Mass/Conn

Hello!

We scooted our way through Massachusetts, a little slower than played but lavishly enjoyed the landscape, the people, and the unique opportunities that presented themselves along the way!

Since our last post, we had several days of RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, and even MORE rain.  To make it more interesting, several of those experiences included ground shaking thunder and LOTS of lightning.  ***MOM'S STOP READING NOW***

Seriously Mom's.

Okay so now that the parentals are gone...LIVING OUTSIDE can actually be quite frightening.  Whether in a shelter, in a tent, or hiking through the forest, lightning and thunder mixed with downpours really complicate everything, especially in your mind.  The brain is like, "GET INSIDE".  And you're like, "ok, um, good idea, but uh, where do we go?"  So that's been something we've gotten more 'used to', but it's still a little scary. 

We had literally 10 miles of the hardest rain either of us had ever seen in our lives, but we just kept hiking.  That day we ended with 21.5 miles and arrived in Dalton, MA.  We had heard about a hostel that was kinda partyish and not our style but we had our minds on one thing "D-R-Y".  We then figured out we had passed it a mile back and frustrated, walked further to a place we heard that a guy lets you tent on his lawn (like legit heard, not just on the trail, it was in our guide book...).  So we get there and nobody's there, we wait 45 minutes and are about to leave when he pulls up.  As I was building the courage to ask if we could tent on his porch vs the lawn (yeah still pouring down rain after 15 hours...) he says, "I have a place you guys can shower, Bring in any laundry that you want I'll be happy to do it for you, and I have a dry warm room with a double bed that's yours for the evening inside".  Pretty much the best thing you can hear, or even dream up, the only thing that could have topped that is if he whipped up a batch of vegan chocolate chip cookies and delivered them to our bedroom...

So we stayed there.  Next day we hiked about 11 miles in the warm sun!  We stopped at the "Cookie Lady's" house for lemonade and some blueberry picking.  $2 a lb for organic blueberries!  We ended up tenting on the property which was amazing, orchards and farms and barns and chickens and an airstrip with an airplane...  And we picked and picked and picked blueberries.  I mowed an hour "work-for-stay" which was quite enjoyable, moreso than ever before. 

 The next day we hiked 11 miles to Upper Goose Pond, a free Bunkhouse/Cabin on a small lake/pond.  It was nice to sleep on a mattress (like the 4'' who-knows-what-they're-made-of kind) and not have to worry about weather or hanging a bear bag.  Coffee in the morning and a lovely little paddle around the pond in a canoe!

The next two days had beautiful landscapes of farms, rolling hills, rocky-topped mountains with gorgeous 360 views, and walks along rivers like the Housatonic sandwiched between water and cornfields.  A highlight for me (P) was watching our buddy Kite Runner, fly his kite above a cornfield, it really set the mood for the day.

We crossed into Connecticut this morning and will be moving into NY early next week, maybe Monday or so.  For those keeping up with Maildrops, we're over 1/3rd done, in Salisbury.

Some Stats 700 miles done
1500 miles left
5 States hiked in
9 State lines left

Anyway, we love you all.

Have fun!

-P & A