Date: 2017-07-06
From: Belter's campsite 

To: Salisbury, CT
Miles today: 11.7
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke Burps up at 7, it was only 3 miles to Falls Village, CT where the Toymaker's Cafe was and a good breakfast awaits. My usual breakfast is to dig in my food bag for a breakfast bar and some pre-cooked bacon.  Burps usually does cold oatmeal and whatever else he can find.  The thought of hot, fresh waffles was very compelling. We packed up and headed down the mountain.  Burps stopped for water and I continued on knowing he'd catch up with me. I crossed several roads, walked around a cornfield, along the Housatonic river then along some more roads to cross the Housatonic. I got to a stoplight where the trail changed directions and decided to wait on Burps. He's usually much faster and so he should be along by now.  I waited some 15 minutes and I could finally see him down the road. When he arrived he told me, "Sorry, I bumped into One Gallon while getting water and we talked a long time".One Gallon was a legend out here, he passed us once before in New York, and we had heard about him from a lot of other hikers. He had started the Florida Trail in Key West on January 1st, and then kept on going up the AT, and reportedly was going up to Canada after Katahdin. He had zeroed in NYC for a few days and now he was behind us again.We continued on to Falls Village toward our breakfast and walked along roads and then pine needle covered trails. The Trail the took along the Housatonic River and the locals had placed benches along this section. We passed several Day hikers out for morning walks and it was just a beautiful setting. We arrived Falls Village and it looked like the proverbial small New England town. Toymaker's Cafe was in a house on Main Street at the end of "downtown". It was a classic and we left our packs on the front porch and went in to what could have been your grandmother's kitchen, but it was the whole downstairs. There were about half a dozen tables set up and a nice looking lady (Ann) behind a register. The cook (Greg) was working on a breakfast delicacy. We grabbed a table and a menu and everything was so tempting it was hard to choose. I ended up with a hamburger as it was 10am now, Burps ordered a double breakfast. Toymaker's was a fun place, great food, and Greg and Ann are really interesting people. In addition to the Cafe, they run a vintage British motorcycle parts business. I was commenting to Burps that you don't just find places like this along the interstate, you need to get out into the small villages.After breakfast we headed out of town and came upon One Gallon at the power plant. They had an outside shower (cold only) on an ivy covered building and a place you could charge your electronics. One Gallon had just finished his shower and was getting some electrons for his phone. We talked a bit and then moved on. Falls Village gets its name from some large waterfalls on the Housatonic, and the trail winds along them. We were exploring the Falls and getting some pictures when Rabbit and One Gallon came along. I got a great picture of Rabbit by the Falls.We continued up Mt. Prospect, and when we got to the top a dayhiker was up there with trail magic!  Mama Lo was packing cold ice tea and oranges and toffee for thru hikers! We talked quite a while and then continued down the long downhill into Salisbury. We go to spend all afternoon hearing about One Gallon's adventures. He had hiked the AT, CDT, and PCT three times already.  This was his fourth AT hike, and he started it with the Florida Trail. He'll have accumulated over 41,000 trail miles when he finishes the AT this year. He basically just hikes, a really interesting guy.We made it into Salisbury which is where I had started a section last year. We said our goodbyes to One Gallon and Rabbit. I had booked a room in a local house and tonight we'd be sleeping indoors. Tomorrow we would be taking a bus up to Lee, MA where I had got off while hiking with my son John last year. We walked through town to the boarding house and it felt good, I had completed Connecticut.