Day 59 - Wednesday, August 10

Linda

Today was a mixture of good and bad fortune and wonderful people. I truly believe we had a guardian angel watching over us today. This morning Ronald discovered that the stitching on one of his boots had rotted away and was just barely hanging on. We didn't know what to do, except try to make it to Delaware Water Gap a couple days away to see about getting to a bigger town to get it fixed. We walked on to Unionville and picked up a few things at the grocery store, then went on. It sprinkled for a few minutes, but then stopped. On Mt. Salem Road we stopped at a house to ask for water, and there we met our guardian angel, Raleigh Johnson. He came out and talked to us while we filled our bottles from the hose in his front yard, then he gave us a bunch of bananas for lunch. We told him we were from Richmond and he said he was born in Smithfield and has relatives in Windsor where Ronald used to live years ago. Ronald just happened to mention about his boot falling apart and Raleigh said he'd be going up by the High Point Park Office around noon. The trail goes right by there, and he said that if we decided the boot situation was urgent enough, he would be happy to take us to a repair shop he knew of in Port Jervis, New York. We were totally blown away by his generous offer, but weren't sure what the best course of action would be. We thanked him, said we'd think about it the rest of the morning, and went on. We weren't sure what to do at first - we didn't really want to have to stop if it wasn't absolutely necessary.

It soon became obvious that the boot was on its last leg (so to speak). The trail through High Point Park is nice, but rocky, and it started to rain as we got to the park office. We ducked inside the building just as an awful downpour began, and ate lunch, waiting to see if our friend would find us. While we were waiting, we met Robert Moyer from Raleigh, North Carolina, who is a "Peak Bagger" - that's a person who's obsessed with bagging the highest peaks around. He said he was heading out to do High Point this afternoon, the highest point in New Jersey. (Not exactly an imaginative name for a mountain - sort of like naming a dog Collie as my Dad would say.) We were still sitting there chatting about some of the places we had all hiked, when in came Raleigh Johnson, all smiles, saying he was glad he found us in out of the rain. We told him we would like to take him up on his offer of assistance and said good-bye to Robert the Peak Bagger.

Raleigh drove us over to Port Jervis to Frank's Shoe Repair Shop. Frank seemed to really know his business, but at first wasn't very encouraging. When he first looked at the boot, he said they couldn't be repaired, then he said it would be at least two days. Then, after a bit more discussion, and the fact that we looked pretty pitiful and desperate, he said he would try to have them done by tomorrow at 4:00. He showed us what needed to be done on the boots, and by the time we left, he had already started to work on them. Sure hope he will be able to fix them. Since we were going to be stuck in Port Jervis for the night, Raleigh took us down to the Colonial Hotel in the old business district. He gave us his phone number at home, and at the Milford Toll Bridge where he works, and told us to call him if we needed any more help. He even offered us his car to use for the afternoon, but we declined. He'd already been so good to us, and besides, we were certainly used to walking. We thanked him again for his kindness and said good-bye. I hated to see him go, and wished there was a more tangible way for us to let him know how much his looking after us meant to us today. We have really been blessed with having our needs supplied just at the right time.

After Raleigh left, we decided to get settled into the hotel. We first walked around a bit, hoping to find a cheaper place to stay, but didn't find anything, so we paid our $15 and checked into the Colonial Inn. The room was really dumpy, but clean, and it had a good shower, which was the most important feature as far as I was concerned. Sleeping in a soft bed was secondary to a good hot shower. We cleaned up, then walked down to the nearby mall where there was a Penneys, Sears and K-Mart. I really needed a new pair of jeans. My old ones were getting worn, and I have lost so much weight, they were hanging off me. I had to roll them over a few times, just to keep them up. Anyway, I found a pair at Penneys that fit, and they were a size 9! Wow! I can't believe it! I don't think I've ever been a size 9 before. What a boost! We picked up some groceries at the All-American Grocery, then went to Brother Bruno's and had a huge pizza. After dinner we looked around K-Mart for blankets. Ronald was thinking about buying a couple blankets, so we could send our heavy bags home, since the lightweight summer bags we had ordered still haven't turned up. We didn't find anything that would work, so we decided to keep the heavy bags with us and keep sweating till our summer bags arrive.

