Date: 2004-10-26
From: My truck, Notch Rd. North Adams, Mass.

To: My truck, Dalton, Mass.
Miles today: 20.2
Weather: clear sky

20.2 miles todaySleeping in truck againDalton, Mass.Today started off great...a sit down breakfast in town!! My favorite meal and it's been a while since I got to have a real breakfast before I started hiking. Hippie and I went into Williamstown and found a diner I ate at last year on my way through. We got there just as they opened at 7am and I ordered eggs, homefries, toast, pancakes and coffee. Hippie ordered belgium waffles with vanilla ice cream on top and then she added syrup on top of that. We stopped at the grocery store after that and picked up some items we needed and then headed to the trailhead and started hiking at 8:45am. The first climb of the day was a good one. We climbed to the summit of Greylock Mtn. It was another beautiful morning with temps about 34 degrees when we started and below freezing on top of the mountain. There was a little ice in the trees, but it was extra windy on the summit, so it was cool. The building that had food was closed down for the winter...darn!! We filled up with water and hiked on. Soon we ran into a couple out on a section hike and talk for a few minutes before hiking on. We had about eight miles of downhill into Cheshire and we made pretty good time even though we were working on getting our count up for the number of falling leaves we could catch. We ended up tied at 49 each and called a truce for the rest of the day, so we could still make it to the truck. We have caught up to Autumn. We are back to where there is color and leaves still in the trees. It's not peak, but it's much nicer than we had been hiking in. We walked through Cheshire and stopped on the far end of town where we spotted a coke machine. It kept accepting our dollars, but wasn't giving us anything in return. There was also Gatoraid in the machine and we finally got a Gatoraid out of it. I think it only cost us $4.50, but we didn't care...we were going to keep trying until we got something. We sat down on a picnic table that was there and took a break. This was the best weather day I've had since I left Glencliff, NH. It got up into the 50s and was sunny all day. The wind only blew on tops of the mountains. We hiked on up to The Cobbles. This is the area where John Galt and I got attacked by two pitbulls last year. It was nice not seeing them there this year. The Cobbles are also the place that John Galt said I witnessed history, but I'll leave it at that for now. If John Galt wants to explain, he can sign my guestbook and say what happened. Hippie landed in mud twice again today...so much for clean socks!! We ran into the two guys hiking from Bennington to Lee again today. They seem to be having a good time, but they were complaining about how the trail was a mudpit. Hippie and I started talking about the pizza we had last night and decided to go there again tonight. It was from Colonial Pizza in Williamstown, Mass and was the best pizza I've had in a long time. We kept going and enjoyed the leaves on the trees. The trail is much nicer today. There wasn't nearly as much mud and there was less rocks. We got to the truck at 4:30pm and drove to N. Adams and picked up my truck. We spotted a piped spring on the side of the road and filled up our water bottles. We went to the pizza place and I ordered the pizza while Hippie took a couple of hikers to the other end of town. I sat in the pizza place and updated my journal while I waited on the pizzas. It's been another very good day on the trail and I have been having a good time hiking and then moving the trucks each day. It's way different than I would have thought. I wouldn't want to do it all the time, but for these two weeks with Hippie, it's been great. Hey Rainy Jay, thanks for signing my guest book and if you are in the area, we will be parking a truck at the Lee trailhead tomorrow and again on Thursday. It would be great seeing you again. We are usually back to the trucks by about 3:30pm...sometimes a little sooner, sometimes a little later. I drive a grey GMC with Fl tags and Hippie drives a white Ford pickup with NJ tags. if one or the other is there, we'll be back there that afternoon. Hope to see ya!!Another great day on the A.T.