Day 60: Inn at Long Trail

Start: Cooper Lodge (AT mi 1697.8). Stop: Inn at Long Trail (AT mi 1706). Today’s miles: 8.2 miles. Total AT mileage: 681.3 miles

I woke up so many times throughout the night.. I kept thinking mice were darting across me. When I woke up to some sunlight, I saw that Spice had turned around during the night, and let myself fall back to sleep knowing it was her moving I felt-not mice.

I got up at 7:30 and started packing.. Spice told me there were definitely mice running amuck last night. So. Disgusting. And I am beyond happy I hung my food instead of leaving it on the table. Not to mention, I literally slept with my mouth open because my nose was stuffy. Ugh. I am so creeped out!

I started walking sometime after 8:15 and took my sweet, sweet time. I was sloshing down the mountain at a pace slower than my normal, simply because I knew I was headed to the inn and they don’t “open” until 11 and the attached Irish pub doesn’t start serving lunch until 11:30. So, I took it slow. My feet did not stay dry, but the rest of me would have been if I didn’t have to put back on wet clothes.. haha. It only rained when the wind blew, aka, all the water was on the leaves..

I got to the inn just after 11:15. I got a room, but it wasn’t clean yet, so the nice gentleman let me start my laundry while I waited. I went into the little room and changed into my rain pants (that I’ve only worn at camp once to keep warm lol) and my warm jacket-and nothing else-because everything else was in the washer: 2 undies, 2 sportsbras, 2 pair of socks, 1 pair of shorts, 1 hiking short sleeve top, 1 camp long sleeve top, 1 pair of marino wool leggings, 1 rain jacket (it stunk). And that’s literally all the clothes I have with me. So weird some times, but it makes picking out an outfit real easy! Ha

Once the wash was done, I put everything (except the rain jacket) into the dryer, got it going, and then went to find the attached pub/restaurant so I could eat lunch. I sat at the bar and got a beer and a blue cheese burger. Those have legit been my favorite lately..

While I was eating, Spotts and Snapshot appeared! They got their room and as he handed them their key, he came and gave me mine, too! I so wasn’t expecting for it to be ready for a lot longer! I finished my food, paid, and then got my laundry and headed upstairs to my new home for the night. The Inn at Long Trail is a bed and breakfast and so super cute. My room is small, and the bathroom is even more so, but it feels huge in the grand scheme of things.

I showered, which is a very long endeavor these days. I usually wash my hair twice, scrub my body twice, stand under the scalding water a little longer than the person paying the water bill probably prefers. But on these cold wet days, a hot shower literally revives you!

I hung up my tent to dry, along with all my other stuff.. we call it “yard sale-ing” when you dump out all your stuff everywhere. I have 100% yard saled all over this poor room. And they have a fan-so that was set on the bed to blow into the bathroom to help the tent drying process some.

As I was messing around my room, I noticed a spot on my back was now double the size that it had been the first time I noticed it-which was on my zero in Manchester early last week. I got nervous, talked to a couple people about it (Lauren and Stacey), and decided when I went to town to resupply, I’d stop at an urgent care first to see what they thought. It’s big, red, and oval shaped.. I was certain it was Lyme’s Disease because of Towelie’s diagnosis.. but its hard to say because I don’t have any true symptoms like he had-severe fatigue and fever.

I got out to the bus stop in front of the inn at 2:15. Spotts and Snapshot showed up, too. I showed them my back and they agreed it’s better to get it checked out before I start having the bad symptoms. The bus came 5 minutes later and then headed towards Rutland, Vermont. DoubleDecker and Smiles got picked up along the way! We all got off at the transport center, they headed to Walmart, I walked the mile to urgent care.

They got me back relatively quick. I had come in just before six other people showed up, so I was grateful they didn’t bump me to treat them, although in all honesty, they looked like they needed attention more than I did. The NP that saw me didn’t seem convinced that it was Lyme. She didn’t want to test for it, since I wasn’t showing more worrisome symptoms. She checked it out and then made a comment that it could be ringworm, but it doesn’t make sense because of its location.. I mention I put everything I have in a backpack and it goes: on my back. She said she’d be back, she was going to go research it better. When she comes back, she’s determined it’s pityriasis and that it’ll go away on its own. I had showed her my heat rash, too (2 birds 1 stone and all that), and she was convinced that the heralds patch on my back was related to the heat rash. I tell her the timing doesn’t make sense. She doesn’t waiver. She makes the comment that I can “keep using over the counter hydrocortisone cream since its working.”

Y’all, I tried to be kind, but I was irritated. I pulled up my shorts and ask her if it looks like the hydrocortisone cream is actually helping. I talked her into prescribing a stronger steroid cream for that, which she did, but she said she thinks the spot on my back will go away on its own. After talking more with FarOut, telling her the conversation we had, we’re leaning more towards ringworm and I’ll pick up an antifungal as soon as I can.

I rushed to the grocery store and got my resupply for food, and then hurried over to Walmart to get the steroid cream. I was overwhelmed with everything I needed and had to do that I forgot the antifungal. I surprisingly made it back to the bus station at 5:10, and the last hourly bus picked me up at 5:15 to take me back to the inn. If I had missed it, I wouldn’t have had a ride until 8:15!

Back at the inn, I unloaded my stuff and went down to dinner. I got the Shepard’s pie and drank water.. it was delicious, but this Irish pub has nothing on Tracy Knowles’ Shepard’s pie. That’s for certain. Half way through my dinner, Spotts and Snapshot showed up. They had taken an earlier bus back from Walmart. We chatted and ate together at the bar. They’re both from Georgia, too, and I really enjoy them. They’re funny and laid back.. it’s difficult to meet someone out here that I don’t like, really. Well, besides those kids-but that’s more of an irritation of their lack of respect for others while in their group as a whole than a personal dislike.

Anyway, I finally went upstairs to my room and took another shower, lathered on my new cream, and got to work organizing my food. It’s so damn heavy on resupply day. I was going to pack my pack so I’d be ready to go in the morning, but all my stuff is still slightly damp, so I’m letting it all air out over night and I’ll pack it in the morning. When you pack every single day, you kinda get into a rhythm with it. Everything has its place and you immediately recognize when something is missing. Better to keep that routine alive. LOL

Well, it’s 10pm and my eyes are heavy.. this bed is so comfortable! I’m sure there won’t be mice running past me tonight 🙂 Goodnight, y’all.