ECT Day 182-186

IAT Day 13-17 

Day 182: zero day

This morning I slept in once again. And boy did it feel even better the second time around!

Today is only my third double zero of the entire trail. Back at trail days I double zeroed. Then again during the flooding in Vermont. And now once more!

Once I was up and moving, we headed down to the continental breakfast. It was super good once again. I had waffles loaded with cream cheese and raspberry preserve. Even the motels here have better options than back in the states. I’m really enjoying Canada.

After we ate, we went back to the room to hang out. I laid in bed for a couple hours and got a bunch of blogging done. Then we decided to head out and walk across the bridge into Quebec. There is a reservation over there with a bunch of pot shops. I wanted to check them out and see what the deals were.

Crossing the bridge over into Quebec.

By god is weed cheap here in Canada. One of the places that we went into was selling ounces for 50CAD, which is like $37. And it was buy one get one free. That is literally dirt cheap. Unfathomably cheap in comparison to the states. I didn’t buy any today, but I’m sure I will before we leave town.

One of the pot shops on the reservation. Ounces are $50 CAD and are buy one get one free. What a world!

Then we continued down the strip, which had about five other pot shops on it. There were also some convenient stores and a grocery store. I got some food to eat for lunch. And a couple items for my resupply. After that we walked back to the room to hang out again.

One of my favorite brands of ramen that I found at the grocery store here.

A coffee crisp chocolate milk. It was actually really good.

It was a super lazy rest of the day after that. I caught up on so much blogging and rest. Then around 7:30 p.m. we headed down the street to an Italian restaurant. I got some delicious pasta and a cider. We sat and had a great meal. Then hung out there for a little while before walking back.

On the way back to the motel I got some ice cream at the grocery store. Then at the room we watched movies until past midnight. It was a really nice lazy day.

Day 183: zero day

This morning I slept in and missed the continental breakfast. But I was so happy for the rest. My body has been loving the break for sure. And after hiking for about six months continuously, I think it was a good choice. I have another four months of walking to go on this journey. So some rest was definitely in order to help keep me going.

We wound up going to McDonald’s for breakfast once I got up. Then I was able to FaceTime audio my mom and catch up with her. It had been a while! Talking to her was really awesome.

Le Sac. Couldn’t resist getting some McDonald’s breakfast this morning.

Then we came back to the room and did a whole lot of nothing for the rest of the day. I spent hours writing my blog. I’ve been feeling so productive catching up on that. It’s such a good feeling. I wound up writing until around 4:00 p.m. and wrote about six or so days of blogs. That may not sound like a lot but I’m pretty detail oriented, so the blogs all take me a while to write out.

The map of my cellphone coverage for Quebec. The white shows where I’m not covered. This is gonna be fun!

I’ve written so much in town that now I know for sure that I’ll be entirely caught up before we hike out again. That’s making me so happy! I have about a dozen blogs fully drafted and ready to post. So now I can just post them daily and stay caught up.

We watched TV in the room and chilled out for the rest of the day. There’s a grocery store right across the street so I got food for lunch and dinner. And literally all we did for the rest of the day was watch movies in the room. Life is good!

I wound up staying up super late watching moving. Then finally called it a night.

Day 184: zero day

This morning I slept in once again. Yesterday I got some cereal and milk from the grocery store, so I ate that for breakfast. Then I just chilled and laid in bed for hours after that.

Once again, I wound up spending practically the entire day lounging and writing. I got a lot done. Zeroing has certainly made me feel pretty unproductive. So to be able to write and feel like I’m actually doing something has made me feel a lot better.

Around 2:00 p.m. we decided to go down to the pool area and use the jacuzzi. I didn’t even realize that it was there. I would have been in the jacuzzi every single day so far if I had known.

After we went in the jacuzzi I showered at the room. Then we decided to get some steps in for once! We walked about a mile and a half down the road to a nearby Walmart. I got some random things that I needed such as super glue. And then got a bunch of fun snacks. They have such cool food here. There was an isle with imported goodies from Scotland and other countries. So I got a bunch of unique snacks.

Some of the unique and delicious goodies that I got at Walmart.

Then we walked back to the motel to hang for the night. For dinner I ate garlic naan and hummus. We watched movies until super later at then. Then I headed off to bed.

Day 185: zero day

This morning I got up around 8:30 a.m. Ready for yet another super lazy zero day! It feels so odd to be doing this back to back to back. But we’re waiting on Sparkles to get into town. Plus I know deep down my body needed this.

Trucker decided to hike a few miles, so he headed out to do that. When he came into Campbellton he hiked in from a slightly earlier road than I did. So he was a few miles behind. We’re all gonna hike out of town together, so he wanted to get those miles done now so that he doesn’t have to do an extra three miles when we finally do hike out.

While he did that I just hung out at the room. I took a shower and did more writing. I’m so incredibly caught up on my blogging now! I’ve caught up to being just a couple days behind at this point. I can’t remember the last time that I was so on top of my blogging. It feels really good and productive.

