Having a Fav-D!!!!

On a steep descent, early in the morning, I heard what I thought was a falling rock, then saw this poor guy clacking down the rocks. This is what it means to have a tough shell (or a thick skin, in human terms); but, alas, as my dear pop-in-law would say, "I'm not a rock, I bleed."

This is the path to wealth and enlightenment. Jessie really digs my get-rich-quick-through-a-diet-scheme idea. She keeps hounding me that we need to write a book. Yesterday I came up with the concept, even tried it out to great effect. Let me tell you what happened. Returning from the somewhat stressful events of car shopping in Bangor, I started thinking how it would be nice to tear off a hunk of the French bread I'd purchased that was sitting in the trunk. The next thing you know I've pulled off to the side of Route 9 and I'm stepping out into the furnace to retrieve the nutrient deficient loaf. Well, needless to say, on the long drive that followed I didn't just tear off a hunk; I ate the whole thing. So the next morning I'm thinking, time for recompense. That's when I came up with the million-dollar idea. Fav-D (Fruit & Veg Day). Whenever you've been bad--hangover, ice cream, whatever--you spend the next day eating nothing but fruit and vegetables. I actually quite enjoyed it, feasting on mangos, kiwis, greens, smoothies and gazpacho. Of course we'll need to flesh the thing out by, you know, maybe coming up with a bit of text, but I thought I'd give you a sneak peak into the process of how an empire is born.

Helped a friend buy a car today in Bangor. It was darn near 100 degrees so of course on the car lots it was a whole new brand of suffering (not just the regular kind of listening to the canned b.s. of the automobile trade). Sort of makes you miss the trail, if you know what I mean. Yes, once again, I say: nature is good; modern life, I'm still trying to figure it out.

A narrow path through the wildflowers.

Notice the absence of electric lines, speed boats, ice cream stands and cheap t-shirt shops.

The nicest privy in the woods.

Most nights I slept in my tent, but on the last night I sacked out in this nifty lean-to. I was reading Tomatoland on my itouch, but shortly after this picture was taken my battery died. No matter, sleep isn't usually hard to find after a day on the trail.