Aug 3rd Walton, NY

Aug 3 Walton, NY, Walton Motel (Dorrie, the owner)

The map today showed FLT as nothing but road walk. It was a hot walk with some long steep hills. The last 5 miles were mostly down hill. I did 12 miles in 5 hours. I ran out of water about 4 miles from town. I attempted to hitchhike into town but could not get a ride. I was really dehydrated when I came to the edge of town, where lo-and-behold, there was a Subway. Ice water plus a Tuna Sub (I could only eat half of it). My food box had arrived at the motel. I took it to my room, got cleaned up, and then Dorrie drove me into town so that I could do some email work at the library. Again worked on the maps and distances as well as made decisions about food i.e. should I go to the grocery store and get more "just in case" food. (I deiced that I had enough food). I have been in a number of Verizon dead zones. ( I later learned that the dead zones included other service providers than Verizon) I began to recognize a growing fear. When I was planning the hike, I had the AT experience to draw upon. There on the AT, one was rarely alone on the trail or at the shelters. Here I am always alone, which means that if something were to happen to me, it was very unlikely that someone would come along to help me. Thus, my backup safety plan was my cell phone. In the western part of NY, I got Verizon service connections all the time, but here on the eastern side of the Finger Lakes Trail there are deep valleys, few towns, and apparently few telephone towers.