Date: 2015-07-04
From: Tom Leonard Shelter

To: East Mt Retreat Center
Miles today: 2.0
Weather: light rain

7/4, 2, East Mt Retreat CenterWe woke at the usual time and ate quick breakfast knowing we only had two miles to the road, and then another two miles to the East Mountain Retreat Center. As we said our goodbyes our shelter mates from New York added to our meal with homemade oatmeal raisin cookies which were great! We planned the short hike for today so we could get into town and do laundry before JP's army buddies arrived to spend the day. We hiked out at 7:00 and headed north, which ended up being downhill most of he way. The temps were cool and the forecast clear skies were not the case. With the overcast it was nice hiking, but we were growing concerned about our plans to picnic with JP's friends. We made it to the road in good time and started the final 2 miles. Shortly down the road a car approached and honked to get our attention. As he slowed to a stop across the road we recognized Voltron, a fellow thru hiker, just as he asked if we needed a ride. I met Voltron in Georgia on my fourth day, his first, when we stayed at the hiker hostel in Dahlonega and he has been in the bubble of hikers with IB and JP for the past few days. He stopped to rest a sore knee just before I caught up with hem and has been off trail since. He decided to rent a car and do some trail magic while he rested so he was looking for hikers to help. Voltron gave us a ride the rest of the way to the hostel, waited for us to shower, and then drove us to the laundry since he was planning to do his as well. Great Barrington is a sizable community having all the usual grocery, hardware and retail stores. We started our laundry and headed across the street to a local bagel place for a breakfast sandwich and coffee. 30 minutes later we returned to put our laundry in the dryer then walked across the parking lot to the grocery for a couple items. Once oir laundry was dry Voltron was going to take us back to the hostel where JP's friends could pock us up. JP texted them just then and discovered they were already in town. Voltron dropped us off downtown and we waited for JP's friends, who arrived a few minutes later. Since it had started to rain and was nearly noon we headed to a resturant for some lunch. JP's friends are old army buddies he met while serving in Germany 20 years ago. They had kept in touch, but not seen each other since the service time together. They had many stories to tell and were a lot of fun to hang out with. After lunch we shopped a little but since the rain had not cleared we ducked into a pub and sat listening to music and talking. While we were shopping a young couple had asked us on the street if we knew where hey could buy a sleeping bag. We did not and as we walked away we wondered where they were from by their accents. Then, while we were visiting in the pub, in they walked looking for a place to sit. We invited them to join us and we enjoyed visiting. They are a young couple, he is from Israel and she is from Germany and are in the states visiting his mom and a friend of hers. They were all four interesting to visit with which made for a variety of interesting conversations around the table. Around 9 pm the pub has love music so as it got pretty busy and loud, we decided it was time to call it a day. John and Wayne drove us back to the hostel where we said our goodbyes and have now turned in for the night. All in all it was an interesting fourth of July appropriately spent in the state of our nations birth. I thank God every day for the blessings of my life, one of which is the opportunity to live in the freedom provided in America. Silverback