3-21-06
Start: Richmond Dale, OH (BT)
Destination: Forestry building on Stony Creek Rd. (BT)
Miles: 11.7
Weather: Snowy
Connie made us breakfast this morning. Then, she and Mike drove us to the Chillicothe Gazette where we got in for an interview. Then we stopped for a few supplies mom and I needed -- a few food items -- and a special request from "Milkshake." Yup, I asked if we could swing through a drive through for a chocolate shake. Mike drove us to this cute drug store in the neighborhood he grew up in, and they made us real milkshakes at the little ice cream bar. We ordered "Buckeye" shakes, which are peanut butter and chocolate. And it was gooooooood!
Then we were off back to Richmond Dale to get back on the trail. We got hiking at about 11:45, and a photographer from the Chillicothe Gazette met us and walked with us for quite a while! And it was snowing pretty hard, but he just trucked right along snapping pictures as we went. At one point, a driver of a big semi truck was parked off the side of the road, and he rolled his window down to ask us where we were going. So we told him our story, and our photo guy took some photos of us chatting with the trucker -- who, by the way, lives in Wisconsin -- right in the Fox Valley area where I'm from! How cool! So after that we kept on trudging through the snow, and our cool photographer guy had to take off. We soon hit wooded trails and were on them most of the day. It was a half-hiking day, but we made good time, and it was just a great day! We saw deer, a grouse that flew up about 2 feet from me and scared the living daylights out of me, and we even got a glimpse of a red fox running through ahead of us. The snow was pretty, and a nice break from all the brown leafless trees. We are certainly ready for spring. I don't mind winter, but I hope this is the last snow we see! I'm ready to see some of that limey green that starts popping up everywhere.
Mike and Connie picked us up and we went back to their home for a beef and home-made noodles dinner. Cheesy potatoes, peas, home-made bread and wouldn't ya' know it? Home-made apple pie, ice cream and coffee. Mom and I were just talking about that craving a couple of days ago. Exactly that, too! So we are truly getting spoiled.
We stayed up and chatted with our friendly hosts about our animals and Mike's trip for the hurricane relief crew. Very good conversation!
They have offered us yet another night, so we are going to do what's called "slackpack," and go lightweight tomorrow. Usually the term means without your backpack, but we need to carry ours - we'll just lighten them up. We sure hope the weather is nice to us!
And now I've got to sign off - my burning eyelids are trying to tell me something...
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