Day 4 on the Trail

Dave's report on 6/15:
Miles today - 10.9
Miles to date - 39.1

Dave was planning to walk approximately 10 miles/day when he started out, and he's right on target.  As I sit here drinking my morning coffee in an air conditioned house, I can't help but be happy Dave enjoys drinking his coffee by a fire, outside, no matter what the weather, after a night of sleeping on the ground. Different strokes!  Now I'm wondering - did Dave take coffee with him?  I'm not sure he did. I know he boils water in the morning then pours some in a lexan jar, along with his dinner for the evening.  His dinner at that point looks like dark crunchy cereal.  It's in a vacuum-packed bag the size of a hamburger.  He pours the crunchy dinner into the hot water and screws the lid on the jar.  He carries it with him all day and by evening it's been rehydrated into some semblance of a stew.  Dave is still learning how much water to add.  Too much and the meal is watery, not enough and it can be a little crunchy (like his first dinner) or thick like last night which was black bean chili with corn.  Since the consistency was a little too thick, he spread it on a flour tortilla and said it was delicious.  Okay!

This stove in this picture should look like Dave's - I got it off the 'net.  He carries a Snow Peak Giga Power with isobutane canisters.

I asked if the trail was fairly easy; he laughed as he said NO.  He laughed so hard I asked if he was laughing about something else - ?  He said no, he's laughing because otherwise he'd cry.  He said the trail has been very rocky, and in fact he had just gone across a section called The Knife's Edge.  It was composed of rocks and boulders with a 45º drop off on one side and he had to practically crawl over part of it.  He is really glad he bought the boots he did, as they are keeping his feet and ankles in shape. What about his knees?

Pyro had gone into town to resupply and they had no problem meeting up later in the day. For those of you who know the area, they should be close to Wind Gap, PA this evening.

I asked Dave about his weather, and he said the days are hot but the nights are down in the 50's which is very comfortable.  He's had just a few drops of rain.  And speaking of rain, I am thrilled we finally got rain last night - over an inch. I don't think we've had any rain since March.  Seriously.  

I will be mailing a box of food to Dave today, and I have to go to the Lexus dealership to pick up my new key case - not the whole key, just the black plastic part that keeps the electronics inside safe.  Want to guess the price?  $92.  I guess it's that fancy L on the side. The first one lasted 7 years, and it should!, so I hope this one will last at least that long.

The box I'm mailing today is a Medium Priority Mail box.  Dave packed seven before he left.  Today's box contains 11 dinners, almonds, instant potatoes, 7 snack bars, a bag of tortillas, hot chocolate (hmm, no coffee), drink mixes (for electrolytes), dried fruit, granola, a package of powdered milk and dried tortellini. Since he'll be in town to pick it up, he'll also buy whatever else he needs, like peanut butter.  I'll be interested to see how this system works, as I'm sending it to General Delivery.  I'll let you know!