? Actually, yes, right.
• Some images of this stretch...

I had some videos of the torrents of water we were dealing with on the road, but can't seem to get them posted. Anyway, I think you get what we were dealing with. This was still a very very (very) hilly stretch and the volume of water we were walking through on the side of the road was, let's see, what's the right word,....deep.

Towards the end of the day the rain actually subsided, so now we were just carrying ten miles of rain soaked into our gear. It just wasn't being constantly replenished at this point.

Like I said, we had covered ten miles, which by the prior three day's standards was a drop in the bucket, but when that bucket is a rain bucket, that is plenty.

Time to stop. We had made it to Danvers. Time to dry off, check into the hotel, shower up, and start to feel like humans again.

But first, a nice meal in a great spot in Peabody (yes, there are great spots in Peabody). Landed in a neighborhood pub by the name of Paddy Kelly's. This was one of the good decisions of the trip.

We look ok, don't we?

Made friendly with the locals - got to love locals in a pub early afternoon on a Friday. Told them our story, once again, got a few donations on the spot from a Mom and daughter across the bar from us, and another guy (picture Norm from Cheers, same seat at the bar every day) that was very definitely a regular patron.

After lunch we loaded into the truck to check into the hotel. No offence to the Tidewater Campground, but this was my kind of camping. We broke off into our rooms, Pete and Link in one...Joe and Tom in another...Denise and John in their own rooms. This was the first time since we left on Tuesday that John slept in the same location as us. Now we all saw what we had been missing.

We had some time to clean up, rest and relax. Dinner plans that night were to meet up up with friends of John and mine - Dave and Maria. A fantastic salt of the earth couple. I've seen as many Red Sox games with Dave as I have with anyone (with the probably exception of John). Dave and Maria are locals and we knew they'd bring us to just the right spot, for dinner. Did they ever.

Joe, Link, Tom, and Denise opted to relax in the hotel that night so just John and I. Not the best decision by those four, but rectified the following night.

Spot we went to was called the Dugout. This was the kind of place only a local would know about...not a tourist. Just to get a flavor of the place, here is the table we sat at

Get the feel?

Anyway, their special dish is the steak tips. If I tried to describe how good these were I don't have the adjectives in my vocabulary to accurately represent how sensational a pleasure it was to have made this choice for dinner. Suffice to say, we loved them so much that this is where John and I brought the other walkers the next night so they could experience this place for themselves, That was one of the better decisions of the trip.

So, great conversations over dinner, Some clarity from our hosts about the best way to navigate the walking route from Danvers/Saugus into Boston. This was invaluable, as the next leg was a little tricky in planning from the Google maps research I had one pre-trip. They even gave us a little tip for a decadent treat, which I will share in the next post.

Said our good byes to our friends and head back to the hotel. Early start in the morning, This was going to be our last big push - hoped to make it to the Boston city limits to minimize the walk on our last day to Fenway.

Best night of sleep since we had left home,

Next up - Link gets an eyeful.

Day 3 - The hills are alive with the sound of wheezing

 Location: Tidewater Campground

Time: Pre-dawn

AOP was 6:30, and despite the heat and miles, and aches and pains put on the day before we were ready to hit the road early. Today's weather was forecast to be around 80 degrees, a 15 degree improvement over the first two days...we were one full day ahead of schedule (20 miles farther south than what we had planned for) and feeling good for today's walk.

John shows up, we do our protein bars, fruit, hydration, discuss our goal for the day (if we were to stay that one day ahead, our goal was Rowley MA, 20 miles ahead). There was some talk of Tropical storm Elsa being nearby sometime tomorrow. We wondered if that might affect us. Hmmmm, I wonder?

Doing our best to stick to the 4MPH speed limit in the campground, right on to Route 1 south - and we're off!

Recap of the few miles from our start to the Massachusetts border

• Long and flat
• Desolate stretches through saltwater marshes
• Pleasant walk though Hampton, Hampton Falls, and then Seabrook
• Lot's of retail along the road...Christmas stores, antique barns, furniture shops, etc.
• Then we came across the mini mall of Decadence
• One stop shopping for all of your vices
• Adult video store, smoke shop, pawn shop, fireworks store, tattoo parlor, and comic book store...bookended by a trailer park and a cemetery. Oh, and the Poker Room just across the street.

• Despite something there for each one of us, we decided to not stop.

• First break of the day in Seabrook, maybe five miles in
• I do my WBLM interview, just as charming and loquacious as I had been the first two days of my on the road interviews. I'm telling you, I've got a face for radio.
• Spent the next twenty minutes trying to stream the interview on Link's phone. 18 minutes of ads (which seemed odd, but after being on the road for two days and walking about fifty miles, we were a bit slower mentally), until we heard the DJ say "Thanks for checking in Pete". So much for that.
• Another milestone - the NH/MA border!

