Day 13/14 : Leavenworth (Zero Days)

Start – Leavenworth
Finish – Leavenworth
Daily Distance – 0 km (officially, although US town planning is not considerate of pedestrians)
Ascent – 0 m
Descent – 0 m

Call me a snob if you will, but for me, a truly gourmet breakfast should not be served on paper plates and eaten with plastic cutlery. The whole affair of motel breakfasts puts me in mind of a children’s birthday party, if only the children were experiencing a mild collective depression. I have also not yet had the mental fortitude to attempt to figure out the correct sequence of operation for the waffle maker. Every morning, I consider doing so, before the Motel Breakfast Malaise inevitably takes hold, and I stare numbly at TV news while contemplating the futility of bagels. If they are to be buttered, then why the hole? Is it to allow the butter a sporting chance to escape onto the previously ungreased fingers of freedom? And if not, then why do they taste as if they need to be topped with at least something to be made palatable?

“Breakfast” aside, these two days have been restful and at least moderately productive. Top priority was spending too much money at the outdoor shop, which has been duly done and left my gear looking considerably better than before. I now have:

• New shoes. It feels wasteful to jettison almost new shoes and buy another pair, but ultimately the possibility of finding myself in the middle of nowhere with trashed feet swung it.
• New liner socks. Unnecessary if the new shoes fit well, but if not, I will be able to wear these under my regular socks to decrease the likelihood of blisters.
• Blister plasters and Moleskin. There is no Leukotape to be found in town, so in I will just have to make do with these and hoard my remaining tape.
• 2 plastic carrier bags to put my feet inside to keep socks dry when wearing wet shoes.
• An inflatable pillow. Hopefully, this will resolve the nightly battle to find my perfect Goldilocks pillow height. Not easy while using a stuffed bag of clothes. It will also give me the flexibility to wear said clothes overnight if temperatures drop without losing my pillow.

Town jobs honestly got off to a bit of a slow start. Entirely predictably, in retrospect, I ran into Mindstorm and Neopolitan in the hiking store. Of course, where else would hikers go when in town? They were picking up a few essentials before leaving town, although as is often the case, good intentions soon fled, and we went for iced cream instead to reminisce about the road since Skykomish. Interestingly, from a weight maintenance point of view, the largest serving of iced cream on the menu contained a mighty 1300 calories. Useful when burning an estimated 4000-5000 calories per day on-trail, although fairly lethal in normal life.

Another key job has included buying and repackaging food for the next 11 days, with 6 of them being further packed into a box and posted ahead. Fortunately, the lady at the post office counter was very helpful, so I have a decent degree of confidence that the food will be waiting when I arrive at the next point of civilisation in 5 days or so. The purchasing was relatively difficult as I am still finding what products I like here, and while I know that my appetite level will increase over time, I am not yet sure when. Also, I feel like packaging in the US features more colours and bolder designs than in Europe. By the time I have cleared the first 2 aisles, I typically want to lay down in a darkened stockroom.

Other jobs have included:

• Thoroughly drying, cleaning, and sorting through my clothes and gear. The quantity of moistened pine needles which dropped off of my tent as it dried made the bath tub look like a slice of forest idyll. The smell, on the other hand, was nothing short of appalling.
• Publishing blogs and catching up on correspondence.
• Exploring Leavenworth. Contrary to my hope, this town was not founded by an obscure band of Bavarian settlers. The German themed architecture and businesses were the result of a conscious rebranding effort from the town council in the 60s. On the verge of bankruptcy, they made the decision to remodel in order to attract tourists, a decision which has financially certainly paid off. However, with 2M tourist visitors per year, Leavenworth is grappling with many of the same issues of overtourism as many tourist destinations. Overall, the locals seem friendly and helpful, but there is a certain lack of authenticity here, which would take a while to see behind.

Having walked around town in my new shoes today, my foot condition seems good enough to continue. Most toes still feature scabs, but none are causing pain, so will hopefully finish healing in the coming days.