an unfortunate halfway celebration

Day 82 ~ miles 1318.8 - 1335.1

A huge milestone was surpassed today...THE HALFWAY POINT!!  An unimpressive monument stood at the point that was once halfway; reroutes of the trail change the halfway point often.  We took a short break at the monument to review the trail register and snap some photos.  In our excitement to reach the halfway point and to get into town, we missed the off-trail water source where we'd planned to fill up.  Our lack of water served as added motivation to hike faster.  It was hot, but fortunately we were in the shade for most of the day's miles.

We sat by a stream to rehydrate, and arrived to the road into town early afternoon in good time.  Finding a ride into town didn't take too long, and we were dropped off in the middle of the small town.  After finding that most of the hotels in town had no vacancies, we booked a room at a lower quality, but still unfortunately pricey, inn.

We settled into our ant-infested room quickly, and got started on getting ourselves and our clothes clean.  I ran across the street to the grocery store to pick up something to eat.  No requests from Moonshine; no ice cream or beer?  Weird, I thought.  When I returned to the room, he was lying in bed, claiming to be cold and achy.  Not long after started the gastrointestinal symptoms, I'll let you use your imagination.  Was it something we ate? Couldn't be, it was all nonparishable trail food.  I stayed outside of the contaminated hotel room chatting on the phone, occasionally peeking in to check on Moonshine.  Eventually I decided that I should probably get something to eat, but suddenly a ton of bricks hit me and I crawled into bed, only to have the same violent, explosive symptoms hit.  Luckily Moonshine's objective symptoms had subsided, so I had the bathroom all to myself.
  After being up all night, I don't think we'll be going anywhere tomorrow.  Not the halfway celebration we had planned on!