Date: 2003-08-08
From: Dalton, MA (Tom's Yard)

To: Thunderhead Shelter
Miles today: 0.0

17 milesI couldn't expect how great today would be when I awoke this morning on Tom's lawn. I had a damp tent, inside and out from the night's rain and condensation. Morph was up pretty early, too, so we walked down to Duff and Del's for breakfast. Over a huge cup of coffee, eggs, toast and homefries (all for $2.50) we laughed and told stories. We went back to Tom's and finished drying my tent and packing my bag. I didn't make it too far because we stopped at Duff & Del's again to visit with Tom, Leaf, Andrea and Jimmy while they ate. Morph and I had some great conversations coming over to Cheshire - about yoga, gurus, investments and people. When we got to Cheshire, I ducked off the trail before the road in to town for a quick pee. Chicken Legs was with us now; she had left CC in Dalton where he planned to work for a couple of weeks. She had plans to move quickly up to VT where she'll take some vacation time with her family. As we walked down the residential street on our way to town, Trail Magic had been provided by three little angles - fruit, cookies and water. Then as we ambled closer to town, we saw the ice cream shop; Morph treated Chicken Legs and I to some ice cream that we ate outside on a fairly sunny afternoon. The Post Office was closed, so we walked over to the shell station for him to resupply and for me to call Momma about my next maildrop. The best news I got to day was calling Momma and finding out news about my niece Grace. NOw that my sister and brother-in-law know about when they'll get to pick her up in China. This news was so special. We all have been waiting so long for this information. It made me a little teary eyed. With a crunch of time to get back on the trail, I forwarded mail from the PO in this town to one in Vermont and got back on the trail. The last six or seven miles were supposed to be tough, our biggest ascent in a long time - up Greylock - but the hiking was easy and the company great. Morph sang me some Joanie Mitchell songs and promised to make make me a CD of music upon his return from the trail. This evening at Thunderbolt shelter Mountain Butterfly came with a friend and a birthday cake (in addition to other goodies). We sang the song, ate ice cream cake, and played dodge ball with balloons until we'd sufficiently worn ourselves out. All 8 of us, running around carefree and childlike, hurdling harmless balloons at each other was so freeing and fun. Why don't we do silly crazy stuff like that otherwise? Just now settling down to bed after going back to Greylock summit for a view of the town and the lights below. It feels nice to be back up on some "big" (+3,000 ft) mountains and see the world "down there."   I definately feel like a healthy balance is necessary between a life above it all - looking down, where everything seems simple - and bing in the thick of what's going on - on the ground. The things around me on the hike are changing, too. The sweet smell of pines is becoming more pronounced and present with each day. The rocks are changing, too, though that's harder to articulate just how. It's as if they're easier to walk on. And we've hit some boggy areas in places I would have never expected, especially on tops of mountains. That's peculiar to me but an interesting aspect of this previously foreign terrain.