May 19 Mile 447

Very cool temps this morning, probably in the low 50s and never got higher all day. Cloudy too. Odd for this late in May, I think. We slept in the shelter last night as we thought it was going to pour again, but no rain. There were six of us sleeping side by side in the shelter, and one guy was snoring so loud I thought he was going to suck in the roof of the shelter. We really don't like staying in the shelters for that reason, plus s total lack of privacy. Tenting is far superior. Today hiking was the most accomodating of the entire trip. We went about 16-17 miles ( wore me out, and my right knee ached all day) but the terrain was just little ups and downs-we were on a couple of ridges all day, and they also took us through a beautiful pasture and cut the grass to make a wide trail. Just before that, near a highway crossing , a local church had put out a permanent steel box with treats for the hikers- we had cold cokes and peanuts and candy bars. It was fantastic. I wish I knew which church it was. Along the trail we saw the saddest tombstone. It was an old chimney for a man named Nick Grindstaff. He died in 1922, about 70 years old. His epitath was "he lived alone, suffered alone, and died alone."
After hiking all day we were on the look out for a camping site listed in our hikers guidebook. Never found it, but picked another site along the trail. We knew water would be a problem, so Cisco filled up our 4 liter water tank and carried it about 2 miles til we got to this site. It was cold, so we built a fire, made dinner, and are now going to bed. Thankfully the snorers are miles away.