Day 161 : Back to Winthrop

8th October 2013
Pateros to Winthrop
Mileage : 35

Teresa wasn't able to give me a ride this morning unfortunately, but instead she had arranged for two of her neighbours, Paul and Jan, to give me ride.  As Teresa had promised at 7am there was a car outside the hostel waiting to take me off towards Pateros. The plan today was to hike back to Winthrop one more time in order for me to take advantage of the hostel, and avoid having to stealth camp by the side of the road, and also to enable me to slack pack and therefore cover more miles. After a quick stop at a local coffeeshop/ bakery i was speeding down the road towards Pateros chatting with Paul and Jan about the trail. As i sat there sipping my coffee and eating my pastry in the warmth of the car, i reflected that, although in some ways my hike has gone pear-shaped in the past few weeks, in others i have been fortunate to the point where it beggars belief. Here i was sitting in the car of two complete strangers who had agreed to help me out on the insistence of their neighbour. It was incredible, and no less so when i thought about it from their perspective, agreeing to pick up a single guy from a hostel that they'd never met and agree to drive him 35 miles down the road at 7 in the morning. The way the trail provides is downright spooky at times. I realised very early on during my hike that although i enjoy the nature and wilderness element more than i know how to describe, i enjoy the human element even more than that, an this morning was the perfect example of that. I could have sat in the car chatting to Paul and Jan all day, but all too soon it was time to get out and start the long hike back to Winthrop. I thanked the couple for their help that morning, watched them drive away, and then set off. Most of the day was spent listening to an audiobook, Game of Thrones if anyone is interested, and the time passed quickly as i lost myself in the story. For a good portion of the day i managed to walk along quiet country roads enabling me to lose myself in the book without too much fear of getting run over line the many deer that unfortunately were dotted along the route every few miles. After what seemed like only a couple hours i was walking, if not hobbling after 35 road miles, back into Winthrop. Going passed the town supermarket i decided pop in and get some stuff for dinner whereupon i was surrounded by several guys about my age that had overtaken me in their car a little while earlier, and couldn't quite believe their ears when i told tten i was finishing up a Mexico to Canada thru-hike. After much insistence on my part, the finally agreed i must be telling the truth and all.wanted.to have their pictures taken with me. I am now a minor celebrity it would seem. My 15 minutes over i covered the final few hundred metres back to the hostel slowly as i began to seize up from the cold of the supermarket's air-conditioning and reflected that it had been a good day, and i hoped the next would be similar.