Date: 2004-05-30
From: West Field, New Jersey

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

It has been quite a while since I have even been able to take the time to write an entry in my journal. I decided mid-way through Pennsylvania that I was going to be taking some time off from journaling. I was getting to the point at night that I felt obligated to journal... like it was a must do on the task list and I didn't come out to the trail to have check lists. Pennsylvania was a great state. I did some big mile days, but have since decided that anything over 20 miles really makes me feel like crap the next day. So from now on 20 miles a day is the limit. I have also decided that I will not be keeping track of my daily mileage because I also didn't come out to the trail to see how fast or how many miles I could squeeze into a day. I learned how to climb over, under, around and every other preposition that fits. The rocks in this state were unreal. The path went from being sparsly littered to maneuvering around boulders the size of small cars. The terrain did have some pretty flat - dare I say - boring stretches, but those stretches were littered w/ creeks, beautiful fields, wild rose blossoms w/ a scent that is uncomparable. It made the rocks much more tolerable.Pennsylvania was also a state where I made a great new friend, DIDI. The day after my mom went home I met DIDI at a shelter just out of Harper's Ferry, WV. By the next afternoon we had both decided that we were going to hike together - even possibly through all of Pennsylvania. Hike together indeed - there was barely 90 feet between us the entire two weeks that we trudged through Pennsylvania. Believe me after a few snot rockets, "what your steps", farts, many many a burp from my end and silly girlish laughter after a long day, the two of us are like two pees in a pod. DIDI took control of the maps, books, planning, flagging down rides, making cardboard signs from dumpsters and it was great. I had like ZERO responsibility for the last two weeks. Except of course - walking in the woods w/ a pack strapped onto my back... also fun of course. It was truly a blessing to find someone to hike stride by stride with, and very unusual to mesh so easily w/ someone. Hey let's just clear this up - I am totally high maintenance sometimes and maybe even a little oh I don't know - Bitchy sometimes so it was great to have another woman around who could tolerate it. We had an awesome two weeks together and I hope that she will come back out and do some more hiking with me. I will miss her greatly as I head north without her.Back to the Adventures of DIDI and Semi-Joy in a minute...I have to vent this out a second... it rained a ton in the last two weeks. Big thunderstorms could roll through almost every afternoon. We would all but have to run to shelters in the afternoon to make it. It was really quite a tricky feat considering the rocky terrain and the tired souls. But I guess this is all apart of the marvelous adventure that I decided to part-take in. It is absolutely fabulous though darling!So We got to the Delaware Water Gap and DIDI's came and picked us up. It was great to see the New Jersey family bonding and oh - I got swept up into a hug from a complete stranger... wow - threw me for a minute... friends back home know that I have a "3 foot radius" at times so it was great. We drove to West Field,New Jersey and parked it for the night. DIDI and I have a whole day of running around - IN A CAR! yes it is amazing how great it is to run errands when each location is driven to. Yee-Ha! We had lunch w/ her dad at TGI Fridays and I met her mom that initial night when we arrived... her whole family is so wonderfully nice! Thanks for taking me in! DIDI had heard that one of her favorite bands - The Reverend Horton Heat was playing at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC... WE WENT! It was insane! Over the Top! Crazy! AHHHH - so much fun... We drove into NYC on some bridge - of course - then we drove through china town to the lower east side... Didi informed that this is the new "trendy" place... so we somehow after about half an hour of circling the blocks found a perfect parking spot and walked around in the lower east side. No joke kiddies... wow - this is the land of the beautiful people. Yummy hot men all over the place and the women are all pretty much drop dead gorgeous... even got to have a drag queen jump out in front of the car w/ a big see through white dress and thong underwear on... hello culture shock! so fun... so we had dinner at a place called Little Frankies and it was great. We had pizza w/ fresh mozzarella, basil, and a few other things on it. It was great and we dined on the outside patio right on the streets. Unreal. We went to a couple of different bars and wandered around til 11. Because this is of course NYC and the show didn't start til midnight... it was great - live rockabilly and tons of fun. Oh - I had street vendor food which was great. But after sweating and dancing and drinking in a club I guess pretty much any mistery meat will taste good.Overall NYC ROCKED! I had been have such a great time. I must go though because I am going to go and take a few more days off w/ the loving family from back home in Michigan. They brought the RV and I get to see my adorable 2.5 year old neice, Leah for three days... YES! Oops gotta go - more later as always.Love to all back home.Semi-Joy - or whatever you people call me when I am not around