Date: 2010-08-11
From: Vermont

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Half Left and I are settled in our apartment in Jacksonville Beach, FL. It is a nice cozy 3/2 apt 9 blocks off the ocean. We both grew up here so we feel right at home. Half Left is back at his job in landscaping and I am selling for our screen printing company. Our families are very glad we are back, Half Left's father isn't doing well. Hospice is now comforting him and Pearl and providing support for the family. We are glad we came home in this time of need and so Tom can spend the precious bit of time with his father. It would have been very sad had he not had this time. Please say a prayer for Clyde, Sr and the family. I uploaded most of our photos to Shutterfly, the link is a couple of pages back. I will be slowly putting together the photos in better groups. They show what a great time we had on the trail and many photos of the wonderful trail people.We have been in touch with our trail friends Wild Poodle and Cahoda and also speaking with Low Key. Below is Wild Poodles email she sends out to friends. She called a couple of days ago and told of their wonderful but hard hiking and time at the Green Mountain House. She also sent some photos which I attached to the site under photos. Thanks again for the well wishes!This is from Wild Poodle:Hello everyone, We are at a hostel in Rutland, VT run by The 12 tribes, a communal religious group based on sharing of possessions & working together for a common cause. The hostel is upstairs & a wonderful natural foods cafe below. We are doing work for stay. It has been very humid up here the past 3 days - extreme sweating while hiking - runs off my elbows - all clothes soaked. We hydrate with electrolyte water often. It is beautiful in the mountains - very green - still muck on trail as rains every 2 or 3 days. Lots of rocks & big roots to climb over - cross streams stepping on rocks. In 2 places we suddenly came upon large groupings of cairns (delicate arrangements of varying sizes of stones) - most enchanting! Ate lunch & rested on white cliffs overlooking the forrest below - lots of marble in this state. The Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Memorial were made from Vermont marble. We were told those quarries were closed to preserve that marble in case replacements for the memorials are needed. We have been shuttled here by a very knowledgeable retired career army man named Tom who thru hiked the AT several years ago. Names of hikers met on the Trail: Braids, Thunder, Little Dipper, Startrek, Day Tripper, Beary, Glider, Fig, Croft, Tinzig, Rabid, Hollywood, Stretcher, Yatzee, Kumquat, Coolshoes, Boomer, Sticks, Springkat, Bloodhound, Gorlar Bear, TJ, The Wizard, Tag Along. Hikers we met in GA, NOC & the Smokies - Tourguide (Alabama), Marcus from Germany, Sugar Ray (was with Skywalker at NOC) and a wonderful reunion with Flying Squirrel, a Ridgerunner from the Smokies. She's heading up a trail crew up here in VT! Taking a zero day today. I was tired!! Start back on the Trail tomorrow. On to New Hampshire and the Big mountains. Those south bounders just can't stop describing their experiences climbing over them. Hope it's a good view for Mt. Washington. All for now. Miss you all. Thanks for msgs. Love, Barbara/WP p.s. Hope you like the pictures. I take them with my simple phone and send them to Cindy/Allright who then downloads them on her computer and sends them to my email address. Thanks Cindy!