Well, we made it to Vermont and as soon as we hit the border the trail turned to mud and the sky poured rain.
Not really, but close! We’ve been lucky with rain on our trip so far, probably only five real rainy days, so all this rain is throwing us for a loop. We made it to camp last night before the rain hit, and when it did we dove in the tent never to emerge again. We figured there weren’t too many bears in Vermont anyway, so we slept with our food bags. But the nice woman who gave us a ride into Bennington, VT this morning told us she had a bear in her back yard yesterday… so I believe we won’t be so lazy again!
The rain, we decided, is better than the mosquitoes of Connecticut and Mass. Some nights we couldn’t do anything but sit in the tent and read, watching the mosquitoes buzz around. Andy deemed those two states “Mosquito Boot Camp”, where they teach young mosquitoes how to bug the heck out of people.
We’ve been hiking with some old friends, Stomp and Shuffles, from Kentucky, Lotus, from Virginia, and Thinker, from Indiana. All these guys started in Georgia the same weekend as us, and we’re excited to have been re-united with them! I’d put up some photos, but the library doesn’t allow me to plug in my camera so you’ll just have to wait until the next town.
We hope to be through Vermont and into New Hampshire in less than two weeks. Less than 600 miles to go!! The terrain of NH and Maine are supposed to be rugged, but beautiful and we can’t wait. We’ve started to run into South-bound hikers too, who started in Maine and will end in Georgia. Some have shown their photos to us North-bounders who are getting sick of hiking to inspire us to keep going. After 1,600 miles and 130 days, we’re getting ready to stop walking so much!
We wanted to say thanks to Jennifer, Vanessa and Mindy for the awesome packages! You helped my pack to weigh over 35 pounds (UGH!)(but YUM). Here’s a shout out to Bahama Dave - we’re missing you buddy, and your warm little friend, Nassau Royale :) Thanks to my sister too, for sending me my ipod, and to Emilie, for getting Andy’s stuff together and sent to Hanover. Thanks for the letters Claire! We’re feeling the love!
We’ve updated our mail drops to the end of our trip, with approximate dates of arrival. Feel free to send us letters anytime, we like mail!
Much love,
susan, andy & corley
www.greateasterntrail.org
www.lekiusa.com
www.mionfootwear.com
July 21st, 2008 at 5:44 pm
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July 23rd, 2008 at 3:06 am
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