Chap. 51 – Fireworks and Frodo’s Mom

Today’s morning was a bit heavy. We knew we would be in town soon, but the 16.5 miles to town seemed longer than they actually were. Normally it takes us zero days to get to the city, almost zero… not 16.5! Some people would consider 16.5 as nero. We don’t.

After 14 miles of trail and 2.5 miles of blue blazes took us to the nearest trailhead, I ran straight to the outhouse. I thought about it throughout the blue fire and was glad I waited. New toilet paper, hand sanitizer on top and one of the cleanest toilet seats I have ever seen. Top notch!

On the first day, the hikers who arrived at the trailhead were a couple we had passed along the way. I made sure to say hello, smile, and thank them for letting me pass. You never know when a day tripper might turn into a potential city trip! In fact, they ended up being our ticket to the city. They said as long as we didn’t mind the dog sitting between us, they could take us. We definitely didn’t mind, he was a sweetheart!

The sweetest puppy! How well he behaved!

In town, we realized we wouldn’t be able to stay in Frodo’s hotel room with his mother. I started to panic, because it’s the 4th of July… and we weren’t sure if we would find available accommodation. Fortunately, although most hotels were sold out for the weekend, the Historic Dow Motel had a queen-sized room available. Hurrah!

The rooms were really small, so I could see why we wouldn’t have fit in Frodo’s room on the floor. We totally understood, but his mother still insisted on taking us out to dinner at the Chinese restaurant to make up for it. That was very kind and we really appreciated it! I really enjoyed meeting her. While I wish our entire group could have gone into town that day, I’m glad Boostie and I were able to do it.

Since it was the 4th of July, after the sun had set, we began to hear the pops and whistles of fireworks outside. Frodo’s mom and I went out to see if we could find something to see, but there were no big shows, just a couple of random fireworks here and there. I wish we could have seen more, but they’re probably technically not allowed there anyway – too big a fire risk!

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