Date: 2007-10-10
From: Vernon, New Jersey

To: Unionville, NY 
Miles today: 17.9

What a great place the St. Thomas Episcopal Church was. We were reluctant to leave there. One day of rest does something for the feet, but not all you would like. It was very misty and rainy when we left, another reason for a bit of reluctance, but we were planning on getting to the "cabin" about 2 miles beyond Unionville (population about 600). Well, the best plans are laid then everything changes and the plans fall over - but I'm getting too far ahead. The going was easy. Flat, and more flat, fast, easy going. It could not have been more different from what we had coming into Vernon. The Pochuck boardwalk just out of Vernon was about a mile (I think) of beautifully-built boardwalk over swampy ground. We did 8 miles in three hours - not much by some people's standards but pretty good for us. We saw a flock of wild turkeys today and a couple of whitetail deer. We planned a stop in Unionville to re-stock at the general store there. They have a picnic table out back of the store and we had lunch there and re-packaged our food. You would not believe the huge amount of packaging we always have to get rid of after shopping, and how small the food gets after re-packaging (and how heavy!!). After re-stocking we were on our way out of town and Lee was coming along behind. We waited for him while he talked to someone who then accompanied him till he reached us. He introduced himself as Butch, then announced that "they had been expecting us" and we were to spend the night at the Mayor's. The Mayor had dinner ready and all was arranged! If we wanted to do a few more miles he would take our packs to the Mayor's then come and collect us a bit later. And he would ferry us back there tomorrow morning. Now, we knew the Mayor of Unionville took in hikers, but we had not planned to stay there due to it being slightly not far enough from the church. However Butch was most persuasive and we ended up staying with Dick, who has been the Mayor of Unionville for the last 10 years. Apparently, news of our impending arrival had preceded us and the Mayor particularly likes to meet those who he thinks might be a bit more unusual. Butch's mother lives right on the main street and I think Butch lives there too. Between them they keep an eye out for hikers going past and divert them to the Mayor's. Dick was quite cross that Butch had somehow missed a hiker with two artificial feet who was meant to be somewhere in the vicinity. I was interested in how Dick had become involved with hikers. He told us his wife, who died about 4 years ago, had always been interested in who was in town - she was in a wheelchair and liked to be kept up to date on the goings on. So after she died, Dick decided to get to know these hobo-looking people who wandered through town a bit better. One thing led to another and early this year he started taking them into his home. He explained that they looked as if they needed a good wash and a good feed, but were, in fact, mostly quite respectable people! We were almost the 200th hikers for this year who have stayed with him. He will not accept any payment, except perhaps in terms of sharing with him why you are there and something about yourself, and sharing his philosophy of life (which, if I'm right, boiled down to "why can't we all love each other and just get along"). Dick likes his Manhattans so we all had a few drinks then he produced a lovely lasagna dinner. He invited some friends over, another New Zealander living in the area who runs a restaurant (Dion, his name is, from Auckland). Turns out he is Maori and his tribe is Ngati Whatua, so we had quite a re-union of the whanau over plenty of lovely NZ wine that he and his wife brought over. It was not, as you can imagine, the usual early hikers' night! Nor was it the usual early hikers' morning, although I was really amused to see that Dick gets up at 5:00 a.m. sharp and gets everyone else up too, as he moves the table back into the middle of the floor where we are sleeping. We get up at that time too, so it wasn't any different from usual for us but I had to laugh at the reaction as I imagined it would be of many we have met who lie in all morning and hike at night. Dick plans to build a special hikers' bunkhouse next to his garage so they won't have to sleep on the floor of his living room.We did our first "slackpack" today, because, as part of the bargain, Butch had carried our packs to the Mayor's and come to pick us up 5 miles further along the trail than we had originally planned to go, so we were a bit ahead of ourselves for tomorrow. This is the first time we have slackpacked - for those unfamiliar with slack-packing, it means you leave your pack at lodgings then have someone meet you and carry you back there to stay. Quite a sensible idea if your feet need a rest and mine still aren't great.Butch and Mayor of Unionville ¢ photo by Chuck Norris and TiggerRocks, rocks and more rocksLee coming down a ladder