Date: 2018-07-04
From: Williamstown,

To: Williamstown, MA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Tomorrow I¢m heading to northern Vermont to hang out with one of Next Step¢s cousins and her husband. I met them about 12 years ago or so when our daughter and I were traveling with my in-laws to Canada to visit my mother-in-laws¢s sister. I remember spending a wonderful evening with them and their two older teenaged children. They have a blueberry farm and I can recall being amazed that payment for the blueberries was on the honor system. I just loved that! I am looking forward to spending a few days with them and getting to know them better. They are now Empty Nesters and were so kind when I reached out to them for a place to stay. Just more amazing Trail Angels to add to our growing list! Definitely one of the most incredibly surprising parts of this journey! So today, Next Step decided to take a Zero so we could enjoy the day together before I drive up to see them. I will meet him back at the Green Mountain House later this weekend. It was one of our ¢Must Stay¢ places that we had heard about when we were planning our hike. We hit the continental breakfast at our motel this morning. The owner had put out a beautiful spread of fresh fruits, pastries, bagels, oatmeal and cereal. After breakfast we had to move to a different motel across the street. Ours was overbooked, so I guess hikers are the first to get booted across the street. The owner was very apologetic, but when we went to the other motel, it was even roomier than the one we had been in, so no worries! We¢re used to sleeping at a different place every night! At least this was in a real bed. LolWe got everything settled and Next Step worked on yesterday¢s journal entry while I did some stretching. He had heard about a place up the street that might be a good place for him to stop in tomorrow when he actually hikes thru Williamstown, so we decided to stop by there on our way to North Adams to...you guessed it, see a movie! We got to the theater a bit early so we decided to go ahead and do our Walmart run before the movie. As soon as we pulled out of the parking lot we saw a hiker and asked if she needed a ride. She was section hiking and had just finished up Massachusetts and was trying to get back to her car. So she rode with us to Walmart:-) Got back to the theater just in time for the movie, then afterwards, we ran by the store for the last of Next Step¢s resupply items. We got back to the room to go through the bounce box and food box I had brought with me, to get Next Step ready to head back out. Then we drove up to Pittsfield to eat at a Japanese Steakhouse. Yum! My hiker hunger has finally worn off, so I shared half of mine with him. Lol On the way back to Williamstown we drove up to the top of Greylock Mountain, the highest point on the AT in Massachusetts. There were several people up there waiting to watch the fireworks later tonight. From the top, they would be able to see displays from three different towns. Pretty cool I¢m sure, but that would put us up way past hiker midnight, so we just took some pictures and headed back to Williamstown. We saw a porcupine on the side of the road, but he waddled into the brush on the roadside before we could get his picture. But the second one came out not only for a picture, but also for a video. Luckily, he was much more sociable than the first one. Actually, I think it was more like he was oblivious. When he actually realized we were standing there, he took off at hyper waddle speed. Too cute! I had never seen one before, and now I got to see two in one night. A great finish to a perfect day! It has been so nice to spend these last few days playing shuttle driver for Next Step. Not exactly how we planned our adventure. But you take what you get and you make the best out of it. Unless I have a miraculous recovery, I¢ll head back to KY to hang out with my precious parents next week after we spend the night at the hostel. Just another blessing that I hadn¢t planned on, but that I will cherish. Depending on my crazy back, I¢ll either come back and hike the 100 mile wildness with Next Step or I¢ll just join him for the hike up Katahdin. But either way, we¢re finishing this journey together!!! There are no words to describe how proud I am of him and I can¢t wait to see him cross the finish line. Keep rockin¢ it Next Step! I¢m with you in my heart every step of the way!HugsWhich Way Elevation Data: n/a Weather:Day - 92/ SunnyNight - 68 / Partly Cloudy