When he got back, we wound up going over to the grocery store for some food. I got a wild spread of things to reheat in the microwave. A noodle dish, shepherds pie, and a couple other things. The items at the grocery stores here are just so much more fresh. It’s really wild.

In the afternoon I decided to be a bit productive. I took my tent, backpack, tyvec, and rain gear into the bathroom to wash it all. The tent and backpack had to get washed about three times each until the water was no longer dark and disgusting. But I haven’t washed any of it the entire six months that I’ve been on trail. Usually I’ll wash everything at the end of a thru-hike. But because this thru-hike is going to be ten months long, I figured it would be better to do it now. I have nothing better to do! Then I laid everything out in the parking lot to dry. The sun was out in full force so the timing couldn’t have been better.

Laying all my stuff out to dry in the parking lot.

We sat at the room and watched TV for most of the day. I blogged all day long and by the end I was caught up to the zero days that were taking in town now. And since I haven’t been doing much while zeroing, I knew that they would be short blogs.

Later on, I ate a bunch more food and we watched John Wick movies. It’s been so fun just relaxing and bantering in the room. I don’t think I could have zeroed this much alone. It would have driven me crazy. But doing it with someone else has been a fun time. Then I wound up calling it a night sometime around midnight.

Day 186: zero day

This morning I woke up in the room around 9:00 a.m. I had gotten up much earlier originally but then fell back asleep. When I finally did get up my ankle was bothering me a bit. I think that it’s just from all of the rest. My body can get pretty tight from doing nothing. So I decided to KT tape my ankle just to play it safe. Usually that does the trick whenever I have aches and pains.

Once I was up and ready, we decided to walk across the street to Quebec. I wanted to get some pot from the dispensary before we left town. We headed over and stopped off at a Tim Hortons along the way. I got my first ever pumpkin spiced latte! It was pretty good. But I still don’t see what the hype is about.

When we crossed the bridge, we headed to a dispensary that was selling $50 CAD ounces. And they were buy one get one free. That’s two ounces of weed for about $36 US dollars. You can’t beat that. The lady working there said that she didn’t have any ounces packed up, so we had to come back in an hour.

While we waited, we walked down the street to a couple different stores. I got some rolling papers and the lady at that store gave me two joints for free with my purchase. I love Canada man. This country is incredible.

I bought papers at a dispensary on the reservation in Quebec and it came with 2 free prerolls. I love it here.

Then we headed back over to the other dispensary and hoped the weed would be ready. I got my two ounces for $50 CAD and was quite content. Did I need that much weed? Hell no. But it’s literally cheaper here to buy it in bulk than to buy less. So I’ll just be sharing with everyone I meet. Then when I head back to the states, I’ll give the rest away to some lucky Canadian stranger.

2 ounces of weed in Quebec only cost $50 CAD which is 36 US dollars. I didn’t need that much but it was cheaper to buy in bulk.

Posing with the sign for the super cheap weed here in Quebec.

After that we headed back to the motel. We popped into the grocery store on our way to grab lunch. I got a soda, some dip for my chips, and a sushi dish. Back at the room we ate and hung out. Then I took a shower and changed clothes so that I could do one last load of laundry before we hike out tomorrow.

Sparkles called and said she was only a few miles out, which was exciting! She’s gonna spend the night here with us and then we’ll all get back to trail tomorrow.

We started a load of laundry and then I laid in bed and did a bit more blogging. Then I just watched TV and snacked for a while.

Sparkles wound up getting into town around 3:30. It was cool to meet her for the first time in person. I’m looking forward to all hiking out together and embarking on Quebec. I think we’re gonna have a blast in the next few weeks.

After Sparkles for settled in all of us wound up walking down the street to grab some food. We went to the same brewery that Trucker and I went to a few days ago. There I got some poutine and baked beans. Everything was delicious. We sat out eating and talking for a while. Then made our way back to the motel.

Trucker taking a picture of Sparkle and I at the restaurant. Of course I’m mid bite!

On our way back I got some treats at the grocery store. There were these massive cinnamon rolls that I just couldn’t resist. Then we went back to the room to chill out for the rest of the night.

We were debating hiking out tomorrow but decided to take one final day in town. Sparkle just cranked out 300 miles in ten days. I know when I got to town after having done the same mileage I really wanted a day off. Since then, I’ve taken six days off! So we’re gonna take tomorrow and let Sparkle’s body heal up. Then hike out on Thursday. Tomorrow will make it one whole week off trail for me. I’ve never taken that much time off on a thru hike before. But it really couldn’t have come at a better time. I’m grateful to have been able to take the time to heal and rest.

When we got back to the motel, I smoked one of the free joints outside that I got today. Then sat out there for a little while at the picnic table and chairs with Sparkle and Trucker. After a little while we went back into the motel. I heated up one of the jumbo cinnamon rolls and ate that. It was ridiculously good. Such a fantastic choice.

Everyone hung out at the room for a while and then Sparkle headed to bed. I ate some more snacks and wound up turning on Seinfeld.