"They have a pool? No thanks, we just did laundry."

So it's been an interesting past few days, coming through Ct and Mass. We'll be in Vt. by the end of the week, somewhere around Bennington by Friday for a big hiker feed.
Connecticut became a vortex to us, we were afraid we'd never make it to Mass. Sprout's friends were so nice, and they had a pool and a puppy, which helped:) We finally tore outselves away from that, then we ran in Connecticut Mike, who lives in Salisbury and was taking some time off the trail for his birthday. We refuted his offer to take us in for the night, and hiked on into a torrential downpour with massive amounts of thunder and lightning. We finally make it to Massachusetts, and run into Mike again, who proceeds to take us BACK to Ct. for a bonfire and beer at his friends' house. After that, we FINALLY made it out of Ct. permanently.
Onto Mass., which has the largest population of misquitos I've ever seen in my life. I had to practically run down a couple of hills to keep ahead of the swarm. Then we got to Goose Pond Cabin/Shelter, which is right on a lake and the caretaker makes BLUEBERRY PANCAKES for everyone in the morning. Such a lovely place, even with the mosquito population eating us alive. My one friend claims he's become anemic from so many bugs sucking his blood.
Yesterday, we had quite the rain/hail storm. So bad, in fact, we had to ford our first river-it was about mid-thigh deep and running rapids. All made it through unscathed, though the bottom of our shorts did get damp and the Orangedust's dog had to be carried. And with the marble-sized hail floating in the elongated puddle that used to be the trail, it made for some interesting hiking. Though my feet did get nicely exfoliated from the large amount of dirt that got into my shoes from the puddles.
Onto the Green Mountains of Vermont!

New York, New York...onto CT!

As I sit here in a friend of a friends kitchen outside Kent, CT, I'm currently thinking back on the last week and pondering how I made it this far. The rocky PUDs (pointless ups and downs) of southern NY state nearly killed me, and breaking in a new pair of shoes did not help at all. We were looking forward to the Hiker feed, then it was misdated. Thank goodness for trail angel Paddy-O, who brought us COLD chocolate milk and pastries from the local dairy. There, we met the lovely Orangedust and her little dog Beatrice Opal, as well as Gumby, Sherlock, Catfish and Mike. At the Monkery the following night, we ordered food and met up with Moccasin, Enoch, K-bomb again, as well as meeting Sprout and Chopsticks. Also, CC broke his Chaco and got stung by a wasp AND a hornet walking through the marshes.
Though it's been getting hotter and buggier the past few days, hiking with these people has been great. Yay girls on the trail! Of course, the swimming holes and delis didn't hurt:)
From our experience in New England so far, the hospitality and kindness abounds. We got a ride to our hotel last night from a nice older guy whose girlfriend recently passed away. Last night, we walked down to the grocery to get dinner, and the owner invited us over to his house for beer and talking (thanks Tom!). He was SO nice, I learned the new game of Washoes (horseshoes w/washers, kind of) and he gave us a ride back to Kent this morning!
Only 720 miles left on this strange little trip...what a ride it's been. We should be into Vermont in about a week or so then onto the white mountains of NH and beyond!

7.5 states down, 6.5 to go

So, the day we hiked out of Duncannon, it decided to rain on us so we only made it about 6 miles. Since Pa is decently flat, we did 24 the next day to make up for it. Thank goodness it's been rainy, or we definitely wouldn't of made it through without having to stop in town to get water.
I got to go home (state college) for the fourth of July and see my sister run a triathlon. I thought it would last longer than it did, but apparently it was the sprint type, which aren't as long and she cut some time off- yay! I also got to meet some of her co-workers, all of whom were really nice and had some good, thoughtful questions about the trail.
Since then, CC and I hiked into the Delaware water gap, then into New Jersey where my aunt and uncle picked us up and are currently letting us stay @ their house whilst we slackpack an ENTIRE state! It's been great, and I could kind of get used to it, but I definitely feel the trail calling me back. We did do some trail magic today, which made me feel much better about sleeping in a real bed every night.
The bear situation in Jersey isn't too bad. I believe it's over-rated, just like the 'killer' rocks were in Pa. Though this state supposedly has 1 bear per square mile, we've only ran into two. We did, however, run into 2 ENORMOUS bears right before heading down into the DWG on the Pa side. I scared them off with my loud, boisterous voice though:)
Tomorrow is our last day of slacking, then we head into the 'wild' blue yonder of New York state and the mountains somewhere beyond that with our fully loaded packs.
P.S.- 1/2 Elvis and Buckeye-CATCH UP!