The Long Trail : Day 16 : Part 1 : 10/6/20 . I spent the majority of the night trying to use my left hip to ground me. If I slept in a fetal position, on that side, I could counter balance the rightward lean and fight the pull of gravity trying to push me to the bottom of the tent. All that to say, it wasn’t an ideal spot and my sleep suffered tremendously. . I woke up to the alarm, absolutely dreading the day. I skipped morning coffee and opted for Holy Basil Ashwaganda tea instead. Sometimes I get a little extra new agey and think tea will heal all that ails me. I spent the next 2.5 miles with a scowl on my face while openly grunting and muttering ugly things to the trail. It deserved every bit of my angst, I promise. . The kind of workout I always want in the morning is the kind that requires me to climb straight up and over wet rocks and tree roots that are as slippery as ice. Not only do you get the pleasure of praying over every precarious step, you also get to hope your less than ideal upper body strength can hold both you AND your pack when your foot inevitably slips. After the acrobatics lesson we stopped at a lake and the faithful green mermaid blessed me with the magical brew that turns me from monster into cheerful hiker. Note to self: Never, I repeat NEVER, skip the coffee. . The next stretch of trail was mostly the same but the caffeine gave me new perspective. The trail was still dumb but it was fun and dumb instead of downright irritating. Our big goal for the day was to get in and out of Johnson, VT to resupply. We were banking on some easy miles on the long descent. Thankfully, we got just that. It got even better when we hit a stretch of logging road and were sure we’d died and gone to thru hiker heaven. It was flat, wide and smooth, the terrain of our dreams! It even dropped us off in town, right in front of the hardware store.