Date: 2005-08-03
From: PennMar

To: New England
Miles today: 0.0

First - a very happy 10th birthday to my youngest offspring. Hope you had a super day, Adam! Just to catch everyone up on my hike, I collected my good friend Breakaleg from PennMar park on Monday, and we overnighted at my house. I was really pleased that my family finally had a chance to meet one of my hiker friends, and vice versa, and especially one of the more famous ones like Breakaleg - she of the fabulous journal. If you are unfamiliar with her writings, do visit her journal at .We celebrated Adam's upcoming birthday with dinner at Red Lobster, and the next morning Adam and "She-who-knows-me-best-but-still-loves-me" drove us downtown to the train station where we caught an Amtrak train to Boston. Break's friend, Jamie - who is house-sitting at Break's house while her parents are off visiting her brother at summer camp - picked us up and drove us to Break's house where we overnighted last night.Today, we took a train out to Worcester (pronounced "wooster" - go figure), and then took a bus to Lenox, Mass, out in the Berkshires, where her parents picked us up. She hadn't seen them since March when she left for Springer Mountain, so they were all really happy to see each other. We stayed at their condo in Lenox and had a wonderful evening together - including dinner at a really good restaurant followed by a local Shakespeare & Company production of Ice Glen, a play written specifically for this theater group and set here in the Berkshires. It was very well done, and added a unique dimension to my AT experience - a welcome interlude between the southern half the trail and the about-to-begin journey of the northern half.Tomorrow, it's back to the trail. Break's parents will take us to the trailhead near Cheshire, Mass. - about 10 miles south of the Vermont boarder - where we will officially resume our hike. I'm really excited about this new part of my adventure - hiking in New England - and especially grateful to have the company of a good friend to share it with. As Break also experienced, the mid-Atlantic section of the AT is essentially devoid of through-hikers, since those who are still out there are all into New York or points north by now. In fact, there weren't that many hikers out there at all, which makes for a very different experience than what we enjoyed starting out from Springer. The company of others, at least around the shelter at the end of the day, adds so much to the enjoyment of the experience - the commraderie, the shared foibles of the day's hike, the antics, the games, or just conversing with good friends. That was what I missed the most, myself, and I know that Break feels the same way. What will be interesting now is to see who from March Company we may run into between here and Katahdin.By now, some must have already finished - like Traction, for example, who provided the M company web site and who I met that first day on the trail. While I was at home recovering from knee surgery, he was doing 30 mile days through the Shenandoahs! Others are still out here, however, including The Mouth of the South (Wyatt Mcguire), Bubble Toes, Freeze Dried, Captain Patagonia, Vision Quest, Skylark, Dorothy and Toto, Snowman, Gray Beard, Draggin, Hopeful Hiker, and others too numerous to mention.At the moment, some may be behind us but we will be going a bit slower than normal for awhile as Break gets back up to speed from her 6 week layoff. It will be really good to see some old familiar faces!!!From Cheshire, Mass., it's about 600 miles to Katahdin. Our assumption is that we will be there within about 60 days - the end of September. If we can go faster than 10 miles a day (on average, and including any zero days), all the better, but I'll settle for September 30.That will leave me about 500 miles left to do, from Cheshire back to PennMar, which I should be able to do in four or five weeks. You can't go as fast through these northern states - they're just too tough and rocky - but I should be able to get back to my 15 mile/day average from Cheshire south. As it looks now, therefore, I should be done with my hike around the end of October. God willing, and if the creek don't rise....Meanwhile, being home for several days was wonderful, and a useful reminder of all the things I have to look forward to when this little walk in the woods is done. I gather that the feeling is mutual. As "She-who-knows-me-best-but-still-loves-me" said as she hugged me goodbye at the train station, "Hike fast, dear, hike fast...." Life is good!Today's travels are dedicated to my son, Adam, who I love very much, and who makes me very proud. Stay tuned, Longhaul------------------------------Sent via PocketMailEmail Anywherewww.pocketmail.com