Date: 2014-06-17
From: Stormville, New York

To: Kent, Connecticut
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Day 97: Tuesday, 17 June 2014 Surprising BuffaloBoth my sister Barb and I thought it would be fun if I flew out to Rochester, NY, to go with her and Tina, a friend of her's, when they do Trail Magic near Williamstown/North Adams, MA, for Buffalo and whomever he's hiking with. Well, now, it would be picking him up at Christine's house in the Stormville, NY area, and heading to the area in Connecticut where he got off the trail.I flew into Rochester on Friday, 13 June. Barb and I spent Friday, and the next three days, shopping, baking, preparing vegetables, baby-sitting her grand daughter, having a pajama party, getting together with her son and daughter-in-law for dinners, practicing songs to sing with her church choir, going to church and singing in the choir, chatting in the evenings, laughing, and keeping in touch with Buffalo while keeping my New York presence a secret! The days were packed with activity! And, while I was rolling out bread dough to make nut and savory rolls to take, I was told, by Katie, her grand daughter, who was sitting on the other side of the counter munching on pistachios, in no uncertain terms that I was making a mess! I told Katie, who is three, that in order to be creative, one must make a mess, but that also means that one must clean it up. "You make a big mess!" Guess she doesn't like flour sprinkled over the counter! Oh, well!So today, we finished packing the car, attached the Sidewinder (a car awning) and off we went to Sherrill, NY, to pick up Tina. Although Barb and Tina have known each other for about 40 years, I've never met her, yet she closely followed Buffalo last year on the PCT through his Trail Journal, and now this year on the AT. She was in on this Trail Magic gig right from the beginning! Tina took us to lunch at a restaurant on the local public golf course - very nice. She told the history of the area and how her brother was part of the group who transformed the place into a public course.So now on to Stormville. "Marilyn, you stay in the car and I'll tell Buffalo to go get 'something' in the car that you sent me to give to Chris." (Would he be surprised? Had he put two and two together and figured out that I was coming. There were a couple phone calls that...)"Hi Mom! What are you doing bent down in the back seat?!""Trying to surprise you!""I figured out that your were coming.""I thought that you might have. Was it the phone call Thursday night when Dad told you that, 'Mom has to get ready to leave?' Or the 2-hour call Sunday night when you just talked to Dad?""By Sunday night, I knew. I started suspecting Thursday night, but when you called Sunday morning at what would be 6:30am your time and then after talking a while said that you need to get ready for church, my suspicions were validated! But it's still great to see you!" "I guess you ARE smarter than the average buffalo!"We got to meet Chris, the Awesome Trail Angel. We all went in and got acquainted and talked for a while. Buffalo gave me a birthday card he made on their computer, with the help of Chris. She and her son Dan were home. I just find this so amazing that we met her other son Kevin, Ginger Beard Man, last year, then she got to meet our son this year. Now we get to meet each other; the Trail Angel circle is complete but not ended!"How did you happen upon Buffalo's Trail Journal?""Well, Kevin wasn't interested in keeping an online journal, nor did we hear from him very often, so I started reading journals, hoping to find other hikers who had met up with Kevin. At least we'd know about where he was!"I didn't ask any further, but I presume that when Buffalo and I decided to do the AT and started posting, she saw the '2014 AT' link and checked it out, being that they live near the AT, or she could have been reading AT journals and found Buffalo's. She did say that her husband is interested in hiking the AT."Well, I couldn't believe what I was reading when I saw your Guest Book entry. I had to read it several times, then I read it to my husband, just to make sure!""I wasn't sure IF I should write anything.""I'm glad you did, given the turn of events. And I'm glad you were there to help my son. Thank you. Thank you, so much!"I may have left the trail, but I didn't leave the community! I'm certainly not glad that Buffalo got Lyme's Disease, but I definately breathed easier knowing he was with a caring family. It was truly Divine Intervention at work here.On to Connecticut for the evening. We seemed to hit rush hour traffic, but made it OK. Found our motel, checked in, got settled, then went to find a restaurant. The Buffalo's hungry!