Day 79 – 7/10/13 – 17.7 mi (1354.6)

The miles were pretty easy today, with lots of gently rolling hills and beautiful, but soggy, meadows.

Rockin was excited to get to town, repeatedly saying, “All I want is a 6 pack of beer and 3 ice cream somethings.” We reached the highway at Battle Pass midafternoon and it took a while for all of us to get a hitch into town.

I made it to the post office 2 minutes before they closed. For a pleasant change from the norm, the postman was extremely friendly and accommodating. I picked up Stryder’s resupply box and mailed some of my extra things home. I had my own resupply box mailed to the motel next door so I wouldn’t have to worry about post office hours. Of course, my box didn’t make it to the motel, despite being sent Priority Mail over a week ago. I got the tracking info from my parents which shows it’s at the post office, so hopefully I’ll be able to go back and find it tomorrow morning. There were some other unexpected packages waiting at be motel: a box of cookies and goodies from the Dreibelbises, energy bars and a beautifully written letter from Stryder’s mom, and trail mix from his grandparents. Thanks all!

After all those packages, I felt obligated to stay at the motel, though the campground a mile down the road in Riverside was clearly the better deal for hikers. I went down to Riverside to join the others (including Silly Chili who has returned!) for a meal at the local watering hole. We’ve been enjoying lots of good craft beers the past month in Colorado. In Encampment, WY, our choices were Bud or Bud Light.
LoveNote and Stryder were kind enough to share the motel room with me and we spent the evening actually relaxing. We shared a half gallon of ice cream and watched an entire episode of Toddlers and Tiaras. It was wonderful and horrible.