Layover in Stratton

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September 6-11th, 2007, Stratton, Maine. Darrin’s stay in Stratton lasted five days. There he met many Appalachian Trail hikers, all of whom he loved reminiscing with.

His stay in Stratton was longer than initially planned due to the mysterious wanderings of a package I had sent him. Mailed on August 31st via priority mail, it should certainly have been in Stratton by September 5th when he arrived. The package contained a few grocery items, as well as two maps of upcoming sections of water trail.

When the package hadn’t appeared by September 9th, we figured it was missing in transit. When I checked the Postal Service’s online tracking system, it had been received at a sorting facility in Chicago on September 3rd, after which there was no record of it anywhere.

Replacing groceries locally was no big deal, but replacing maps was a different story. The town of Stratton didn’t have a bookstore or outfitter, so Darrin managed to get a ride to nearby Rangeley. There he found an outfitter, but as luck would have it, they were out of stock on the maps he needed.

His luck changed once he returned to Stratton. Sue, the owner of the Stratton Motel, sold Darrin her personal copy of one map, for which he was very grateful. The other he ordered from the NFCT organization office. They shipped the map to Rockwood, a town up the water trail. While the lost maps amounted to a delay, Darrin used the time wisely by making sure to enjoy plenty of great lunches and dinners at the White Wolf Inn, as well as many tasty breakfasts at the Stratton Diner.

As for the missing package, I was away from our house in Madison from September 9-15th. When I arrived home on the 15th, it was sitting on our porch after being returned to sender. Two-thirds of the tracking number and bar code were blacked out with permanent marker. If only cardboard could talk…

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Photos

Stratton Motel
Stratton, Maine