It is Saturday the Seventeenth of April, 2010, as long as I figured it out correctly. I have been out of range for any signals lately and have not been able up keep up with this journal.
It is Thursday the 22nd as I am entering this post. The signal has been in and out so I hope I can finish at least this one.
I am up and about early as is my way. It is below 32 degrees this morning which seems to be normal this week. Sixty's during the day, low 30's at night. I wake up warm inside my sleeping bag but that will change as soon as I start to get dressed.
Experience has taught me that my clothes will be very cold in the morning. I put them on in layers. First layer, back into the sleeping bag until the clothes and I warm up, repeat the process until all three layers are warm enough for me to get started.
Getting started usually involves a quick run to the bathroom followed by starting a campfire if it is allowed.
Sometime during the process, TJ mumbled that he was taking a shower and off he went.
I started a good campfire and warmed myself thoroughly. I made coffee and had a bite to eat. I broke camp and prepared everything for that day's adventure. Over an hour had passed and still no sign of TJ. He must have fallen asleep in the shower.
I called Diane and we talked for several minutes about family happenings and other issues. I commented to Diane that TJ has been locked in the shower for more than an hour and a half. She immediately became concerned. What if he fell and hit his head? Of course I downplayed the danger and told her if that had happened he would have drowned by now.
Now that I am finished talking to Diane I realize that TJ is closing in on the two hour mark of his shower. I went back to the shower stalls and banged loudly on the door and called his name. There was no answer from this stall but TJ yelled back that he would be out in a minute from a stall 3 doors down.
I went to his stall door and starting teasing him about the two hour shower, he opened the door part way and told me that he had not fallen asleep in there. It was possible he might have dozed off for a moment.
I went back outside and the gentlemen who was in the shower whose door I originally beat on came out smiling. He must have enjoyed the whole verbal exchange between TJ and I.
We broke camp and headed for Gull Lake Inn. This is a resort located on the south side of Gull Lake. This is quite a large lake for an inland lake. If you look on the map it is due east of Battle Creek and Fort Custer.
We are having a pleasant day as we are hiking. First we left the park and than we headed due north down an excellent trail heading through the Kellogg Biological Station Forestry Farm.
We did not go over the road until we reached M-43/89 and went off trail to the Gull Lake Inn. About an half a mile down M-43 and we saw the trail head we would be starting at tomorrow.
We reached the hotel and found out they had just opened for the season. One of the risks when going on a thru hike this early in the year is that you often have to change destinations because many of the resorts and campgrounds are not yet open.
They gave us a suite for the regular room price. One room had a hot tub and a bed. I took that one. TJ was soon sleeping in the other bedroom. After the hot tub I made a blog entry, woke up TJ and off to dinner we went.
I ordered a Perch Dinner that was prepared very nicely and I noticed that TJ had Chicken Fingers again. No harm done.
Back to the room and a good nights sleep.
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