Morning Miss

Early morning cross-state travel to the AT? No need for coffee while driving to keep you alert. A trailer wheel guard flying toward you on the highway accomplishes the same thing. Thankfully I was not following our big van too closely and it was a miss. The cause of the mishap was our trailer tire, which was quickly swapped out with the spare. And how many people does that job require?

One James to inflate the spare,

One Greg to apply the spare,

And one big crowd for the heavy looking on.

The incident was merely a bump in the road to our destination near Falls Village, Connecticut. By early afternoon we were on the trail,

and by early evening, with socks drying in trees, fellowship over supper, 

and devotions in the dark, we were settled in at Limestone Shelter. It would be a cold night of sleep to come.

T-Minus Ten Hours To Trailtime For Turtle 2

As the sun sets on this Tax Day, our packs and poles have been stowed away in the trailer and all that remains for Atira, Nolan and I to prepare for this year's AT Hike is to get some shuteye. 

Keeping Track of Jack

In honor of National Pet Day, I'll introduce you to a new member of the family. He is Tell's Teddy Hamster, bestowed with the name Jack. Our adventures with the rascally rodent began early, as his first act at Brook's Feed and Farm was to bite Tell's hand. He clearly never learned the very relevant "hand that feeds you" proverb. Despite that, Tell stuck with his choice and Jack was placed in a thin carboard box that was to keep him confined for the 10 minute journey home. I suspect this box was not designed by an actual hamster owner. Envision a piranha to flesh and you understand why two minutes into the trip, with Jack's head poking out, we were hauling the plastic hamster ball out to replace the cardboard box.

Since his arrival in March 1, he has escaped twice. His first taste of freedom was courtesy of me forgetting to put a cover on his cage and lasted from Thursday night until Monday morning. I was never so glad to see his furry little face peeking around the soccer ball in Tell's closet.

Fast forward to the following Thursday for the next escape. While his owner slept soundly,

 I placed him in his ball and went to the kitchen table to do some work, not knowing the cover had not clicked securely. Walking across the floor, around 11pm, I was stopped in my tracks by the sight of an abandoned sphere.

 "Not again." With only Nolan awake writing a paper, I searched for a while,  before deciding to be still and listen for hamster rustlings and hear them I did.

 At 1 o'clock in the morning Nolan and I were involved in our own miniature version of a greased pig scramble. It's a shame for that much entertainment to have been deprived of an audience but our successful recapture did give Nolan the second wind that he needed to complete his paper. 

Jack was not happy to give up his freedom and will no doubt try again...