On we went.

Not much difference between the southern end of Route 1 in NH and the northern end of Route 1 in MA. Lot's of retail...not many neighborhoods.

Walked through another marsh area - maybe the fourth or fifth of the trip? Seemed we were getting close to some bigger water. What made us think that? How about this? Denise doing her best Vanna White.

Either this was one of those rare great white marsh sharks, or we were getting close to the ocean.

So far, it's been a nice walk. We'd covered about 10 miles. Lot's of streams and rivers on this stretch.

Next up was the bridge over the Merrimack River (whenever I say Merrimack River I instantly think of Joe Cupo, former weatherman for a local TV station, whose catchphrase for the weather was "Eastport to the Merrimack River) which would bring us to Newburyport.

From the beginning of the planning of the route we knew Newburyport was going to be a pinch point for the walk. No legitimate way to walk through town on Route 1, and no decent walk around. No problem, we had John.

In a minute John was there to pick us up ( actually, that's not true...John was already pulled over after this bridge to pick up us. John knew, he always knew). Drove us maybe two miles and dropped us at the intersection of Route 1 and Boston Road. I remember this because I cracked some sort of Dad joke about taking that road all the way to Boston.

Jumped out and got going. Again.

If you look at this stretch on a map it shows a straight shot....

What a two dimensional map doesn't show is the rise and fall of elevation. This stretch was the hilliest of the trip so far. I'm not doing them justice by calling them hills. Mountains might be a bit of an exaggeration. What falls between a hill and a mountain? A high hill? A small mountain? Don't know. What I do know is there were mile after mile of long hills...the kind of hills where you couldn't see over the crest from the bottom...the kind of hill you wouldn't feel comfortable not applying your brakes on if you were riding down it on a bicycle...the kind of hill where if you dropped a ball from the top of it, it might roll for three miles before it came to a stop. Those kinds of hills.

Some recollections of these hills - 

• We saw hundreds (yes, hundreds) of empty nip (small 50ml size, for you non drinkers) bottles. I'm talking biblical amounts of bottles. This was not a heavily walked area so these are clearly being ingested and tossed from cars. A scary thought. I can safely say the good people of Massachusetts have a issue with the consumption of little bottles of alcohol while driving or being driven in motor vehicles.

• To the best of my recollection I say popularity went something like this
• Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey - by far, at least half of all nips were this brand
• Smirnoff Vodka
• Bailey's Irish Cream
• Patron' Tequila
• and then a toss up between Jack Daniels and Makers Mark Whiskey
• Pre walk, Joe wanted to place a wager on how much money we would find on the ground during the course of the walk. Apparently Joe walks with his head down, remember, he found that cursed cross in Biddeford on day one. He was laying the smart money at about five bucks. The bet should have been on number of nips we'd see on the road from the MA state line to Fenway Park. I'd put it at about 500. No lie.
•  After about the 12th consecutive hill Link and I actually did see a quarter on the ground. No way I was going to, or was able to, bend over to pick that up. Joe and Tom were about 200 feet behind us , so Link and I paused , hollered out to them, and pointed at the ground where the quarter was. Then we kept on up the hill. 
• A minute or so later Joe and Tom were in the area of the quarter, and wouldn't you know it, Joe did not disappoint, he was not going to let that be passed without picking up.
• Watching Joe muster the willpower to bend over mid hill (or mountain) to get that was precarious and hilarious at the same time.
• Jesus, didn't we laugh about that. I told him later he looked like a weeble when he bent over to retrieve that quarter. Weebles wobble but they don't fall down.

                        

• Came up to the Blue Boat seafood restaurant in Rowley MA. Time to eat! Once again we did not scrimp on the carb intake. Fried food all around, except for Denise. Denise opted for a grilled cheese. That's will power.
• While we were eating we got to telling another customer (this was an order at the window, eat outside establishment) about our story. He asked for our website info and vowed to donate to our cause. Another guy, got out of his car, told us he overheard us talking to guy number 1 and said he just got on our website and had made a donation. Good stuff
• On we went. At some point...maybe hill #8?, we pass a golf course. A golfer pulls up on his cart alongside me and Link and asks if "We were those guys walking to Boston? I heard about you on the radio, that's pretty cool". Pretty cool indeed.
• Came to a final daunting hill and to a person we all were thinking, "Can we make it up that one?" When we got closer to the base of the Monster hill, was that a white truck pulled over up ahead? By God, once again, it was John to the rescue. Telepathically knowing when we were done. And we were.
• Finished up walking for the day directly in front of the Topsfield Fairgrounds. Total miles covered for the day 27.... 28 miles ahead of schedule. We'd need this.
• Doubled back to the camp ground for night two.
• Link on the phone with his lovely wife, Michelle.
• Michelle offered up driving down to deliver Italians (for those of you not from Maine, that's Italian sandwiches. You might know them as grinders, or hero, or sub, or torpedo. Scratch all of that. They're just called Italians).
• We, of course took her up on that offer. Two hours later we were eating our Italians.
• Michelle also delivered a much needed prescription to Link, he would be a new man for the rest of the walk, and some sweet, custom made, limited edition, collectible koozies. I'd explain what a koozie is, for you non-Mainers, but the Italian explanation wore me out.

