Hello from Bennington, Vermont!

We've had a very 'interesting' week of hiking.  Some parts of Vermont are actually "flat", at least as flat as one can realistically expect hiking the Appalachian MOUNTAIN Range...  We're still developing our Big Hill muscles in our legs and knees, completely different muscles than we used climbing straight up and straight down mountains in New Hampshire and Maine, we have finally found....drumroll please.....Switchbacks!

Beautiful views of rolling hills, pastures and farmland.  We got a Hitch into Bennington, by a hiker, who was super friendly.  We told him we wanted to go to the 'Rec Center' which allows hikers to use shower facilities.  He informed us that the Rec Center was under renovation but he'd take us some place better. 

Ends up, he took us to 'The Vortex', no joke it's what they call it.  It's a former Hostel, that no longer is in operation due to one of the owners having health challenges.  It's basically someone's home, more or less, with extra facilities.  The guy that dropped us off said that she lets hikers leave their packs in her garage.  Not only did she let us do that, she let us borrow some beach bikes, shower in her home, and then offered to let us spend the night.  A really unique lady, dreadlocks down to almost her knees, who's a jazz drummer, and a big fan of skeletons, voodoo, and who knows what else...Oh and she's selling her house and she and her husband are going to live in their converted school bus for now on, for real.  Apparently we're not the only free spirits currently in Vermont! 

We originally weren't planning on spending the night, but due to some complications with the U.S. Postal Service, we decided to stay.  Our Mail Drop had apparently opened in transit and arrived to us half empty.  So we got to do some shopping. 

This morning we wandered into a coffee shop, sat down, met some other people that are hiking the Long Trail, and ended up talking to them for over 6 hours.  So now we're here at the library, which has blocked Facebook because: "The library is a temple for learning, not social media".  And we're socially using internet media still to connect to you, our loves :) 

We're really embracing our new pace of live, learning to be flexible when we have no other options, and just going with the flow of life instead of trying to canoe upstream without a paddle.  Certain fears have vanished, as we know we're always provided for! We love and miss you all.  Take care!  Next time you hear from us we'll be in Mass or Conn.

-P & A (Spartan & DreamCatcher)