Date: 2010-07-02
From: ???

To: Silver Hill campsite
Miles today: 25.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Slept at the Yellow Trail trail-head on FLAT ground finally! Woke up in the middle of the night and heard Rest Stop eating his takeout Taco Flop! I almost ate my potatoes but I don¢t have enough water for them and to have a drink in the morning. Woke before the 5:15am alarm and heard Rest Stop eating again. He put his tent right beside mine. Slept soundly and warm for the first time in days. Foot sore with a blister under the skin, but feeling better since I ate enough. Milky way and an apple pie turnover and I was out before anyone was out of their camp.Orbit¢s a tree monkey. A hammock hanger.Nice and cool for these approaching mountains. Tried using the water pump at Wiley shelter. So squeaky and obnoxious! No water! I couldn¢t wait any longer so I got it out of the spring nearby.Crossed into my 10th state! Hello Connecticut! Added up how many miles I had left and hit the road at the trail-head. Connecticut already reminds me of Virginia and that makes me so happy! Climbing mountains makes the time pass so much quicker. Beautiful rivers with large boulders remind me of Linville gorge. I spend the entire time walking along the rivers side thinking about last Thanksgiving with Lish. That and thinking about doing the Gauley River again. I swear every year is my last. Hearing that rushing water gives me chills and brings back fond memories of almost drowning!The trail has definitely picked up in intensity! Feeling the shock of those climbs and I¢m thankful to be back in this area. I excel in this stuff. The trail here is definitely understated in difficulty on the profile map. Saw my first Black Squirrel! He was pitch black!Rest Stop caught up to me and scared the daylights out of me after Schaghticoke Mtn campsite. It¢s NOT downhill or flat after that point. Met a guy up on top of Indian Rocks who¢s obviously contemplating a thru-hike. He asked me what¢s the hardest state? I told him PA because of the rocks (my opinion). He asked, ¢When did you hurt the worst?¢ I told him the day after leaving Pearisburg when I fell and hit my knee. I hobbled for 4 days and gave myself an ulcer with asprine. He asked, ¢How¢d you leave your job?¢ I told him I¢d spent 7 years doing it and it was driving my crazy. I left by telling him to do it¢¦don¢t wait¢¦do it now, next year. It¢s not as hard as you think!Got to Kent and Lish sent me a wonderful new journal! So pretty and it looks like she made it! Even if not, I still LOVE IT! Can¢t wait to fill that one up also! She sent a ton of food! Cookies, and another Blondie! I ate as much as I could hold in my belly. Thanks so much Lish!I¢m sitting here nearby the PO waiting for them to open so I can send some things home, including this journal. Today¢s not over and I¢m not sure what the future holds for me and Lish. I¢m excited to see what I write about in the next journal! So many adventures were recorded in this one. I remember wondering what I¢d write in here. As good as I could write, it still doesn¢t compare to the things I¢ve seen and already forgotten. Thank you Lish for this gift! I love you!The rest of this was written in my new journal¢¦in the second half of the day¢¦Like any great adventure, the opening lines of this new book begin with something new and unexpected!After sending the last journal home I met back up with Rest Stop and Orbit as they were leaving the IGA. Walking through the swanky downtown district of Kent, Conn. I couldn¢t have felt more out of place. Honestly, I couldn¢t have cared less. People outside enjoyed their sunny lunch hour, dressed in clothes you¢d play golf in, and paying $20 for meager rations of fancy caf© food. Teenagers stared through their giant sunglasses and older retiree¢s snickered as we passed. Three hardened, sun bleached roadies! I hope the smell didn¢t ruin their appetites!Bought a soda and burnt my change on two fudge rounds. We were sitting on the curb as patrons came in and out of the busy store. Paul, ¢The Mayor¢ told us where everything was that we¢d already found for ourselves. We nodded in appreciation of his efforts. A guy in one of those crappy Honda trucks offered to take us back to the AT. He put an acoustic guitar in the bed of his vehicle and I started in on guitar technological discussions.As we left town he turned right when he should have stayed straight. I¢d seen Rest Stop and Orbit walking through town from that direction earlier, so I thought maybe there was another way back to the trail-head that we¢d left from. Rest Stop began asking if the guy knew where the trail was and the Honda driver seemed convincing enough. ¢Yeah, it¢s right over here somewhere¢ he said. After multiple questions and second guesses on his destination, we¢d gone in the wrong direction for 20 minutes. Again, I made it clear that the trail we wanted to return to was only 0.5 miles from Kent. Rest stop reiterated the point to no avail. The guy seemed friendly, but after we reached an enclosed wooden bridge he claimed that the trail was ¢somewhere nearby.