Date: 2010-08-06
From: High Point Shelter

To: Unionville, NY; Mayor's House Hostel
Miles today: 8.0

Hi everyone! I'm not through with NJ yet but I am currently in NY! The trail goes along the border so I will be bouncing back and forth for a while! I am doing FANTASTIC!! I am going to go back and update some entries for you! I had to bounce my last journal as it was full so I will go back to 7/21 and start typing! I want to thank everyone for signing the journal! It is really great to hear from each and everyone of you!! I really look forward to talking with all of you when I have completed my journey!!I was able to get a few days entered. They provide dinner here for us and are about to call us to the table! They request a $10 donation and it includes dinner, breakfast, laundry, shower, bunk and internet access! 1st beer is free, 2-4 are $.50!! Soda's are free too!! I've been to the grocery but still need to do the others! I will do my best to get back up here if the computer is free! HANDWRITTEN ENTRY:Today was fantastic! Really! Even though it was a late night, I still woke up at 5:45. I laid and did some journaling for Wed & Thur and before I knew it, it was 7 and the others started to wake and move. We all got our breakfast and packed. Slowly, but surely! The terrain would be great! This is the flattest part of the whole trail! It was 6 mi to the ¢secret shelter¢ and good water. It is a previous hiker¢s cabin he lets us use! A shower and outlets and a well! We all pitted there for lunch and relaxed. Then we decided we¢d go ahead and stop at the Mayor¢s house hostel instead of hiking past. It included 2 meals and everyone was talking about how great it was there! It was only 1 mi away so we could get all our chores done and get back out tomorrow. Otherwise we wouldn¢t have gotten to Vernon to resupply, launder and shower until 9-10 tonight or tom am so this would be great! We rolled in and hit up 2 older guys (waiting on the bar to open! ha) for directions. It was right behind the bar so since we were so close we went in for a quick beer or soda Then up the hill to the Mayors. We found Turtle, Big R/Dirty Hippie, several SOBO¢s and the hostel keepers Bill and Butch! B&B are great guys and provided much entertainment and help! They gave us the run down on rules¢¦DO NOT call Butch sir, doing so resulted in the closest male getting punched by Butch! Do not use 4 (or greater) syllable words! This resulted in a 25 cent fine. What a trip! They offered 50 cent beer I think and FREE soda!! HEAVEN!! So Butch ran us to the next town¢s ¢real¢ grocery which was a bonus! I hit the computer until dinner¢¦ There must be 20 of us here now! We all sat around at the kitchen tables, but no one ate until all were seated and we said ¢Grace!¢ We all feasted on sloppy joes, corn on the cob, salad and watermelon for dessert! A bit later he played a video per the Mayors request. A very inspirational story about Paul Potts, an opera singer and avg guy who won Britain¢s Got Talent. A very good story! They took our pics, asked us to sign them and to send a summit pic. Dick, the Mayor, came by to visit which I guess doesn¢t happen every day so a treat for us. He was very cool! I held out my hand and introduced myself as Ripple. He held my hand and led me to the living room where there was the coolest picture (past hiker) of a Ripple, of course I took a picture of it, that¢s what¢s posted above. He was so friendly and excited to share that with me and you can bet I was just as excited to receive it! A very great night visiting w/all! I talked to mom, am wrapping up my laundry and hope to be asleep soon! It¢s 11:30!