Shipping cheese?

[Johnny Swank]

Here's the deal.

My wife and I are sneaking out of town for a Carver's Gap to Hot Springs hike starting this Saturday, and I'm sending a maildrop out to Erwin (UJ's) tomorrow. Usually I don't deal with maildrops, but neither one of use want to send 1/2 day shopping, repacking, etc, and UJ's is 15 feet off the trail.

Anyway, we're both cheese addicts, and I'm thinking about adding about 1.5 lbs of extra-sharp chedder in their factory vaccum-packed 8 oz packages (Kraft or equivelent). The cheese will be unrefrgerated for a week at most, as we'll pick it up on 23rd.

You think this will fly? Or alternativly, is there a curb market really close to the AT that I can just buy some nearby? I don't remember any from my thru-hike, but that was 7 years ago.

[mudhead]

Maybe some one could shuttle some to your drop site...

Would be a shame to waste some good cheese.

[Jack Tarlin]

Cheddar will do just fine. After all, in many New England markets you see cheddar cheese for sale on tables and in display baskets that isn't refrigerated at all.

Or, you could pay a few dollars for a shuttle to the Food Lion in the center of town (there's even another market that's closer, I forget the name) and you could pick up something there, in addition to any other last-minute items that you decide you need. A quick trip to the market for a few things, with shoppping list done ahead of time, won't take up half a day.

[Johnny Swank]

Yeah, I know, but this is sort of a pre-thinking exercise about a PCT trial run with the maildrop. I hate doing damn maildrops, but I'm trying to get our food needs down (lbs/day, etc) before getting much more into this planning.

If we decide to run into town, so be it, but I'd like to do the ol' in and out and get back on the trail if possible.

[Jack Tarlin]

A block of sharp cheddar will be just fine in the mail; also, instead of tommorrow, you could perhaps have someone mail your parcel Priority later in the week, so it'd only be outta the fridge for a few days. But really, you'll be fine either way; have a great trip!

(One tip from when I did this section earlier this spring: You'll probably be staying at Overmountain Shelter your first night; if the spring is dry, which it may be, walk down the road for 2 minutes (you'll see the road on your left as you approach the shelter) and there's a reliable spring/stream on your right that should be running just fine.

[shelterbuilder]

Here's the deal.
My wife and I are sneaking out of town for a Carver's Gap to Hot Springs hike starting this Saturday, and I'm sending a maildrop out to Erwin (UJ's) tomorrow. Usually I don't deal with maildrops, but neither one of use want to send 1/2 day shopping, repacking, etc, and UJ's is 15 feet off the trail.
Anyway, we're both cheese addicts, and I'm thinking about adding about 1.5 lbs of extra-sharp chedder in their factory vaccum-packed 8 oz packages (Kraft or equivelent). The cheese will be unrefrgerated for a week at most, as we'll pick it up on 23rd.
You think this will fly? Or alternativly, is there a curb market really close to the AT that I can just buy some nearby? I don't remember any from my thru-hike, but that was 7 years ago.

If you're really worried about losing your cheese to the heat, find a store that sells DRY ICE and ship the dry ice and cheese in a small insulated cooler (the soft-sided, collapsable kind) in with your mail drop. Be sure to slip some extra insulation (old foam pad, newspaper, etc.) in between the ice and the cheese or you'll end up with solidly frozen cheese.:(

BE EXTREMELY CAREFUL WHEN HANDLING DRY ICE! Use heavy gloves and NEVER touch the ice - it is frozen carbon dioxide (-44 degrees) and can freeze skin and muscle very quickly.

[Marta]

You might want to send cheeses that just get better as they get riper, such as brie. A sleeve of Stoned Wheat Thins and a round of ripe brie...

Marta/Five-Leaf

[Newb]

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=2007-07-19_D8QFQHV00&show_article=1&cat=breaking

A tractor-trailer hauling blocks of cheese erupted in flames early Thursday, turning much of its cargo into freeway fondue.

No one was hurt, but boxes containing hundreds of pounds of provolone, cheddar, American and other cheeses clogged the burned truck and littered the side of Interstate 80 north of downtown Sacramento.
"It went pretty quick," said truck driver Frank Barker, who pulled over at 3:45 a.m. when he saw smoke coming from under his truck. Barker said he tried to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher (http://search.breitbart.com/q?s=), but the fire was too big. He gave up and rescued his dog, who was traveling with him from Salt Lake City (http://search.breitbart.com/q?s=) to the San Francisco Bay area (http://search.breitbart.com/q?s=)

[RockyBob]

Freeway fondue......I like that. Add a Hershey's truck to the mix, and you have Heaven on the highway.