Date: 2009-06-22
From: HIgh Point Shelter NJ

To: The Out House (Mayers House) NY
Miles today: 8.0

So we decided to take a short day today and walk into Unionville, NY to "the Mayers house" which is also called "the out house" that ive been hearing about since GA. and i am soooo glad we stopped here, it was definitly the best place ive been to on the trail yet.so we walk to his house and its just a normal house in the middle of a neighborhood. and when you get there you go to the basement where he has wooden bunk beds all set up and stuff. there is no charge to stay here, you take a shower in their personal shower, put your dirty laundry in the washer machine and they do your laundry. then, they let us barrow their car to drive to the grocery store (which was only like 1 mile away) he didnt even know us longer than an hr! crazy nice! THEN they cook you dinner and breakfast for free, it was amazing! i mean, these 3 old men that ran this place were just amazing~!after dinner the mayer (dick ladwick was his name) asked us to all watch a video he makes anyone who stays there watch. so we were all pretty curious to see waht this video was ganna be on. was it ganna be religious, or what, we had no idea.so we gather in the living room and he puts on this british has talend episode on this opera singer who ended up winning. and the reason he showed us that was b/c this man accomplished his dream and finaly did what he always wanted to do, kinda like what we're doing. he sang a song that had the words "vincera" which means "i will win" and the mayer told us to keep that in our thoughts as we're finished this jounry of ours.then he had us watch another short movie that someone who had thru=hiked a few yrs ago sent him. this man wanted to reach katadin on his 60th bday, and he did. after his son collected his photos and put together a dvd to music of his adventure. it was sooo great. i cried. it was awesome. it totally modivated me, which was exactly what i needed. then the mayer stood there and told us about his wonderful wife who had passed away and that they had an amazing marrige! and the reason he invites hikers into his home is b/c it was his wives idea to help us. he talkeda bout his wife so wonderfully it was rediculous. he pointed to ciggerate burns in the rug that was from her cause he was sick and dieing and would always drop her ciggs on the carpet where she always sat. and he said that those will always stay there, those burn holes. he was amazing...he talked about how in this journey we stated using the word "I" and now it has changed to "we" which is totally true and i never noticed. its amazing. and that we are all brothers and sisters and we need to reach out a hand and help each other and that life could be so easy if we let it. that we should say hello to everyone and make eye contact, and love is the answer. he didnt talk about religion he just talked about love. it was amazing. i couldnt stop kissing and hugging him. teeheehe also kept thanking us. thanking us for coming into his life and letting him help us. that its such a gift to have all these amazing different people come into his life. he thanked us!!! crazy! he also said he thinks we're all insane for doing this, but he supports us, doesnt understand why we would want to put ourselves through this, but hopes he can help us in any way.this man is amazing. i dont think ill ever forget him. i cant believe he inviteds us into his home, his shower, does our laundry, lends his car, cooks us dinner and breakfast, for absolutly nothing... amazing...