Date: 2008-07-12
From: Happy Hill Shelter VT 

To: Hanover NH ÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ Hanover Inn
Miles today: 5.8

Day 146 Saturday July 12 ¢ Hanover NH ¢ Hanover Inn - Miles Today: 5.8 Total Miles: 1734.3Despite the 3 guys with their coolers down below us in the shelter last night, we had a quiet night. Once it got dark, they seemed to become real quiet. There was only one noisy moment when they hollered up to us, "Hey, man in the tent, are you still there?" To which Brakeman hollered, "Yes." We thought it was mighty weird. But other than that we had a good peaceful night.This morning we had a quick walk out of the forest and before we knew it, we were walking on a little road through the town of Norwich. Three deer crossed the road right in front of us.   Just a few minutes later Grasshopper said to Brakeman, "Do you see what I see?" and he said, "What, the pretty flowers?" Grasshopper responded, "No, check again. Do you see what I see?" It took him about 30 seconds before he saw the ice chest sitting by the mailbox. We were just amazed that we had Trail Magic again. But since it was only about 8:00 in the morning, we figured it might have been left over from yesterday and empty. But much to our surprise and delight, it had been restocked already this morning! Inside was fresh watermelon, homemade banana nut chocolate chip bread, oatmeal bars and a chocolate bar. Quite a feast! We sat down on the curb and enjoyed ourselves. Well actually, we stunk, so we did not enjoy ourselves, but the food was enjoyable. Our Trail Angel was The Brain, a 2007 thru-hiker. He has obviously been doing this all season as the little book that we signed, has people going all the way back to June. We saw the names of Donkeylegs, Chris and Strides, who actually got to spend the night with him as it was raining. Strides note said, ¢It is pouring rain as I write this¢ and we¢re wondering how he could he be writing in the rain and then continued to read - "sitting inside their lovely home." It was really sweet of The Brain to put such wonderful Trail Magic out for us. Seven Trail Magics in 7 days. Truly, truly unbelievable. As we continued to walk through the small streets of Norwich, the town got quainter and more beautiful. Many of the homes are from the 1700s - beautiful old farm homes attached to barns. Just gorgeous. I can't imagine what the price tag of the homes would be. It was in the neighborhood of these beautiful homes that we stopped and talked to a lady who was out getting her newspaper and walking her dog on the way to have coffee in town, which was just half a block away. We had a lovely chat with her. At the intersection of the town, workers were busy setting up for the circus. Although it might have been neat to come back and partake in the circus activities, we passed, knowing that rest was our top priority.We had about another mile of road walking from Norwich to Hanover New Hampshire ¢ a new state! As we crossed the bridge over the Connecticut River, we stopped and took a picture of our hiking sticks leaning against the granite VT/NH plaque. How appropriate that the state line plaque was made out of granite; the official nickname for New Hampshire of course being, The Granite State.Upon hitting Hanover, we headed to the Dartmouth Outing Club as there was supposed to be an information board, computers and restrooms for our usage. We found the computers but could not get onto gmail and decided to walk across the street and try to check into the hotel. It was only 8:45, a bit early to check into the fancy Hanover Inn, but we tried. Unfortunately they were fully booked last night and it would be about an hour before any of the rooms were ready. So we decided to head to town and run our errands. First we went to the outfitter but it was closed. They did not open until 10:00. Next we went to the post office and got our food drop and Jim's normal little box of chocolates, which we managed to eat all of by the time the day was over. Very tasty - thanks Jim!Then we wove back to the other side of town, to the library where we did our emails. I pity the young boy who had to sit beside us at the PCs.   We had not yet showered, nor done laundry and our socks really stank. I wonder how bad we really smelled? I can at least report that he did not faint, nor did he get up and leave. Whew, close call, I¢m sure.By the time we finished our emails, the outfitter was open. We bought Grasshopper a long sleeve shirt for sun protection while she is on the antibiotic for Lyme Disease. Wow, was the shirt expensive - $60! And that was not even the most expensive one! Not only did we have to pay too much for it, now she has more weight to carry or wear! We¢re headed into the Whites ¢ we¢re supposed to be dumping weight from our packs, not adding weight!Since we were so close to the co-op, we decided to do our grocery shopping before heading back to the hotel. The co-op and the hotel are on opposite sides of town. No use doing this mile walk twice! We enjoyed some free samples of pastries as we grocery shopped.   Let¢s just say that we hit the sample more than once, and leave it at that. Mmmm!We were back to the hotel by noon and got checked in. Just one problem - we had no refrigerator to house our groceries! Luckily upon asking for one, we were able to get one moved to our room! The accomodations are beautiful! They even provided bathrobes for us! It was a very, very nice gift from Val and we truly appreciate it. Thanks Val!!We spent the next couple hours showering and hand washing some of our clothes. We were able to score a bottle of Fabreeze from the man who brought us the refrigerator, as he had a key to the cleaning supply closet. We¢ve sprayed our shoes and socks in hopes of getting the stink out of them. They have been wet for a couple days and they're mighty ripe. We spent the rest of the day hanging out in the room. Tomorrow for breakfast we're headed to Lou¢s, a well known college and tourist eatery in town with awesome pancakes. We decided that the cost of breakfast in the hotel at $20 each is just too much for us to stomach. Even the $8 stack of pancakes at Lou's is too much but you gotta eat when you're in town. Goodnight from our 12th state out of 14!   We're nearly there.