Date: 2010-06-18
From: Thistle Hill Shelter

To: Norwich VT
Miles today: 15.5

2 Report   It was almost dark when I got to the shelter last night and my shelter mate, Uncle Frank had already retired for the night. I ate in the dark and then proceeded to the privy to file my report, so as not to disturb UF. The privy was pretty unique, a hexagonal rocket ship design. I must have been really tired because I don¢t remember getting into my sleeping bag. UF was up early and left hiking around 0600. I had thought about sleeping in late, but if I got up early I figured I could make Norwich tonite. I caught UF just before W Hartford and we had a meal at the Village Store. I hiked on to the Happy Hill Shelter for a quick break and then on to Norwich. I decided to take the William Tucker blue blaze trail in honor of a former commander. That was a big mistake as all the maps are incorrect. What should have been an easy 3 miles was more like about 7. I staying at Short and Sweet and GreyBeard¢s home, which has been called the Taj Mahal of Vermont.Recent sightings: red fox, red squirrels, scarlet tanager and lots and lots of Moose scat. But where are the Moose? I think I may have heard one walking on the rocks this am; but have yet to see one. These guys are bigger than Bevo and they can¢t be hiding behind the rocks or trees or in caves. Also saw maple syrup taps and lines.Norwich alma mater, sorta(Long Story but this is my journal)The Soviet Union was disintegrating in the early 1990s and the USG was concerned that the Soviet Space program might be used to assist the bad guys in their missile nuclear weapons program. So, NASA was directed to create a Shuttle-Mir program with the Russians to encourage the peaceful purposes of their space program. AstroGuy was the first Program Director and I was honored to be his Deputy. One of the first items NASA HQ provided was Russian language and culture training AstroGuy had a private Berlitz tutor and took classes early in the am I recall him coming to work complaining of these excrutiating headaches. Silly me thought he was a wuss. Later, I got to take Russian language course. It was a 1 ¢ 1 1/2 hour class, three days a week. In one of my rather blistering course evals, I noted that if HQ really wanted us to learn Russian that these classes wouldn¢t do the job and we needed an emersion course. Our training staff did some research and found such a class, Ryccia Scola, which was taught at Norwich University. There were two slots and I encouraged all my classmates to apply, as they were much younger and would probably benefit more. Besides, I was always with Astro Guy and he had interpreters. Training staff said no, my name was written in permanent ink for the beginners class. This class was total Russian immersion. In the beginners class we were allowed to speak limited English only during the first couple of hours of the day. Otherwise, it was totally Russian. It wasn¢t probably the second day I started getting these terrible headaches, and they seemed to last continuously. My only relief was during the meal period when I would find an isolated table and tried to eat alone, peacefully without the headaches. One of the staff members, Ebeliha Artec, a babushka of 93 thought I was sad and lonely and would come to comfort. She got really excited when she learned I was from NASA and that I was working with the Russian space program. There is probably something lost in the translation here; but I think she was somehow involved with Sergey Ivanovich (?) Korolov, the director of the Russian Space Design Bureau. Anyways, I soon got over it, learned to live with the headaches and now offer my apologies to Astroguy for ever thinking you might be a wuss. Sorry. And BTW, Norwich University left Norwich VT 100 years ago and is now located in Northfield VT.Life is Great!