The Allure of Movie Films and Moose Statues

7-16-09 day 44
start: Congdon Shelter, VT
end: Melville Nauheim Shelter
daily mileage: 5.9
total mileage: 589.6

Our big ambition of a 20 mile day didn't pan out. After 5 miles we hit the road leading into Bennington, VT. After looking in the book and reading about all the great stuff in town we made the decision to go into town, just for a little bit. We figured we be back on the trail at around 3 and hammer out the rest of the day, no big deal. We hitched into town and it turns out Bennington is in the midst of Moosefest, where local artists have painted life size moose statues all over town. Most were crazily decorated with themes and colors. We soon ran into Double Vision and Jukebox Hero, our friends from TN. We exchanged numbers and decided to go see a movie later. We had to kill some time and we were hungry so Disney and I went to Wendy's and fortunately had the self-control to pace ourselves better than the McDonald's event. We watched the new Harry Potter motion picture disaster then accompanied our friends back to Wendy's for round two. Two meals of fast food doesn't do a whole lot toward motivating you to walk surprisingly, so Disney and I went to the library and messed around on the Internet until 730. We eventually got back on the trail and immediately discovered a homeless person sleeping next to the privy in the trail parking lot...even if you are homeless it seems like you could find a better spot to bed down than next to a rotting pile of human filth, but that's just me. After a mile and a half walk to the next shelter we met up with the other two guys and ended our near'o ("near zero"). It's only our second one so we feel alright.