• Sweet, right? I know a guy that , for the right price, might have a couple on hand .
• This my friends is the end of day 3.

Next up - Tropical Storm Elsa.

Did anyone else hear those bears last night?

Time to start tightening these up a bit. If I don't start dropping some details and adding some more mileage, these posts will never make it to Boston.

Quick recap.

We're now up to a little after noon on day 2. We've already walked over 22 miles for the day. 95 degree heat.

Lunch at York River Landing, in ,of all places, York Maine. Once again, five sweat soaked walkers and their air conditioned co-pilot led to us getting seated in the far corner away from any other diners. Don't blame them.

We'd gone a long way since our start this morning, and were already six miles beyond our planned stop for the day so this would be a good place to stop, right? Wrong.

The NH border was only six miles ahead and what's 28 miles in one day between friends? 56,000 steps is what it is.

So, we pressed on. NH or bust

Nice stretch of road - all along Route 1.

We looked surprisingly fresh.

Tom's selfie stick in action.

How about this one of Tom and Handsome Joe?

Fast forward about two and a half hours, like I said, all along Route 1, through the outlets in Kittery, a break or two for water, (seems like there was a decent hill after the rotary in Kittery - this would be a preview of what we would encounter over the next two days), and "suddenly" the bridge over the Piscataqua River is in our sights. For those of you not from Maine or New Hampshire, this is the border between the two states. This one was a moral victory for us. 

There was a bit of celebrating when we crossed the border. We were now just a few miles from our day three goal of Hampton. After two days of walking we were almost a full day ahead of schedule.

Done walking for the day. Time to transition to our home for the next two nights.

Pile into John's truck, in the new approved configuration - Pete up front, and drive a scant few miles to Tidewater Campgrounds in Hampton NH.

Home sweet home....

This was Tom's camper. Among the many things Tom contributed to the walk, this might have been the biggest. Tom drove this down prior to the walk (per my poor suggestion of "just take route 1 - it's a straight shot" - not taking into account this was the weekend before the Fourth of July - meaning the route I pre-drove in April now took about two hours longer to drive in July), got it set up in a sweet spot, and had it waiting for us at the end of day two (it is still day two, isn't it?). He even charmed the owner into giving him a spot for the week for the price of two nights (which is all we'd be staying there).

Quick synopsis of of first afternoon/evening at Tidewater.

• Did a once over of the camper, unpacked, put things in place, etc.
• We each took some personal time
• Link, Tom, and Denise all immediately showered and triaged (once again, separately)
• Pete and Joe took a dip in the Saltwater pool...in the clothes we had been wearing for the day
• After we were all showered, called in an order at Sal's pizza at Hampton Beach

• Guy at Sal's gave us a price break because they were "just too expensive" ..or something like that. Can't say for sure....
• DEVOURED those pizzas, Funny, early into the meal we were commenting on things like, "They'll be plenty of leftovers for breakfast tomorrow", "I love pizza for breakfast", and other things that were no longer relevant 45 minutes later.
• John quickly became intimate with the 4 MPH speed limit drilled into him by the keeper of the gate
• Had a nice campfire with great stories to tell, both of the day's walk and of the last 45-50 years that we have known each other. Once again, the best part of the day.
• Probably (definitely) a few beers later we landed on the sleeping arrangements for the next two nights
• Denise in one of the "rooms" (apologies, not being a camper myself, I have no idea what those wings on both ends of the camper are called).
• Tom on the other end
• Pete in one that popped out open off the kitchen area
• Joe on a couch /bench
• Link on a mattress on top of what becomes a table when it isn't time to sleep
• No complaints from anyone (especially Pete, Tom, and Denise)
• John, the smart one, at a hotel about five miles down the road
• In bed , maybe by 10:00? Getting an early start worked so well for us this day that we planned for AOP at 6:00AM the next day.
• Despite the blisters - we're feeling super good about the distance we had covered. Through two full days of walking, we had already accrued one day "in the bank". This would come in very handy in a few days,
• Best night of sleep since the night before the night before we left (remember, none of us slept well the night before the start).
• The next morning Denise swore she heard bears outside her bunk. We looked for tracks but found none. It wasn't until the next day that we all realized what she heard was the grunting and snorting of four tired walking bear brothers that were asleep in the trailer with her. Maybe not bringing our sleep apnea machines wasn't the best idea after all. Ain't getting old the best ?

- Next up -

Day three - The hills are alive with the sound of wheezing.