I got a fairly early start this morning although I still waited for the rain to stop. I didn’t see any thru hikers at all yesterday and I didn’t today either until I met up with Rambles again just outside of Port Clinton while I was drying my tent out in the sun. He hadn’t seen anyone either but we soon ran into more after that.

From Port Clinton, I hitched into Hamburg to take care of a few things at the library. A woman and her daughter picked me up and when I mentioned some friends that had grown up in the area had come to visit me on the trail yesterday and she asked who they were, she knew the family! She apparently used to be good friends with Blair’s sister-in-law. Small world. She had turned onto the road I was on by mistake too and thought she must be meant to pick me up.

I finished up at the library then started walking through town looking for the CVS. Two young boys came out of a shop across the street and yelled over to ask if I wanted a bottle of water. They seemed excited to see a hiker so I said sure and went into the Willow Tree Primitives and Antiques Country Store. Once inside, the owner, Larraine, immediately offered me a soda, a packet of caramel popcorn, and then she had her daughter make me a cheese sandwich. I answered the boys’ questions about thru hiking while I ate. When I asked about the CVS, she said it was farther than I thought but she’d drive me there, and then she’d drive me back to the trail. I was then given more soda and popcorn to take to Rambles. What a wonderful trail angel! She tries to help out hikers whenever possible so I put some of her business cards on the trail with the words “trail angel” written on the back for other hikers to call her.

Back on the trail, I got slowed down by raspberry bushes for a while. I’d try to resist but then keep veering off trail any way to eat, often forgetting about my head net and trying to eat through it. So delicious. I found out today the berries I’ve been eating are a type of raspberry called wineberry.

Rambles caught up with me again while I was taking a break and we moved on to the Windsor Furnace Shelter. 19.2 miles for today.