Hanover NH

August 18 - Hanover NH - home of Dartmouth college.

State number 13 of 14

1720 miles from Springer

440 miles from Katahdin

Getting closer all the time

Topics:

Dartmouth College

Lodging in Hanover

End of the anti-biotics

starting to get colder

Shelter Experience

knee problems

People from Seattle

Completion Date

Dartmouth College

Hanover is the home of Dartmouth College. I have been told that it is a

Ivy league school. the town is supposed to have a population of 6000 people

or so. The two most striking features from my point of view:

There are computers everywhere

They are all Mac's

I have had to retrain myself to use the single button Mac Mouse, and ask for

help when I can't seem to make things work.

Lodging in Hanover

There are two styles of lodging in Hanover

$5 per night at one of the 3 coed fraternities

$200 per night at the only in town motel

The fraternity has a shower ( no towels ), a

washer dryer, a refrigerator, and a living room where hikers can keep their

packs and sleep on the floor. There were about ten people sleeping there

last night. There are two other fraternities that also welcome hikers. One

seems to be known as the party fraternity and the other one doesn't seem to

be that well kept up.

The End of the anti-biotics

My thirty day supply of anti-biotics ran out about 4 days ago. I

thought I was either having withdrawal symptoms or the disease was

recurring. Now I don't know. I started having knee problems and I also

started having some tingling in my upper legs.

Starting to get colder.

We have had a couple of 50 degree nights recently. Mostly this means

that I have had to zip up my sleeping bag the whole way. I have asked my

wife Jan to ship back my long underwear, wool hat and gloves. This is a far

cry from lying on top of my thermalrest waiting for it to cool off. Right

now it seems that my winter clothes may have been sent off to never-never

land. This time we have delivery confirmation and will be able to see where

it is. This post office seems to have a reputation for not being able to

find all of your packages the first or second try.

Shelter Experience.

I spent my first night in a shelter about a week ago. Up to this time I

had always tented out. Several things kept me from sleeping in the shelters.

Fear of mice

Fear of Bugs

Fear of losing my life from snoring.

An excuse that F.A.L. used when asked about sleeping in shelters was " an

irrational fear of hanta virus" this usually keeps people quiet.

The reasons that I changed my pattern were;

It was raining

The shelter actually had a door that could be closed.

There were almost no tent spaces near the shelter.

I didn't feel like packing up my wet tent in the morning.

Since then I have stayed in two or three more shelters. I do like the

convenience of not having to set up my tent and then pack it in the morning.

I haven't found that the mice were a problem, and most of the shelters are

filled with only two or three people these days. There is a large crowd of

people about a day ahead of me, but that is all that is needed to keep my

current shelter near empty. About three weeks ago I spent a night tenting at

a shelter that had perhaps 21 people staying that night. The single man

tents were within 3 or 4 feet of each other. Normally it is closer to 20 or

30 feet of separation.

Knee Pain

FOr the last 45 miles or so both of my knees have been hurting. I don't

know if it is from the coming off of the anti-biotics or because of the

hiking that I did before that. I have increased my Ibuprofen to the maximum

level ( 2400 mgrams ) and am looking for a

knee brace here in Hanover. This is also another reason for taking the two

ZERO days here in Hanover.

People from Seattle

For the past two weeks or so I have been meeting Southbounders who are

from the Seattle area. It is really strange since I met so few folks from

there before. One guy actually worked in the Lake Stevens McDonalds for

awhile.

Completion Date

It still looks like I could be finished near the end of September. It

depends on how well my knees hold up, the weather, and how many miles that I

can make at a time.

I still have the 100 mile wilderness to complete at the very end.

People usually describe it as roots and rocks. I also have the White

Mountains to go over here in New Hampshire, which includes Mt Washington,

which has some of the worst weather and winds in the United States. I just

finished making my reservations for several of the huts in the White

Mountains. For a transfer of cash they will provide a sleeping spot, dinner

and breakfast. I was hoping for 3 huts in a row, but only could get two. The

reasons for going with the huts include the fact that the nearest camping

areas are about .5 miles downhill, and that is something that I would like

to avoid. I may try for some more reservations as the time gets closer. The

ones I tried for were the most popular of the group.

IF you have any questions, let me know. I still will be here for one more

full day.

"Mike on the AT"

"No Rain No Pain No Maine"