Date: 2014-08-28
From: Randy Hart's Place

To: Hanover, New Hampshire
Miles today: 9.9

I woke up at 6:00 after a long, sleepless night. It was way too warm up above the garage for sleeping. I was back in a corner that didn't get any air moving around even though it had cooled down outside. I finally moved the fan just enough to push some cooler air back in the corner and it helped. I ate some leftover pizza for breakfast and had a Pepsi for the caffeine. We walked up to the house and Linda Hart had breakfast and coffee made so we ate again. I hadn't expected to be fed. Linda works for the US Postal Service, my former employer. We talked about postal jobs and she said that she would be retiring in a couple of years. I mentioned that they had a lot of remodeling projects going on in the house, she said that they almost lost their house from Hurricane Irene. They got over 11 inches of rain and the White River across the road flooded. Today just happens to be the 3rd anniversary of the storm. We had to walk down the road before the trail goes back into the woods. There was another 1000 foot climb to get to the last shelter in Vermont. We met Hero hiking with some other SOBO hikers. He flipped in Waynesboro, Virginia. I had to check out the Happy Hill Shelter, it was stone and was very unique looking. I had to write in the shelter log that I have enjoyed the trail and people in Vermont. A young couple were there fixing breakfast before they finished their section hike today. We met a few SOBO's this morning that told us to expect Trail Magic today. The rest of todays hike was pleasant with smaller up and downs. We had 2 longer road walks to finish the day, 1 mile into Norwich, Vermont and the 1.5 mile walk into Hanover, New Hampshire. The first two houses we came to had Trail Magic, Cokes at one and watermelon and banana bread at the other. Norwich has many nice, big homes, a lady on the street said that a lot of them are old farm houses. We stopped in town at Dan and Whit's General Store for a few items that would get us to Glencliffe. We walked a bicycle path along the highway into New Hampshire. When we crossed the Connecticut River we marked the 12th state on our journey off of the list, only 2 more to go. Hanover is home to Dartmouth College and reminds me of college towns back home. The students are coming back and the downtown area is quite busy. We stopped at Lou's for lunch, the double hamburger, fries, and cole slaw. was great. Through hikers also get a free Cruller and the people are certainly hiker friendly. We met lots of hikers in town, Poncho, Ax Man, Preacher, Pace, Mama Bear, Giggles, and many more. We decided to get a room at a hotel since it would be our last trail town for awhile. We are staying at the Sunset Inn, we got free laundry and it is a nice, quiet place to work on journals. It is only a 9.9 mile day but we need to get our bodies ready for the White Mountains coming up. Ordered some pasta to be delivered to the hotel. Trail food is getting old but I am also tired of eating in town. I would be satisfied to go home and eat at my dining room table for awhile or even better, sit down and eat with my family. I know there are still some incredible things for me to see in New Hampshire and Maine but part of me has been ready to go home for some time now. I just have to focus on the next 442 miles and meet the challenges as they come so I don't have to come back and finish the hike next year. Time to rest up for tomorrow.