Day 91. Another positive day on the trail with Happy. After last night’s comfort living , we got up early today and visited the Smoke Haus Deli next to the motel for breakfast. I love NY style delis, they are just such a comfort for me. Sandwiches are great, salads are great, pickles and snacks are great … I wish every state did deli as well as NY. It’s something we never really ever got right back home in Minnesota. Hiking along the trail in NY, it’s nice to have these periodically along the way. We picked up some bagels, salamis, pickles and coleslaw for lunch and chatted with the very nice and friendly staff while we waited for our Lyft ride. I can’t say enough great things about this place (and Mr. G’s Deli next door as well)!

After our quick breakfast, we loaded up our packs and hopped in the cab back to the trail. It was another sunny day today, but not as hot as yesterday, so a very manageable hike. And Happy’s smiley attitude after a shower and laundry was contagious. We had a great day! The terrain had its trials and tribulations at times, but it wouldn’t be a hike along the AT without any!

We met a few new faces today, and some familiar ones as well along the way. We got to the Morgan Stewart Shelter early, so rewarded ourselves with a quick catnap. Around 5pm we roused for dinner and chatted with the 4 others camping here with us. Happy told everyone his (now favorite) story from Graymoor Spiritual Life Center a few days ago, and all had a good laugh. No one more so than Happy, which is usually the case. 🙂

Tomorrow will be another longer day, as we are going all the way to Pawling to get our resupply boxes, a motel, and dinner with my wife’s aunt and uncle. They have been promising me some trail angel’ness while in NY, and I’m excited to see them again.

Side note, I have a new backpack waiting for me at the post office as well. After trying everything to alleviate some bad spinal pain from my ULA the last 3 weeks, I’m finally throwing in the towel. I very much wanted it to work, but the shoulder straps put far too much pressure on my back and they cannot he adjusted further to remedy it. I think I perhaps am in-between sizes and have too much weight for the OHM 2.0 to fit me well. I grabbed an Osprey Exos from the REI anniversary sale last weekend that should be waiting for me. I’m frustrated with how my entire backpack situation has evolved during this thruhike and wish I simply started with a ZPack model from the beginning. Ugh, oh well.

The weather app on my phone keeps changing by the hour. First it was raining all day tomorrow, then not at all, then overnight, and now just a smidge in the morning. I’m not sure what to expect, but since we are ending in Pawling, I’m not going to worry about it too much. If it’s bad the rest of the weekend (also hard to nail down), we’ll make do. I’d like to end our time together on a good note, but I can only control so many things out here, and weather darn-well ain’t one of them!

Regardless, the trip in whole is going well and Happy is great company day in and day out. I’ll admit to getting a little tired of hearing the same jokes every day, but he’s been my father for 37 years and I’ve learned to expect that. I may go so far as to say I even love him for it, but not to his face … it would only encourage him more! He’s oddly quiet in his update today, but when you have a good day, it’s nice to just enjoy it sometimes …

Herein lies the official and verified memoirs of Tom Neiman on his Day 5 (my Day 91):

I’m Happy again. It was decent hiking for the second day in a row, as Mike pointed out. Both Mike and I managed to salvage part of last night’s dinner for lunch today as well (I highly recommend Plated if you happen to be vacationing in Fishkill anytime soon). Good food, good service, good time, good beer. No other anecdotes needed, it was another great day!

p.s. I just read Mike’s closing statements above, don’t be surprised if his hammock catches fire tonight.

Hello Neimans (Sharkbait and Happy)

• Start Mile: 1430.1
• Start Time: 09:15
• End Mile: 1439.1
• End Time: 14:20
• Miles Hiked: 9.0
• Miles to Go: 751.8
• Lodging: Morgan Stewart Shelter