June 23
End: Houlton
Miles: 20.0
Total: 4141.3
I woke up with bright light coming in the trailer windows, but I didn’t get up. After lying there awake for awhile I got my act together and got packed up and ready to go. Of course I couldn’t leave without Cherri making me a great breakfast.
Once I hit the road I realized that the patience which I had displayed the previous day was gone, and I was tired of the road walk. I counted down the miles to Houlton as they eked by.
I had been looking forward to Houlton for a long time. I love my trail towns, and Houlton was a nice big place with its own Walmart and everything. The only problem was that Houlton was on the Eastern edge of Maine, which was a long way from the point at which I had entered the state. I had crossed almost the whole state, and these last few miles were killing me.
When I finally arrived I found that the Walmart was not a Super Walmart. How dissatisfying. Luckily there was a big grocery store next door where I got all my junk and trail food. I pigged out on ice cream hurriedly as rain clouds closed in, then sped off in search of the McDonald’s.
I didn’t make it there before the rain hit. It first started lightly, but before long it was a little heavier as I walked on unhappily. I made it to the Golden Arches, and plopped down at a table. Before long a couple offered me some of their food, which I tried quarter-heartedly to deny. The beard had worked its magic once again.
I sat there for hours and surfed the web on my iPhone as it poured outside. Finally it was time to go to bed, and I picked out a local park on the map and went in search of it through the maelstrom.
The walk was totally miserable. The rain soaked me thoroughly, the only thing staying mostly dry being my pack, which was under my rain jacket. It took awhile to get there, and when I did I was dismayed to find that the baseball dugouts had chain link walls and were not dry.
My first plan foiled, I walked over to a set of buildings and did some exploring. I was elated to find a nice covered porch area with a little clutter on it.
I set up there, and besides the rain attempting to blow into the shelter, and locals practicing being a nuisance in the adjacent parking lot late at night, it was nice. The rain just kept going and going and never let up. I was happy to have a dry spot for the night.