July 18
End: Beautiful Downtown Nictau
Miles: 32.2
Total: 4356.0
By morning it had finally stopped raining. I packed up and got going, as I wanted to get another good day in. I got water from the building adjacent to the pool, and walked through town.
Plaster Rock is a sizable town given its surroundings, but I was glad I was not resupplying there. It would be possible, but definitely expensive. I walked on through and got onto the road which the trail followed for more than fifty miles.
Somehow I kept a good attitude the whole time. I knew that I was going to be road walking on the same road all day, but I just told myself it was just another day of hiking, and kept going. I thought the tiny town of Riley Brook would be about halfway between Plaster Rock and Nictau, but just as I thought I was getting close, a sign declared it to be over twenty kilometers away.
It didn’t really matter, of course, since I had no special plans for Riley Brook. The town has a single convenience store, and doesn’t even have a post office anymore. I marched on and eventually got there, not even stopping to sit down for a minute or two.
It wasn’t long after I was out of Riley Brook that I was in Nictau. I had seen all of this from the cab of Bill Miller’s truck, but things are much different when going on foot. The town of Nictau, though it only has eleven residents, has given itself a generously large piece of the road. I walked for several miles before coming to Mr. Miller’s house.
I found Bill and he greeted me with some surprise and invited me in. I had made good time, arriving in the middle of the afternoon. I was perplexed when it suddenly started raining outside, but happy to be inside and dry. The forecast had called for nothing but sun and I had not expected rain, but it poured for a few minutes.
Mr. Miller recounted a lot of his experiences in the States to me, much of which he had told me before. I kind of wanted to write some journal entries, but spent most of my time listening to Bill talk about the USA. Eventually we turned in to bed for the night, I sleeping in the same upstairs bedroom as before. Thanks, Bill.
