May 22 / 23

Everything went well at the shelter last night.  We had a huge fire, drank a 24 ounce Bud Light that we each carried up from Duncannon, and ate well.  Two other section hikers showed up around 6 and stayed here with us for the evening.  On the hike out, at a road crossing, we came across two coolers full of food....trail magic.

So here's another incident / story that has happened.  Way back in March when I first started my trek I met a man and woman hiking together.  His trail name is Bismarck and hers Hopper.  Bismarck was doing a thru hike for the second time.  Hopper was acting like a slack- pack assistant in that she was just doing certain sections and jumping ahead of Bismarck to secure a spot at a shelter.  I hiked with them for about the first three weeks of my thru hike.  We talked quite a bit, stayed in the same shelter, took pictures together, etc.  Then I stopped seeing them altogether and did not hear about them up until yesterday when Chef informed me that the FBI had arrested Bismarck at the recent Trail Days festivities in Damascus, Virginia.  Bismarck was on the FBI ten most wanted list!  All of this was posted on Facebook by other thru hikers.  He was wanted for money laundering in the amount of 8.7 million dollars, suspicion of arson and of killing hi ex wife!  He had been on the run for six years.  And here I was waking, talking, and sleeping right next to him in several of the shelters.  He acted as plain and normal as anyone, I would never had suspected anything.   

5 / 23   We hiked to Port Clinton and hitched a ride into nearby Pottsville, Pennsylvania where we went to the Yuengling Brewery, the oldest in the US. Went on the tour and ended up staying at the Ramada Inn at a much reduced hikers rate.  The tour went well other than the fact that I accidentally left my wallet satchel there and sweated over that until I was able to recover it with the help of several trail angels.  All is well now.  We also went to the nearby Cabela's to buy new shoes and various other items.  We are at mile 1217.0