Well here I am again in a library with not much time to type. Luckily its just two days later so I can probably make some more head way on catching everyone up. Again, this post will probably sound like I don’t know English but whatever, I like it that way. Oh, I’m in Salisbury, CT now, 7 miles from Mass.

So Honkey and Donkey (Machete and Pemmy) met back up with us when Johnny was coming to hike. So we all set out from PA Rt. 501 with a 2 day hike to Port Clinton. That night we did a short hike since we left at 5 but had a full day of 18 miles planned for the following. We had a typical special occasion fire and stayed up late chatting the night away. The next day we found a pond that was only a tenth of a mile down the trail and killed much time there. Then kept hiking. It turned out Pemmy was not fully healed so JJ and Pemmy hitched back and got Johnny’s truck saving him from that complication the next day. Patch, Johnny and I hiked into Port Clinton and met back up with our fallen comrades. We set up for the night behind a railroad station on the bank of a river ready for another good night of chatting. Around 1am however it became apparent that it was going to rain cats and dogs and since Johnny was only 90 minutes from his apartment and had to make the drive anyway he just took off then.

Port Clinton was an odd little trail town. The resteraunts were kind of fancy for hiker fare and there wasn’t even a market or gas station. Despite the majority of the town being not hiker compatible the outfitter and the church were quite the opposite. The church provides their own pavilion as a sort of safe haven for hikers. Essentially a very large shelter with potable water, privy, and hiker box. This was very cool on their part as we heard the rest of the town was not hiker friendly.

The outfitter, Ye Olde Backpacker, met and exceeded our expectations. George purchased a new backpack there as his 2002 technology was just not cutting it. They were very hands on and knowledgeable. I however did not spend a cent and was given free things. I asked about purchasing a buckle for my pack that had broken and they gave that to me, then later when I asked to fill my water bladder they noticed I had tape on it and inquired whether it had a hole. I said yes and hey took it in the back and brought me a brand new one. Product warranties when you don’t even know you have them is AWESOME.

The next day was Sunday and since George needed the P.O. to mail his old pack home we took the day off and meandered about. The highlight of the day was seeing Wall-E at a very cool 1920’s single screen theater in the neighboring town. The owner of the theater even gave us a ride back to the pavilion for the night. When we made it back it, quite the storm of hikers had blown in. The night was spent there and the next day was back to hiking.

The next 80 miles of trail marker the highly concentrated and rough section that gives Pennsylvania the stigma of being the rocky state. The craziest part was the climb out of Leihigh Gap. It was a two mile climb up boulders and 3 more miles of what looked like was once a vast river atop the mountain. The climb was slow and long and from the appearance of the trail we nicknamed it the “apocalypse trail.” It was later learned that this damage was due a booming zinc smelting industry in prior years.

Delaware Water Gap, marking the end of Penn., was my next stop. A hard 4 day - 84 mile push from Port Clinton was rewarded by the highly anticipated hiker feed that awaited. George, Mosey, and myself rolled in about 10min after it had began and basically found ourselves in heaven. This was the reason of our big push and felt almost ceremonial upon our arrival. To make this an even better stop, the church also operated a donation based hostel that was quite acomidating. Oh, and this day got even better. As I mentioned briefly in the last post there was live Jazz to be held. Next door to the hostel was the Deer Head Inn, the self proclaimed longest running Jazz Club in the nation. The music was great. In fact I can’t even describe just how good it was.

New Jersey was next in our path. Not the longest state, and not knowing much about Jersey other than the negative stigma I wasn’t expecting much. I would have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. The trail took us through the Delaware Water Gap Recreational Park which was just gorgeous. Dotted with lakes formed by the glaciers that carved the Appalachian Mountains and full of wild life this was an impressive next leg of the journey. What we found most astonishing is how we could really feel a change in terrain by just crossing the border. Four days of hiking in Jersey brought us to the Mayor’s.

The Mayor’s as we refer to it is quite simply the most amazing feat of giving one’s home and self to others that I hav ever seen. The quaint town of Unionville, NY (pop. 550) lay border to the trail in New Jersey. After hearing all the scuttlebutt from South Bound hikers we knew that investigation was due here. The story went that the Mayor of this town, Unionville, hosted a free hostel, with free meals, free beer, free showers, and free laundry. This sounded too good to be true to a wary traveler like myself but in fact it was. The Mayor of this town had turned his own home into a veritable oasis for hikers and asked for nothing in return. His only condition to staying in his home was to view a 15 minute video that was required for all guests. Curiosity of what kind of video would it be swelled me head… religious - political - pornographic… only time would tell.

After dinner all the new guests took their seats in the living room. The video was cued. To our amazement it was a short piece on “Britain’s Got Talent,” the show that our American Idol is based upon. The story centered around the contestant Paul Potts, a mobile phone salesman. He always found comfort in singing and decided that maybe other people would enjoy his as well. Sweating bullets he took the stage. To the astonishment of the audience, the judges, and the viewers in the Mayor’s room he performed an operatic score with the precision that not many are afforded to hear. His lack of confidence was not warranted, this man had talent. He performed two more times on subsequent shows and eventually won the entire contest. The Mayor’s point behind this viewing is that we all have dreams. All of us in the room at the moment was to walk the whole bloody Appalachian Trail. He wanted us that we can win at whatever we want to accomplish and to have the confidence and gusto to attack it will all we’ve got. Thank you Mayor. Your point was taken.

We slack packed the next day south back to the Mayor’s and spent another night.

Library is closing now. So I’ve got to go. Will catch up more next time I get a chance.