Natalie on the IAT: Day 7: VFW Post 9867

604,800 seconds. 10,080 minutes. 168 hours. 7 days. OR one week. (And roughly 758 ticks removed)

That's how long we have been hiking. One week out of 12. And we got to be picked up by Kent and Bernadette W., members of the Shell Lake VFW Post. They picked us up at 3pm and took us to their wonderful home where Bernadette had homemade cookies waiting for us to gobble them down! I had three and I wish I had eaten more (brought some of the trail with me... SO GOOD!)

Best thing to see when walking into a house EVER! I may have been like cookie monster. "Me want cookie!!"

After milk and cookies we got cleaned up, did laundry and then got ready to go eat at Lake View in Shell Lake. I had the walleye... It was delicious and there wasn't anything left when I was done. The post members were great conversationalists and incredibly welcoming.

Felt like old friend right away. Great people!

Never a dull moment. Of course what we were eating on the trail came up and comparisons to MREs were made and then to K-rations. I had said I had only seen the P38 in a museum and right then the Army Vets pulled out their key chains and I had five of them to look at up close and personal. The two Air Force and one Navy Vet didn't have one ;) gee, wonder why? Hahaa.

After dinner we stopped

and got a few grocery items and went back to the house where I got to soak my feet in an Epson salt bath. Pure heaven. It helped because the next day my foot was doing pretty well and my today, end of day 9, I was walking closer to my normal pace. My toe now looks much worse than it feels. Yeah!

Thank you for the great stay!

The next morning Bernadette made breakfast. Pancakes with homemade cranberry relish, a fruit syrup and then maple syrup to pick from for toppings. Plus perfectly cooked bacon, the kind with no slimy white spongy fat on it! Pretty sure Martha Stewart would have a hard time in some sort of kitchen battle with Bernadette. Seriously, it was mothers day and she was doing all the spoiling.

After breakfast we watched

Kent and Bernadette's son put their newly arrived honey bees into the bee hive. He is in the Air National Guard with an extensive and impressive military career under his belt. The whole family has had impressive military backgrounds with only the Coast Guard not represented. Definitely a humbling experience.

The next morning we met Keith, an IATA member at Brickyard Pottery where we dropped our bags for slack packing. Keith took us to where we had been picked up and showed us an important route change on the upcoming trail portion. He was extremely helpful and really makes the IATA group feel so supportive.