6/19/00
Day 89
Pine Grove Furnace store, PA
1080.5 miles

It's about 11:30 AM, so I'm probably not through hiking for the day.  I've stopped here to do my part to uphold a valiant tradition:  the Half-Gallon Challange.  Somebody (probably the guy who sells the ice cream) started an AT tradition that when you reach the half-way point in the hike you have to finish an entire half-gallon of ice cream in one sitting.  In order to avoid the dreaded "brain-freeze", I am letting the sun do part of the work for me and just eating the melty bits.  Actually the real challange is not to choke on your own bile when you learn that the guy who runs this store charges $5.75 for a half-gallon of rather pedestrian Hersheys ice cream.

Speaking of bile, I guess Rick is due to have his gall bladder removed today.  Since it was my insistance on picking up some Ben & Jerry's on the ride home from Springer that triggered his final gastric attack, I can't help but feel responsible.  I don't know what, if any, dietary restrictions Rick will have to observe in his post-surgery life, but in a way, I'm slurping this half-gallon today in his honor.

My helper, the Sun, seems to be fading behind the haze.  So far, it's rained every day since I "flipped", but it's mostly been polite and come down after I've made it to that night's shelter.

Nearing the end.  I chose plain chocolate because chocolate and I have been friends for a long time and I don't believe it would ever hurt me.

Finished!  Well, I've licked plenty of ice cream in my day and I'm proud to say that ice cream has never licked me!