Made it to Mass! Lexi is now on vacation from her vacation, back home with Mom and Dad, probably sleeping on the grass and enjoying a stationary life!
Aqua blazed last week on the Housatonic River, flipping only 20 seconds after launching from the beach... ate a 12 egg omlet in 25 minutes last night... couldn't finish the spinach and brocoli.. so i get no t-shirt... staying at a place called the birdcage, this guy named Rob's house... watching movies and drinking beer... a perfect day off from walking!
Climbing to the top of Castel Greyskull tomorrow and crossing the VT border by this weekend... hopefully in NH by August. Kinda crazy to think we walked from Georgia, deep South redneck hillbilly country and now we're in the North East getting honked at by crazy drunk drivers and getting harrassed by the mosquito mob... very cool.
Gotta go, time's up on the interwebs for today... hope everyone is getting crazy and enjoying the long days... if you're not having fun... you're missing the point!
C-ya
TT
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Hello New England.. nice to see you again!
Rain... coming down in sheets, during the night, sometimes in the late afternoon, with and without warning has defined the last week of June and the preceding weeks since departing Harper's Ferry. I could spit some info like "Did you know that it rained 26 out of 30 days in June?" or I could move on from the rain story in hopes that the next few weeks (read until Northern Maine) will grace us with more of the red ball in the sky.
I write today from a comfortable couch in the shady living room of the Moore Ranch in Northwestern CT. Upon arriving in Kent on Sunday morning, Debbie (my aunt) swooped us up and brought us back to Dave (uncle) and their summer home for a late 4th of July celebration... Mom and Dad arrived shortly thereafter and we began the BBQ. My brother Justin and his wife Lindsay showed up a few hours later with their puppy Ozzy and then later my cousin Grace... we all sat around and talked about the trail, and our future as post-thru-hikers while drinking Mohitos and shooting off consumer grade fireworks. A late-afternoon, sunset Croquet game ensued, teams of 2, celebretory victors... Debbie and I! Croquet is a game played on a nice flat grassy surface where each player tries to knock their ball through a wicket using a wooden mallet. It is often full of arguements regarding rules, unlucky mis-hits, and some kind of booze drink in the hand not weilding the mallet...good times!
And now back to the woods. I realize that most of these little interweb posts desrcibe the trail experience with an emphasis on what happens in town... off the trail. And for the past 2 months, the life off the trail was pretty damn fun... meeting cool/crazy people, enjoying cold beer, taking rides on boats with people from random bars, and such. In the woods, life is slow, sounds are subtle, smells are genuine, and walking is what we do.
Walking for 10 hours a day requires quite a bit of motivation, stemming from a deepseeded desire to complete this walk to Maine in time for Thanksgiving dinner, or a sweet end of summer labor day party. Wake up in a tent around 8am, pack all of the gear up that you set up only 10 hours earlier, fill up your water, eat a pop-tart... and begin walking North. It is easiest not to think about how far the day's walk will take you... but that is easier said than done. Having a wrist watch can make your day very long... I recomend not looking at it at all while walking, but this is also much easier said than done. Nothing will kill your motivation to walk more than thinking you've gone 6 miles in two hours and finding out you've only gone 4 miles... it is like getting sucker punched in the gut... this has been known to make me say things like, "If there was a way to cheat right now... I probably would!"
Coming up on the walking end of the trail is the section I have been looking forward to since Georgia... Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. These three states pose more elevation gain and probably less beer in frequency, and in less then 350 miles... we will be standing ontop of Mt Washington, and looking down towards Maine and Kathadin. We will have 3 more weeks to go, and this is going to be the climax of our trip.
