Date: 2006-09-26
From: The Cobbles, Mass

To: Salisbury, Ct
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: clear sky

I slept good last night although I do remember turning over more than usual. It was a little too warm...maybe close to 60 degrees. I woke up at 5:45am and made 1 1/2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and had 11 chocolate espresso beans for breakfast. I have been having only 10 chocolate espresso beans each morning, but I just felt like I didn't want to get into a habit of having the same thing every morning, so today I had 11. :-))) I started walking at 6:20 and climbed to the top of Mt Everett just in time to watch the sun come up over the mountains. I walked down Mt Everett, then climbed Race Mountain. I was pretty sure Mrs Gorp was just about 30 minutes in front of me by the dryness of the mud she tracked through this morning. I knew I wouldn't catch her until she took a break because she walks faster than I do now since I'm still nursing some planter fasciitis in my right foot. I got up to the ridge and I could see someone sitting down about .2 miles ahead of me....sure enough, it was Mrs Gorp. You should have seen the surprised look on her face when I came walking up. :-))) I got a hug and she asked me what on earth I was doing here already. We headed on and spent the morning talking and walking and catching up on Trail news. We walked down to Sages Ravine and said goodbye to Mass and hello to Ct.It sure didn't take too long to get through Mass this year. Next was the steep climb up Bear Mountain. When we got to the top, there was an older couple from S Africa by the names of Slow Coach and Spindle Shanks. They flipped up to Katahdin from Harpers Ferry and are working their way back. They said they are running out of time, so they may just do the best parts between here and Harpers Ferry before returning to S Africa. They walked on and I sat there eating an apple and drinking water. We headed on down the mountain and caught up to Slow Coach and Spindle Shanks about 30 minutes later. They let us by and we said we'd probably see them in Salisbury. We walked by the side trails to Brassie Brook Lean-to and then Riga Lean-to without stopping at either one of them. We climbed Lions Head and for some reason it didn't seem as bad as I had remembered....maybe I did it in the rain last time. We got to Salisbury shortly after noon. Mrs Gorp was planning on staying in town, so it wasn't a hard decision for me to make to share a room and take a much needed shower. We got the room, then went into White Hart Inn for lunch. I saw a hiker sitting in there and asked his name...it was Dorito, a sobo. When I walked closer, I saw a girl sitting with him, who was around the corner. I recognized her, but couldn't place her right away. Mrs Gorp knew her right off and gave her a hug. Her name was Superstar...I still couldn't place her until she said her trail name used to be Sweet Cheeks. I met her in the 100 Mile Wilderness!!! We sat down and had lunch with them, then went to the library and checked email. We went to the local grocery store and bought stuff to munch on today. We saw Slow Coach and Spindle Shanks at the picnic table eating. We stopped and talked to them again, then went back to the room and got cleaned up and I emptied out my pack and spread my stuff all over the place...on my side of the room of course. :-))) Mrs Gorp's side of the room looks so neat and my side looks like a tornado hit. Ha!!! Only caught one leaf today because I was so busy talking, so I'm at 53 now...same as my age.