7/29/12 – 1468 miles
Today was a nero. It was only a mile onto Kent where we would do laundry, resupply, eat at a restaurant, and stop into the outfitters. Laundry was first on the list – we still had on our wet clothes from the rainstorm the night before – and we walked onto the Laundromat and set our packs on the floor. I went to get change from the lady manager and got chided for bringing our packs into the building. She snotty said, “Didn’t you see the sign?” There was no sign. Kleenex came out of the restroom and got yelled at for walking in bare feet. Needless to say, Kent is not high on our list of trail stops.
We figured the woman has had bad experiences with hikers before and now dislikes all of them. Rather than argue with her, we let it go, figuring future hikers would be treated better if we did. Before we left we swept and mopped the floor where we were.
Kleenex wanted to attend church and I said I would go with her. We found a Congregational Church up the road and walked there just before services started. All the people were interested in our hike and asked us many questions.
After church, we had a late breakfast and stopped at the outfitters where I bought a new rain jacket. We wanted ice cream but the prices were sky high. Kent is a tourist yuppie burg, not a good stop for hikers.
I walked by myself for the rest of the day, stopping only six miles out at Stewart Hollow Brook Shelter for the night. Tomorrow, we may go to a hostel we’ve heard about.
According to my map, you are quite a way from MA. I hope it will be better there. When you have a bad experience, it spoils the whole state for you, at least the town.
Did the woman in the laundry even say “Thank you”for mopping and all the cleaning y0u did? .Maybe she will be more gracious to the next hikers who come in. you set a great example, anyway. Maybe she had a problem with a teen age daughter, or an alcoholic husband. It would be interesting to know what makes some people the way they are.