Hi everyone. Today is Thursday, August 9. I made it to Monson, Maine yesterday.  Monson is the last town before Baxter State Park and the beginning of the 100 mile wilderness. I am taking a zero day today and will resupply and head out tomorrow (in the rain) and begin the 5 day hike across the 100 mile wilderness.  I will arrive at the entrance of Baxter State Park and on day 6 hike the 9 miles to the Birches Camp site and then on day 7 will hike the 5 miles up Mt. Katahdin and complete the thruhike and hike the 5 miles back down and be done.  I could finish on the 15th but Denise will be picking me up on the 17th, so I am slowing down for the 17th.  It will be nice to have a steady pace and not rush.  Although I, like everyone else, am ready to be done.  I cannot thank Denise enough for driving the 2 hours up and 2 hours back to Kennebunk to come get me when I was sick - taking care of me and nursing me back to health - and then driving me all the way back to Andover.  She is my saving grace on this hike, (never mind everything else she has done for me). Since I have been back on the trail I have been feeling much better.  About 3/4 of the hikers have come down with this virus, and it was so bad that the Maine Board of Health was out in Andover taking samples to isolate the strain of virus.  This section of trail from Andover, ME to Monson, ME has been magnificent.  I hiked from Andover to Oquossic and was picked up by Denise's sister Celine and her husband Dale (they were vacationing on Mooselookmeguntock lake) and they brought me to the camp cleaned me up and fed me.  We had a wonderful evening.  The next day I hiked over to Rangely and hitched a ride in and did laundry ( one set of cloths soaked from rain the day before, and second set of cloths soaked from sweat).  It has been hot and muggy and the cloths get pretty rank with sweat and don't dry out in the evening.  I then hiked to Caratunk and was picked up by my sister in law Cathy's sister Ellen and her husband Ron and they brought me to their camp on Moxie Lake and they cleaned me up and fed me.  What a great spot they have - it is like a slice of heaven.  I got to look across the lake at he next day's hike over Pleasant and Moxie Mountains.  The hike from Rangely to Caratunk was the most magnificent of the whole trail for me.  This section has the reputation for being very difficult and discouraging to thruhikers.  This range includes Saddleback Mt, Crocker and Sugerloaf Mt's, and The Bigelow Mt's with East and West Avery Mt's.  Even though it was hot and muggy those 3 days, the breeze on the mountain tops kept me cool.  It was some of the most exciting climbs and views on the whole trail.  And, I did not find these climbs tough at all. I only have 2 mountains to climb, one about 2000 feet and one about 3500 feet.  The rest is flat terrain and rocky, roots, and muddy.  Today I am taking a zero day to re-supply and rest (I will miss a day of rain).  Friday and Saturday I will be hiking in rain.  For the most part I have been lucky and have not had much rain at all for 2 months.  I won't be able to update until I finish.  I hope that later today I will be able to upload a bunch of pictures - if not I will do so when I am finished some time after the 17th of August.