Date: 2008-06-16
From: Port Clinton,Pa.

To: Little Gap
Miles today: 45.3

There was a Catholic priest, a male nurse and an apostle in the basement of a Mennonite dairy farmer. Sounds like the beginning of a lame joke except it happened. Only the trail could put that combination together. Satarday Hometown' the nurse from Franklin N.C. and I left the Port Clinton Inn for the town pavilion where they were having a hiker feed. When we arrived I realized it was a Mennonite couple that was treating us. Much to their surprise I started talking Pennsylvania Dutch to them. Mike Brubaker and his brother Jerry hiked the trail in 2000 and to show his appreciation for what people did for him while hiking, he puts on a hiker feed one Satarday every June. There were 4 brothers helping. They had a griddle and cooked breakfast. Then at noon they cooked BBQ Ribs. In the afternoon hamburgers. Lots of homemade pastries and drinks completed the feast. I ate all day. In the afternoon Joe Brubaker took myself Hometown and Mountain Sailor to Cabelas 2 miles from Port Clinton. Jerry Brubaker the brother who purchased the home farm invited me out to see the dairy farm and to meet his parents, Eugene and Grace Brubaker. Padre the Catholic Priest was raised on a farm in Indiana and wanted to see the dairy farm. Next we went to their parents house where they fed us again. They also had 4 kinds of ice cream. Grace and Eugene just got back from visiting Germany and Switzerland. I was over there with my cousin Dave Swartzentruber last September and they were at many of the same places I was. They invited us to stay overnight in their air conditioned fully finished basement with shower. We could not turn that down. We had a most enjoyable day and evening. The Brubakers are from the Bernville area and attend the Walnut Town Mennonite Church. Padre the Priest actually went to church with them Sunday morning. Grace cooked a big breakfast for us. While taking us back to the trail in Port Clinton Eugene stopped to show me the house where an Amish family was killed by Indians back many years ago. I remembered reading about it in a Hochstetler/Stutzman geneology book. There was a sign placed there by the State of Pa. stating what happened. For those interested it's in Berks county. An interesting note about the Brubaker boys. They each drove a Ford Festiva and had competition to see who could get the best gas mileage. One went so far as to take off the wipers, mirrors, back seat and spare tire. He was at 59.5 mpg and wanted 60. This afternoon Hometown and I climbed up and over Lehigh Gap. That is a very steep rock climb requiring some interesting rock scrambles. On top of Lehigh Gap we walked for several miles through a super fund site where there is no vegetation at all. Just rocks and dead trees. We also dodged 2 thunderstorms this afternoon. We quickly put up our tents before getting too wet. The path is really rocky but we are still hiking around 22 miles a day. Hometown is meeting his wife in Delaware Water Gap on Wednesday so I will lose him as a hiking partner. So far I have had good people to hike with. Mountain Sailor, Rethinker, Shiloh, and now Hometown have either had family meet or hike with them causing them to be behind me. I quess I could slow down but that probably won't happen........ I hiked with Fannie Crosby today.......Several weeks ago while hiking into Pine Grove Furnace I Came across a dead frog on the trail. He had croaked while crossing the trail. Services were in progress with a large number of flies in attendance. Several distant Ants came from a distance. A tadpole was overheard saying that anytime anything needed done around the pond, frog was always the first one to hop to it. The memory of the scene gives me a frog in my throat.... Ok, I guess my journal starts and ends lame.