Date: 2013-07-30
From: Jim Murray's cabin

To: Vernon, NJ (church hostel)
Miles today: 13.6
Weather: broken clouds

I've been falling behind on writing a journal entry for everyday so Smirks helped me catch up by writing today's post. thanks Smirks!I was the last of the five of us to wake up. Slept well. Smiles kept me warm, giving me his socks and fleece. We met the man who owns the cabin as we were about to start hiking. He had drove in to take care of the donkeys and was mowing his giant field with a push mower! I felt much better in the morning than I did going to bed last night, but am still recovering from the sickness of the day before. The hike today did much more up and down than expected. We crossed at least ten roads and had several points where we were right in someone's backyard or even a subdivision. There was a section on road, and then a long straight section through an open field of a wildlife area with blue Herron and white cranes standing in the shallow swampy area. Most beautiful swamp I've seen, the mountains and sky were reflected on the still surface of the water. Quite a bit of area had planks of wood over the trail because of swampiness. We came to another wildlife area that had a raised winding boardwalk through it. There were cattails and butterflies and swampy ponds and dragonflies and Smiles saw a turtle. I got tired quicker today than usual, so the last couple miles of the 13.something were a little rough. During the downhills my kneecaps felt like they were about to shoot right out the front of my knees. When we finally got to the road we needed to hitch to Vernon on there was one last fence to cross over and you were plopped out right on the road into speedy traffic. We quickly got a ride from a New Yorker, we are now within a day's hike of NY. He doesn't know the town too well but drops us off at the main intersection of town. We walk across the street to a gas station to ask for directions but don't even have to. A man sitting outside is familiar with hikers and helps them out often. He starts rambling off the location of everything we would need to know. Here me and Smiles split up. I am so done with walking and he needs to make a trip to the post office to see if his replacement part for the water filter has come in yet (it hasn't). I walk toward where the man said the church hostel would be. What he didn't mention was there were three churches right next to each other. Which one?? I try all the wrong ones first and eventually find the door to the hostel. The only people here yet are two south bounders. They are friendly and tell me what I need to know about the hostel but they already have dibs on the only two cots in the room. Damn south bounders! Smiles shows up not long after me as he got a ride from a lady back from the post office and did not get lost. We decide food is our first priority and walk a short distance down to Burger King for dinner. Once back we both have our showers and get to do our laundry for free! Such a luxury. And I actually get to wash ALL of my clothes because the laundry and shower rooms are connected so I throw in everything as I shower. Usually you have to stand around in your cleanest outfit at the laundromat and wait for it to wash. Now I feel super clean. Two other guys are here now as well, Brother Bear and a guy we met a while back at the Dahlgrin campsite who shared a beer with us. I'm not sure if it's mentioned yet, but Smiles doesn't care for Brother Bear. He's kind of an infamous lady stalker on the trail and has a pretty sketchy vibe about him. I am surprised that there only ends up being the six of us here tonight, recent hostels have been much more packed. Everyone sits around in the recliners and watches a comedy on the hostel's TV and me and Smiles have a snack. Smiles uses their computer to upload a few pictures and I do stretches and handstands as I send messages to dad, mom, Nathan, and Katie. Sometimes I forget how long I have been gone from home. Over a month now for this second section. Me and Smiles find an empty section of floor to lie down and go to sleep. We even have an extra blanket to use tonight. Tonight I am thankful to be clean and comfortably warm and I sleep quite well, not waking up cold throughout the night.