The alarm went off at a record 4:30 am today. Why? Because we want to get out of the woods! There is a new hostel that runs a shuttle 45 minutes from the trail to Walmart and that sounded like too good of an opportunity to pass up. Since the terrain can unexpectedly drop our pace to 1 mile/hour, we started early. Check out the view from Moody Mtn (a pain in the butt to climb) just after sunrise:
We did make it in plenty of time to the road and enjoyed some pancakes that a local dropped off while we waited for the shuttle.
Up next was a shuttle through the middle of nowhere to Mexico, ME. There is no Mexican restaurant, but there is the last Walmart on the AT. For NOBOs, this is the last chance to be hiker trash outside while we repackage food and eat deli items on the sidewalk. Always great fun! 
While there was no Mexican in Mexico, the one and only restaurant in Andover hosted an all you can eat Mexican buffet tonight! I was too busy stuffing my face to take pictures, but here’s the crew hanging out on the porch afterwards. 
After that much food consumption, I have declared tomorrow a much-needed zero day. Southern Maine has been treacherous in the rain and my body needs time to put itself back together after all of my falls (yes, there have been more).
A Ministry of the Holston Conference of The United Methodist Church