Date: 2005-06-08
From: NJ 94 (Vernon, NJ)

To: NJ 94 (New Milford, CT) 
Miles today: 0.0

start: NJ94 (Vernon, NJ)finish: NJ94 (New Milford, CT) (moosie hostel)miles: 0.0day: 93Woke w-a-y too early this morning.  Senor NOBS, Darcy, Mailar and Vagrant were quietly packing up around 5:00!  Yuck.  I got up, went to the bathroom, sat for a minute, and decided I just had to try and get more sleep.  They were trying to be quiet, but I didn't get back to sleep until they left.  No wonder I don't like to sleep in shelters and crowded hostels.  Finally I woke up for good around 8:00.We had every intention of hiking today.  First we had to do breakfast, internet, grocery resupply, and post office.  Goldilocks and I went to breakfast with Gunter and Pigpen.  It was a nice nearby diner with a cheap breakfast special.  By the time we walked back to the hostel it was boiling hot already.Goldilocks and I decided yesterday to sew up quilts when we get home.  Our 30 degree down sleeping bags are way too hot, even just draped over us, and the down soaks up moisture in the humid air.  So today we used the phone and internet at the hostel to order materials from thru-hiker.com and questoutfitters.com to make lightweight primaloft quilts that will probably be comfortable down to 45 degrees.This took a while, and we dawdled because no one wanted to go out into the heat, so before you know it, it was time for lunch.  The four of us went to Little Anthony's for pizza and veal parmesan.  We got talking with the pizza maker about our hike, and have we seen any bears.  He said there were lots of bears in the area, and the best place to see one was right out back eating pizza out of their dumpster.  Yeah, right.  So we go look, and sure enough, there are multiple bears out there.  The other guys saw them more clearly.  I just saw the feet and a general body outline of one moving behind the first line of bushes in the woods.  But definitely a bear.  Hike through 1300 miles of wooded mountains to see a bear at a restaurant in New Jersey.  Go figure.During lunch we hatched a plan.  Instead of hiking almost to Connecticut, going home, and hiking with a spotted car, why not start now?  It's not that far, is it?  So we eliminate buying groceries off of our chore list and forward our food drop from the post office to home.We realize this is becoming a zero and momentarily feel guilty about our lazy hiking ethic.  But not for long.  We're all looking forward to coming to Moosie's Hostel after a long, hot day of hiking: shower. laundry, no bugs, nice bed, good food, air conditioning, and did I mention no bugs?  We have invited Gunter and Pigpen to share in this with us - they aren't hard to convince.  Now we just have to find someone who will come and pick us up.  We try Mrs. Moosie, but she's not home, so we call my good friend Xie, and he's happy to participate in our crazy scheme.  We decide to surprise Mrs. Moosie.Xie won't pick us up at the hostel until later this evening.  We hear that Kodak may be right behind us and hope she'll arrive in time to come with us.  In the meantime we watch a movie on the VCR and try to guess what's in the package that's arrived for Kodak.  Most of us agree it feels like a summer sleeping bag.  We fight our curiousity and elect not to open the package for a peek.Xie arrives around 8:45 and we all hop in and start the journey back to Connecticut.  I realize we'll get home late and decide it's not a good idea to repeat Virginia Beach.  I use Xie's phone to let Mrs. Moosie know we're coming.  This way we won't have to sleep outside. We get home quite late.  It's a long haul from Vernon, NJ - I guess we jumped the gun a bit.  It was really nice to see my wife, son Michael, and Big Stewie the bulldog.  I've missed all of them.  It's nice to be home.We are tired and get to sleep soon, as we want to get up early and drive back to Vernon and hike the next section.I plan to sleep very well tonight.