¢ Before he dropped us off in BFE, CT, I asked him if he¢d take us back to Kent. He points down a road and says ¢No, I¢m going that way.¢After figuring out that we were at least 11.9 miles away from where we left off, we had no idea how to get back to the trail. The town was inhabited by few houses, two businesses, and a very loud train track. This jerk obviously had absolutely no good intentions toward us. He¢d gotten us lost, but worse than anything, we¢d ¢Yellow Blazed!¢ Using a town business map we figured out where the trail might be. I talked with a local art shop owner who offered us a ride, after they¢d finished their champagne. She told us to ¢hang out¢ until they were ready. What a moral dilemma. I rally wanted to start back where I left to come to Kent! There¢s no way back, this late, in a ghost town in BFE! I decided to flip my quarter to decide what to do. When it landed, it was tails and I became a Yellow Blazer by innocent intentions. The quarter happened to be a Michigan state quarter, and I was reminded of the point I had for pushing so hard in the first place. Lish. I was sitting right beside my ticket off the trail in Mass. on the 5th! I had to stay with Orbit. I¢ve just got to stay with them and come back on my way home to finish the last 12 miles. How about that!! No longer a purist. Thanks jerk!Someone offered us a ride because they¢d heard what had happened to us. After searching CN4 fro the trail we stopped and talked it over at the road side. I could have asked to go back to Kent, but my ticket home would be out of reach. It¢s all I can do to stay with them as it is. I told Orbit that I¢d take her up on the offer to zero in Albany, NY.6 miles to the shelter turned into pretty hard terrain. The last mile was very steep and definitely more than any mile I¢ve ever walked! Got to go through a very tight space, like a giant hallway between two giant rocks. It¢s dark out when we make the shelter. Lots of people here. Water source is a swamp. My water is brownish yellow, I put up my tent and notice that I¢m close to the privy! Moaaan! Wild mushroom couscous and turkey. Glad I didn¢t send my stove home in a desperate attempt to save weight. Ate with my jacket on and my legs covered to hide from the mosquitoes. Rest Stop made a small leaf fire to smoke the bugs out. He wets the leaves so they created more smoke than flames. Brilliant!Called Lish and got bad news. Her appointment¢s not until the 7th now. She¢s down about it and I don¢t know what to say. I¢ve been debating a surprise early return since we¢ll be at our destination by the afternoon of the 5th. I could leave that night and be there before the appointment.I¢m scared to death of what all this means. I calm myself by thinking, it¢s about the journey not the destination! It¢s hard when I call and she¢s down. It¢s a hard pill to swallow like one of those happy jack de-wormer pills with rocks inside. I don¢t see how the travelers do it, having ties back home. I feel like we¢re tied together and I feel it tugging at my back when I walk up all those hills. It doesn¢t seem fair to her. It¢s interesting that I¢m still up when she¢s up and feel saddened when she¢s down. All this distance between us. This feels selfish a little. Although, this is my life long dream, sometimes it can feel like a nightmare. I gave up so much for this thing. Altered the entire course of my life for it. Sometimes in the back of my salty, matted, dirt covered hair I still believe that it was worth it all. The way I feel now makes me think that I can handle anything. I have this steady since of hope and optimism that tomorrow will change everything. When my legs and energy give completely out I still think it¢s all possible. I don¢t dread the beatings and suffering anymore because the ground will level off, I¢ll see a beautiful horizon and I¢ll be able to find next step, if I just keep going and hoping I¢ll find the answer. I don¢t see it, but I know it¢s there. Just over the next hill will be the answer.