Lexi is coming with for 4 more days... she is very tired, her paws are soar, and she will be completely done hiking after this week of walking. It is selfish of me to keep her on the trail, although she does enjoy the first few hours of the walk each day, her level of pleasure drops significantly into the afternoon or when we need to walk on pavement. Dogs would not subject themselves to this type of regiment... I sometimes wonder why we humans embark on such journeys... and i'm sure it's entirely due to the self-satisfaction we will feel upon accomplishing it. This is purely a human emotion, because Lexi has no idea to look foward to this reward, nor will it make any difference in her life to experiences the emotion of accomplishment. We humans are strange creatures with very little in common with the natural world surrounding us, other than our innate dependency on what it provides us with... sustenance, joy, sorrow, companionship, and the strangest of our human emotions... fear.
Tiptoeing accross the pointy rocks forward and Northward... counting down the last 700 miles to this journey... come visit and bring beer!
TT
I write today from a comfortable couch in the shady living room of the Moore Ranch in Northwestern CT. Upon arriving in Kent on Sunday morning, Debbie (my aunt) swooped us up and brought us back to Dave (uncle) and their summer home for a late 4th of July celebration... Mom and Dad arrived shortly thereafter and we began the BBQ. My brother Justin and his wife Lindsay showed up a few hours later with their puppy Ozzy and then later my cousin Grace... we all sat around and talked about the trail, and our future as post-thru-hikers while drinking Mohitos and shooting off consumer grade fireworks. A late-afternoon, sunset Croquet game ensued, teams of 2, celebretory victors... Debbie and I! Croquet is a game played on a nice flat grassy surface where each player tries to knock their ball through a wicket using a wooden mallet. It is often full of arguements regarding rules, unlucky mis-hits, and some kind of booze drink in the hand not weilding the mallet...good times!
And now back to the woods. I realize that most of these little interweb posts desrcibe the trail experience with an emphasis on what happens in town... off the trail. And for the past 2 months, the life off the trail was pretty damn fun... meeting cool/crazy people, enjoying cold beer, taking rides on boats with people from random bars, and such. In the woods, life is slow, sounds are subtle, smells are genuine, and walking is what we do.
Walking for 10 hours a day requires quite a bit of motivation, stemming from a deepseeded desire to complete this walk to Maine in time for Thanksgiving dinner, or a sweet end of summer labor day party. Wake up in a tent around 8am, pack all of the gear up that you set up only 10 hours earlier, fill up your water, eat a pop-tart... and begin walking North. It is easiest not to think about how far the day's walk will take you... but that is easier said than done. Having a wrist watch can make your day very long... I recomend not looking at it at all while walking, but this is also much easier said than done. Nothing will kill your motivation to walk more than thinking you've gone 6 miles in two hours and finding out you've only gone 4 miles... it is like getting sucker punched in the gut... this has been known to make me say things like, "If there was a way to cheat right now... I probably would!"
Coming up on the walking end of the trail is the section I have been looking forward to since Georgia... Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. These three states pose more elevation gain and probably less beer in frequency, and in less then 350 miles... we will be standing ontop of Mt Washington, and looking down towards Maine and Kathadin. We will have 3 more weeks to go, and this is going to be the climax of our trip.
Lexi is coming with for 4 more days... she is very tired, her paws are soar, and she will be completely done hiking after this week of walking. It is selfish of me to keep her on the trail, although she does enjoy the first few hours of the walk each day, her level of pleasure drops significantly into the afternoon or when we need to walk on pavement. Dogs would not subject themselves to this type of regiment... I sometimes wonder why we humans embark on such journeys... and i'm sure it's entirely due to the self-satisfaction we will feel upon accomplishing it. This is purely a human emotion, because Lexi has no idea to look foward to this reward, nor will it make any difference in her life to experiences the emotion of accomplishment. We humans are strange creatures with very little in common with the natural world surrounding us, other than our innate dependency on what it provides us with... sustenance, joy, sorrow, companionship, and the strangest of our human emotions... fear.
Tiptoeing accross the pointy rocks forward and Northward... counting down the last 700 miles to this journey... come visit and bring beer!
TT
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