Surreal as this feels, here we are. I am hiking with Brent, et al. Do not pinch me; I do not want to wake.

For the sake of everyone, I put a few ground rules in place. This proclamation hasn’t helped my “Old Man Prov” persona, but it needed to be done.

Firstly, “bathroom breaks.” It might seem a strange place to begin my commandments, but it’s important. I stop A LOT. Don’t worry, I’ll catch up. I assured the others (and now you) that it isn’t a prostate issue. Much of the time “bathroom break” is a misnomer. Though I’m still using this amazing voice-to-text program for my journaling, I do need to actually BREATH to be chronicle anything. So sometimes I need to either slow down or stop entirely to catch up on writing. The rest of the crew needn’t abandon their momentum for the sake of my musing.

On that point, they will likely overhear some of my entries. I’ll do my best to limit their exposure for all our sake’s, but if inspiration suddenly strikes and I’m not out of earshot, well, “Old Man Prov” also doesn’t have the greatest memory. Let the geezer talk to himself in peace and make fun of him for whatever he says AFTER he’s done recording. I’ve been trying to update things in more manageable chunks (spending an hour trying to recap an entire day’s worth of thoughts is cumbersome), so please, just bear with me.

Oh, and NO, BRENT, you still can’t read my journal. Not yet.

“You don’t want to read about the things I’ve said about you,” I warned.

“Too saucy, huh?” Smirk.

Allegedly, I’m “like a fourteen year old with their first Dear Diary,” and I’m ok with that. You, oh faithful reader, can probably imagine why.

~~~

It’s amazing having them here. I keep trying to remind myself that this is only temporary, but, yeah, I could definitely get used to this. Sigh.

I expected to finish at around twelve miles yesterday. Especially after Brent’s call, my assumption was that we would meet at the campsite and bed down there before setting out together in the morning.

Nope.

The newcomers were full of energy and rearin’ to go. So, off we went. Their ambition lasted for three miles before they were ready to settle in.. It was totally fine by me. No way could I have slept after that stunt at the campsite. For some reason, I was incredibly excited…

~~~

As it stands, their plan is to hike with me for the rest of today and all of tomorrow. Laurel will then pick them up tomorrow night wherever we end up. Brent took two days off work, but he’s been hinting that he might get struck by a sudden, crippling case of dysentery for another day or two after that. We’ll see how that goes. Bowels are fickle things.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

The others are all at least as loose with their obligations. Brooke is on some kind of fall break. Dean was recently laid off, which he insists was an absolute blessing. Brase, I think is… well, I don’t know that he’s really thought much about it. Now that he’s on-trail (“Back home!” as he put it), life’s other commitments don’t seem to concern him much, whatever they may be. And then, Cal. I really don’t know what his situation is. He’s a very “in the moment” kind of person, so every conversation we have is about what’s right in front of us what we’re going to put into our stomachs in the near future. In a way, I admire that level of dedication.

So, we’re looking at two full days together, maybe more. Fingers crossed for the “more.”

Nothing on this trip has gone as I expected but I am quite happy with most of the surprises. In fact, I would be THRILLED if said surprises can continue for as long as possible.

As for my swing-and-a-miss on carnival night, it hasn’t been brought up yet. Everything’s been fine. Camping last night went great. They have a couple of tents : Brooke with Brent; the Guys; Brase under the stars. No issues at all.

I may have fallen asleep a BIT on the early side. Did I get ridiculed for it this morning? You betcha. I’m just further feeding into the old man caricature the best I can. In truth, I REALLY needed that sleep. Even better, it came nightmare-free.

How could I have bad dreams after a surprise like the night before?

~~~

I mentioned we’d be passing Punxatawney today and FACETIOUSLY suggested that we get an autograph from Weatherman Phil. Brooke later informed me that my mistake was believing Brent recognized sarcasm. Sigh.

“What time do you think we’ll get to Punxatawney?”

I was in the middle of brushing my teeth, so Brent’s question received nothing more than a foamy, “Huh?”

“Like you said, we can stop by and see Phil! I want to set my watch.”

Spit, rinse. “Uh…”

“Where are we going?” Dean.

“Punxatawney! You want to see the gopher, right?”

“Groundhog,” I corrected.

“Groundhog. Who doesn’t want to see a magical groundhog?”

“He’s magical?” Cal.

“He sniffs the air and predicts the weather. Unless gophers--”

“Groundhog.”

“Unless groundhogs can operate Doppler, what would you call it?”

Cal, thinking; then, “That DOES sound a lot like magic!”

We’re going to Punxatawney.

I didn’t bother to argue. After all, I technically made the offer, facetious or otherwise. Enthusiasm has a way of intensifying as it passes from host to host. Before long, the three of them infused the idea with so much fervor that, I’ll admit, it DID start sounding like a good time.

Another day, another lesson learned : never jokingly suggest ANYTHING to Brent. He will love the idea, convince everyone else to love it as well, and the next thing you know, you’re off-trail visiting a furry weather forecaster.

It’s ok, though. Like I said, it does sound fun – or at least interesting. It’s not far off-trail and will just be a short pit stop. We should wrap up whatever it is we do there early enough in the day that we’ll still have plenty of time to hike again after we get back. Brase promised that we’d go at it extra hard post-’Tawney; he’d see to it. Good ‘ol Brase.

Phil’s prediction is a (inter?)nationally-recognized spectacle, and I’ve never been seen the town before. Why shouldn’t I do a bit of touristing with my friends mid-hike? Why did the fun need to wait until I’m actually IN Providence. I already had a great experience at the Butler mall and that fair. Maybe Phil will even give us a sneak peek at next year’s meteorological outlook. As I wrote before, he’s best known for predicting Spring, but maybe he has other talents. Dean claims his grandmother had a Punxatawney Phil cookbook, so maybe the guy is a master chef. I AM starting to feel a bit peckish.

Let the good times roll; Punxatawney, here we come!