Date: 2007-07-17
From: Jerusalem Rd,Tyringham, MA

To: Pittsfield Rd, MA
Miles today: 19.1

A lot of sleep did me good. I woke up after twelve hours of sleep for coffee, a banana, and cereal. (I think I'm going to sleep for two weeks straight after I finish this trip.) It was an abbreviated breakfast at the bed and breakfast for an early riser like me. The other guests would have their "formal" breakfast at 8:30 AM.Quickly, I loaded my backpack, thanked the hosts, Lynn and Al, and then Al gave me a ride back up the steep road where the Appalachian Trail crosses Jerusalem Road nearly a mile from the middle of town.My goal for the day was to go about seventeen miles to the October Mountain Lean-to. With the late start I got, relative to the 6 AM starts that I'm used to, I expected to get to the shelter sometime between 4 PM and 5 PM. Yesterday, I was lamenting that I could have continued another seven or eight miles to the Upper Goose Pond Cabin for the night. It would have been a treat to take a swim in the pond. I passed by it this morning, thought about swimming, but I still had to contend with a long day and the possibility of thunderstorms in the afternoon. The Upper Goose Pond is large enough, to me, to qualify as a lake. Well, I'm sure there will be other places to swim during this trip. Maybe I'll get another chance.For some reason, I was making good time today and crossed over Interstate 90 this morning. Maybe I was walking faster today because I had plenty of sleep the night before, strong coffee this morning, or because I carbo-loaded last night eating a huge serving of grande nachos and then finishing off a chicken marsala entree.   It could also be because Massachusetts seems to have some areas of easy terrain that isn't too steep and a lot of the trail is "padded" with pine needles when you hike underneath these one hundred foot evergreens, which, by the way, are very fragrant.I did not catch up with any north-bound hikers today. I found that odd. I must be between groups of hikers. At one point, I read an entry in a trail register that indicated that Beach Bum signed the register (log book) today. He did not write in a time, so I did not know how far ahead he might be. I wanted to catch up with him. Strangely, I did not see him listed in any of the other registers that I passed today. I did stop to chat with a few south-bound section hikers. "Uncle Sam" and "Fat Albert" were hiking together when they approached me going the opposite direction. So, here stands, together on a trail in the woods, Fire Marshal, Uncle Sam, and Fat Albert. I had to chuckle and you gotta laugh. One person might think that CB handles are less than dignified, but when you find three guys on the trail known as Fire Marshal, Fat Albert, and Uncle Sam it seems humorous. Doesn't it make you wonder if all were planning for a Halloween costume party? What's next? It wouldn't surprise me to see a group of four hikers, traveling together, calling themselves, collectively, the Village People. You'd have (the) Indian, Police Man, and the other two guys (whatever they are). It could happen. Maybe instead of asking people for their names I should ask, "Who are you supposed to be?" Perhaps the ALDHA's annual Gathering in October of each year should request that hikers dress up as their trail name - just in time for Halloween. Remember where you heard that idea. I did not have time to ask Fat Albert and Uncle Sam about the origin of their trail names since I was in "cookie mode." I decided to skip my planned stay at the October Mountain Lean-to, since it was early, and instead, quickly hike two more miles to see the "Cookie Lady." The Cookie Lady and her husband run a blueberry farm less than one-tenth of a mile from the trail crossing on Pittsfield Road. When hikers arrive for a visit, they are treated to homemade cookies upon arrival. You can also purchase soft drinks there, too. If you feel like stopping for the night, you can set up your tent in their front lawn, under the crabapple and pine trees - like I'm doing tonight. I enjoyed the chocolate chip cookies and purchased two drinks, offering the balance of my twenty-dollar bill as an expression of thanks and gratitude for letting me stay the night and for being so hospitable to other hikers who have visited in the past. Since I was the only one here I also scored a few pieces of some homemade rosemary panini-type bread that the Cookie Lady just finished baking.The Cookie Lady (Marilyn) and her husband request that hikers camping for the night share in the maintenance of their blueberry farm by helping out with mowing among and between rows of blueberry bushes, some of which are taller than I am. I had no idea that a blueberry bush could grow that tall. The blueberries on these bushes were the size of marbles. I had the faint understanding that I was exempt from helping out around the farm since I just traveled over nineteen miles and made a financial contribution, but Mr. Cookie Lady (Roy) seemed to think that I could help out a little. Like a good citizen, I fired up the push mower and started mowing, just after Roy and Marilyn told me that they were leaving their property for three hours. After thirty minutes of cutting the tall grass around the blueberry bushes, the lawnmower finally ran out of gasoline. Whew! Looking at myself, I noticed that my sweaty body had become like fly paper and I was filthy with grass and dirt sticking to me and covering my clothes. I did not suppose that I'd be offered a shower since visiting campers are only allowed the use of a toilet in an outbuilding, so I did the next best thing. Knowing that nobody was home, I stripped naked as the day I was born in the front yard and hosed myself off for a few minutes, putting on some clean clothes that I had in my backpack.I'm still sitting in the front yard on a picnic table under a Crabapple tree as I type this. I am still the only one here (Roy and Marilyn still haven't returned and it has been over four hours later), but Rufus, their dog is keeping me company.I am only about eight miles from Dalton, Massachusetts. Thank God! I'll hopefully get into town and to the post office before the rain is predicted to arrive. The following day I'll take a day off.