We came back to our little fleabag room to catch up on our writing for a while. Sat out on the balcony and drank root beer and watched the cars go by. Ronald finally called it a night, and I went to call Mom and Dad. I told them about our adventure, and they were delighted to hear we were all right. They said they had stopped in Port Jervis for dinner one night on the way home from New England. Sure hope they found a nicer spot than most of the bars and diners we've seen. Port Jervis isn't exactly the most high brow town on the Eastern Seaboard, but I'm not complaining, because it's supplied us with everything we needed. I finally turned in at 11:00 myself. Hope it works out that Ronald's boot are ready tomorrow. If not, we may have to try to call our friends Chip and Pat Lockwood (who recently moved to New York from Richmond) and beg for mercy. It could be much worse, though. I'm so glad we met Raleigh Johnson today. We are truly being watched over.

Ron

While checking my boots, this morning, I discovered that the threads holding the leather to the sole had broken. The damage was bad. I could stick my finger in between the leather upper and the sole clear to the inside of the boot. I knew it would take a couple of days to repair. The sole will have to be removed and the shoe reworked. As we left camp I was wondering where and when I would be able to get them fixed.

The first five miles into Unionville were completed by 8:30. We stayed a while to get something to eat and pickup extra supplies for lunches. I bought some unleaded gas for the stove at the gas station. Up till now we have been using only white gas for the stove. I hope the unleaded gas does not clog up the stove. As we left town it was raining pretty hard. After about twenty minutes the sky cleared and the sun came out. We walked along the hot road for a ways and were getting thirsty. We stopped at a house and were welcomed by Raleigh Johnson to plenty of water. We talked about the trail for awhile and as we were leaving he gave us a bunch of bananas.

I asked him if he knew of a shoe repair shop around Delaware Water Gap where I could get my boots fixed. He didn't know for sure. He said that he would be at the rangers station at noon. If we wanted, he'd take us to a repair shop in Port Jervis. I was torn between waiting until our planned stop at Delaware Water Gap and not wanting to damage to the boots any more. I would make the decision by the time we arrived at the ranger station on Route 23. We hiked up to the ridge and had made 12 miles by noon. The rain had just started falling before we reached the ranger station. I decided that if Raleigh showed up, we would take him up on his offer. We will have lay over in Port Jervis until the repairs on the boots are done.

When Raleigh arrived, we headed into Port Jervis and to Frank's Shoe Repair. Frank and Raleigh talked a bit and we were told that the boots would take at least until tomorrow to fix. He would not be sure until he was able to take them apart. We agreed that he should at least try. I would hate to have to break in a new pair of shoes. Raleigh then dropped us off at a hotel and told us to call if we needed anything. He even offered the use of his car for the next day if we wanted to go sight seeing. We thanked him very much for his kindness and said we would make out all right.

We checked out the several cheap hotels for the night. The first one we found turned out to be the cheapest. As with most things in life you get what you pay for. The TV does not work and the doors are falling off. At least we could go downstairs and drown our problems in the bar if we felt the need. Since this would be a major stop, we decided go shopping. Linda bought a new pair of pants. To try and solve our foot pain we bought Dr. Scholl's arch supports for both of our boots. We hope they will help keep our feet from being beat to a pulp by the end of the day. I want to try to resolve the problem now before we enter Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is known all along the trail for it's terrible rocks.

We walked around K Mart for awhile trying to decide if we should send our down sleeping bags home and buy blankets. I couldn't find any that were heavy enough to keep us warm if the weather got cold. We decided to keep the down bags and hope the summer bags arrive soon. We ate a big pizza for supper. After dinner we repackaged our new supplies and whispered our thanks to Raleigh for his help today.

(12.7 Miles - 828.5 Total)