June 25th Bivouac east of Franklinville, NY

June 25th 

There is an interesting mix of Yuppie and Kentucky on the back roads. You can draw your own conclusions about what that looks like. I found my second penny while walking the highway this morning. The trail can be as much as 30 % road walk for a day. Was able to do better hiking today, as I get stronger and have less weight in my pack and on me. Issue, slimy slugs that show up at night, crawl into my shoes, on the tent, on any gear left out over night, never had this problem before, so on the AT it was mice, here it is slugs. Attempted to hitch hike into Franklinville, on the road walk to the next section of the trail. NY cars go fast and if I read their minds it goes something like, "if you are dumb enough to hike you are dumb enough to think I will get my car dirty with you". I started to walk into Franklinville, came across an wayside ice cream stand, had a double large vanilla milk shake, they told me that there was no place to stay in town, they let me fill up my water bottles, and I went back on the trail and located a decent camp site. I look at the curly fries, the hot dogs etc, decided that with 2 miles yet to go on a hot afternoon, I did not want to risk an upset stomach or food that while tasting good, would be too rich for me at this stage of the day. The strap on the food bag broke while I was hanging it in the tree, incase there was an active bear in the area. Will have to saw it up later, I do have the needle and thread for the job. (experience). The FLT is not a trail for beginners either for gear problems etc.