We're in Vermont! (actually, we've been here a couple days but this is the first post from Vermont) Last time we posted we were in Glencliff and I was not feeling well. After a day off, I felt no better. Luckily, a friend of mine from my hike in 2007 had offered her place when we got to Hanover, the next town up. In true trail angel form, Pinky (aka Rachel Lynch) picked me up and took me back to her family's home to recover while Shawn hiked the 42 miles to her town (which he did in 2 days because he is a machine) The Lynchs opened their home to us, fed us, gave us a private cabin on the water, let us take out the boat, swim, play with their dogs, and relax while Shawn took a day off as well. We could not be more grateful!
After all that rest and good food (which I was finally able to eat) we felt great and were off to Vermont. The trail has mellowed out a little for us now. The climbs are shorter and switchbacked (zig zags going up and down mountains instead of going straight up and straight down) and the trail has far fewer obstacles (like rocks, roots, giant mud puddles). This means we're able to do more miles- we've had 3 days over 20 miles so far in Vermont. Just the other day, we did 14.9 miles before our lunch break at 1:00.
The best part about Vermont is that we've finally caught up to some other Southbounders! Lucky and Charm are a couple about our ages from Georgia that we've been walking with for a couple days now. And here in town we met Boss Lady and Sherpa- SOBOs also! And the biggest treat was reading a not in a trail register from our old friend Dr. Geo who we walked with in Maine. He was ahead but was taking 3 days off and said we might catch him. Sure enough we passed him but he did a 29 mile day (whaaat!???) to catch us here at the Green Mountain Hostel (which is an amazing place that even Amanda would appreciate). So now there's a pack of 7 us that will all be with in a day or so of each other for a while.
Two other highlights from this section of trail- first, last night at the hostel, the women staying here decided to pick up groceries for a big hiker dinner. Lucky made spaghetti, Boss Lady made black bean tacos with cheese and avocado, Rocket (a northbounder) made salad and veggies, and I made fruit pizza for desert. We were all in the kitchen having a blast together while our significant others watched TV and later did the dishes. I miss cooking in a kitchen instead of on the ground (although we hear the shelters near here and then on down south have picnic tables! Don't know why Maine and New Hampshire opt not to have them...) Highlight number two- We had a shelter all to ourselves one night, or so we thought. Then something woke us up in the brush near the shelter. We turned on a light and there was a big porcupine! He was shy at first but after testing the waters he realized we weren't getting out of our warm sleeping bags so he came right up to the shelter and proceeded to gnaw on the porch floor. We laughed and took pictures and watched for a long time. Then the gnawing sound was too much- we needed sleep. Shawn (I mean Picker) asked him to go ahead and leave.
