Date: 2010-09-07
To: View Entry
Miles today: 264.2

I'm in Kent Conneticut having pushed out a fast 10 miles this morning to get into town. Just here for an hour or two and than back on to the trail. I had to pick up some fuel for my stove and a few other odds and ends. So about this group of guys i've been hiking with (I just got a wiff of myself by the way and i feel bad for the other library goers). Reset is from Mississipi and just graduated from Missippi state. His father is a Methodist Pastor, and Reset is very much involved with missionary work and things like that. He has huge hair and a beard that he begun growing in January. He carries a huge expedition sized pack that we all make fun of him for...the thing is huge. He is always mentioning that he has plenty of room in his pack if we wanted to pack out beer from town. One night when I was rolling into the shelter after dark my had lamp happened upon a naked form a few feet ahead. It was reset strategically positioned where the trail goes into the shelter area. "hey Churchill, will you check me for ticks" he said. We are no different than a bunch of adolescent boys. You should hear our conversations. Along with Reset is Tail End. Tail End (Mikey) we always refer to as Mikey. He is from Orlando and just graduated Florida State. He knows Addison from a Christian camp at which they both volunteer. He is marrying his high school sweet heart next March. Mikey is much more quiet and reserved than Addison but is a pleasure to be around. Dread (Adam) we call dread because of his general negative attitude. Dreaful....although its all a joke. If we have to go up a miniscule 300 foot hill, he will remind us that it will be the worst 300 feet on the trail. We just the same look at everything negatively so it wont be that bad. He just graduated from NC state with a Zoology degree and intends on joining some type of special forces in the military after this hike. So we have kind of meshed the two groups. Its kind of all one big group all within a day of each other. In Bennington VT we stayed at this hostel called the Vortex. A lady named Dharma and her husband Chris run it. It is free of charge. They have a barn with a pool table, and everyone sleeps in there. They allow you to use their home, take showers ect. That night, to celebrate my return we all went to a pub in town. The owners daughter apparently got married that day, and at about 9 pm the wedding party entered from the reception for the after party. It was pretty much everyone from the wedding, and us. The cash registers closed and the beers and shots began flowing for free all night. Apparently Stoker and wolfman had met the owner the previous day so we had our in. Later in the evening, a rather drunk crew of hikers found themselves on steps in front of town hall eating pizza. Wolfman had passed out on a chain barrier that he had knocked over. A police officer pulled up and asked if we had knocked it over (as wolfman lies on it with a box of pizza on top of him). "No sir", Addison said. "We did not knock that over but we did have every intention of picking it up". The police officer nodded and left. The next morning we found out it was a police station that we had been sitting at. Just dodged a night in the drunk tank for sure. For the record.....I was not drunk. I shall always be remembered for my sobriety of conduct even while on the trail. I was just buzzed. I really like these guys alot, and I can't wait to they meet Tater. Either can they, they have been hearing about him forever. We stopped in Salisburt CT for a quick resupply the other day. This is a very rich town. The town is only .4 miles from the trail so Im sure they see alot of hikers. But from the reaction we got you wouldn't think they ever heard of hikers. We got the nastiest looks in the grocery store. This is most likely because of the over abundance of dirt visible on our bodies accompanied by a smell that would make dog shit smell like an air freshener. However, you would think they would be used to it. We ask for nothing and take nothing. We stop in town for a few short hours to eat and resupply. This was one of the first times I felt really embarrassed. However, for every bad experience there are hundred good ones, for every frown a hundred smiles. Most people are exceptionally nice to us.Two days ago while just leaving out of camp in the morning I heard alot of movement off to my left. I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a bear not 15 feet in front of me. A big one. A real big one. It looked at me and went on its way. That was that. I'm sure there will be plenty more to come, but that was the first. I also saw several white tail dear and a porcupine. The chipmunks.....yep still are cracked out and on steroids. There was a man at the campsite last night telling us stories about snakes on the trail. If ever there were set of stories i did not need to hear it was those. I hate snakes....I loathe them. In fact, the word snake is to endearing, to cute. I'll use the rightful name God gave them in the garden of Eden.....serpents. Anyway, we are now making our way into serpent country where we have to watch where we walk, and check the other side of logs before we step over them. I have heard that PA is the worst.The trail has been amazing. I enjoy the different climate and watching the woods change. When you are hiking with GEO he can give you all the names of the spheres you are in and how the vegetation changes with temperature and so on and so forth. I simply say....the woods are different and I like it alot. We hit big flat sections sometimes. It is so sweet! Like 5-6 miles before having to climb again. In Maine and NH that was non existent. The flattest part of the trail is still to come in NJ and PA.I gotta get back to the trail, got 10 more miles to go today. More stories to follow......