Rich here - Jason called from Delaware Water Gap, PA.  That's about 900 miles so far!  He took a zero day there.  He said it has been really hot.  So hot, that he sent us his sleeping bag!  He got a bed sheet from one of the places he stayed, and is using that instead.  He meets 30 or so NOBOs each day.  They tell him there are lots of rocks ahead.  He sent us his video cards, about 2 hours worth!  But, no still photos.  I will attempt to get some photos off the videos for the blog?!?  We are sending a resupply box to him at Harpers Ferry, WV.  That's pretty much on the Maryland/West Virginia border.  He expects to be there in 10 to 12 days.  But, we made him promise to give us a call before then!  It seems strange to be just sending 3 resupply boxes for the 2700 miles.  This being the second.  When we sent 28 for the PCT.   He is "Lovin' It".  Although he admits to days of confusion about his relationship with Cassandra.  We think of her often as well! 


Jason here- I'm really hoping that those still photos are just in a different format and that they will be up shortly.  I know that I could see them on the camera before I sent them home, so hopefully its just a minor delay.  I'm prepared to go and re
 
Right now I'm in Salisbury, CT where I got my first resupply box from Rich and Cindy and I'm also celebrating one month on the trail!
Massachusetts was beautiful, Mt. Graylock was really spectacular, I got there just after sunset.  
I am really loving this journey, I keep telling others that I'm not trying to go fast, I just really like hiking, I love the motion, I love testing my body, I love stopping and attempting to talk to nobos [northbounders] ( a lot seem to just fly by me thinking i'm just out for a couple days or something, maybe I should take it as a complement...)  There has been a lot of diversity in the trail, one minute on a ridge top, the next down in a farmers field wishing that there were ears of corn to eat.  Its beautiful country up here.
The next few states will go by pretty quickly, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey and then the dreaded Pennsylvania, which the nobos have been warning be about for a long time.

On a more personal note, I feel like I had an ah ha moment on Stratton Mountain, where legend has it that Benton Mckay came up with the idea for the AT.  I had thought a lot about my relationship with Cassandra and still had lots of questions and was trying to figure things out and get answers for myself, but for some reason when I was up there, I just felt a peace about it, almost as if it was okay to just let it go.  Not the letting go of I don't care anymore, but the type that says just be okay with what is happening, God is still in control.  A phrase that keeps running through my mind is, "It's because of Mercy."  I'm not sure exactly what that is all about, but it sure has comforted my thoughts and I've had a pretty consistent smile on my face since then.

So, I'll be leaving town here shortly after a stop by the bakery to pick up something tastey.  I pass about 20 nobos a day, some stop to talk, others just keep walking, some tell me about how badly I need to get a trail name.  Some noteable nobos I've talked to recently, Eats & Jet Pack, Why Not? & Balance, Mike, Trash Can and I've talked to a few and never got their names.  This is a soci   
 
Seriously, I did.  It was last Wednesday and I was having a typical day, although I went into Dalton and ate a veggie burger and had 1/2 gallon of chocolate milk.  Mental note, don't ever do that again, it was the hardest hour of hiking afterwards, I was in between wanting to throw up and just lay down and wonder if I'd wake up again.
But that's not the main point.  I stopped at a shelter to let my stomach settle and met a woman named saftey pins and had a wonderful conversation for almost an hour, it was really good and I was feeling much better.  When I left, I got about 1/4 mile down the trail and my achilles tendon on my left foot started really bothering me.  I tried to walk it off, but it just kept bothering me.  I ended up limping into the cookie lady's house and asked to sleep on their lawn and honestly wondered if I would even be able to walk the next morning.  
It's funny how the mind works, I was already processing what to tell people, how to get home, what my options were, etc.  it was crazy, I really thought that the trip was over, although in the back of my head, I thought the big decider would be the next morning.  Well, the next morning came and I was able to walk and I didn't have nearly the same amount of pain, I couldn't believe it, I really think it was a miracle.  I definitely prayed, but i'm wondering if someone else out there prayed not knowing why and the prayer was answered.  I'm not trying to over spiritualize it, but I literally limped into their place and was in quite a bit of pain.  I was thinking how many zero days do I take before I just call it off, I can't hike through this much pain.
I started out the next morning very cautiously and by the afternoon, I was back at full stride.  It was incredible and I'm just so grateful to be able to hike.  Its a new outlook on the trip, that's for su
 
I met a group of backpackers in the Presidentials that were from Outward Bound in Maine and know Rusty Rice.

I walked up behind four people and told them what I was doing, after I walked past, one of the girls came running up and said, I'm reading "a walk in the woods" and i want to give you something and then forced me to grab a snack out of her bag.

On Franconia Ridge, a young guy was sitting at a viewpoint and asked if I wanted some crackers, I ended up talking with him for 30 minutes and then we hiked together for about 45 minutes until he realized he was hiking down the wrong trail.  Sorry Alex.

The Presidentials is a small part of the White Mountains that include Mt. Madison, Mt. Adams, Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Washington.  I learned that when I waited out a storm at the Lost Lake Hut and read a book for an hour.

I've now seen 2 Moose, both females.

Lots of nobos tell me I'm the first sobo they've met, some even take pictures and then I tell them that there are still a few ahead of me.

Odyessa left on June 14th and is running the trail to beat her previous supported record and now has to average like 47 miles per day.

I've seen many maple lines in Vermont, makes me think of my time making syrup at Covenant Harbor, which is both good and bad. :)

It's now time for me to go get my pizza and chocolate milk.  Thanks for following the journey, God has been so faithful with the time.

 
I entered Vermont after taking a zero day in Hanover, New Hampshire.  I figured that I had earned a zero day after pushing through Maine and the Whites.
 Oh, how to possibly sum up the trip so far...
There are so many words and yet nothing does justice to it.  As I mentioned before, I really enjoyed Maine, it was beautiful, not nearly as bad as everyone said.  New Hampshire is also an amazing state, I loved the Franconia Ridge, it was by far my favorite part of the Whites.  I felt like I was walking along the Great Wall Of China.  Hopefully Rich can put some pictures up when he gets the sd card.
The day I summited Mt. Washington, it was socked in, didn't have much of a view, but it was still special as I literally had to look from cairn to cairn to find my way on the ridge line.  The summit was a zoo, but it was nice to head into the snack bar and eat inside.  Between the road that goes to the top and the cog railway, there were so many people up there.  I didn't stay long and proceeded to head south and got caught in a 30 minute downpour with four guys that knew each other from college in Chicago and were on their yearly expedition together.  I ended up doing a work for stay at the Mitspah hut and got to talk to them more that evening.  I have to admit, the hut system is pretty fantastic, especially when you are a thru hiker and don't have to pay the $90 bill for the night (all I had to do was sweep up the next morning).  The crew that ran it were all college aged and were having the summer of their lives, they were really fun to talk to and the food was incredible.  Thanks Mitspah Hut!!

Right now I'm staying at a hostel in Bennington, Vermont, less that one day from the border of Massachusettes.  I just took a shower and am going to go get a pizza and drink some chocolate milk.  Oh, my hitchike went alright, it only took twenty minutes and I ended up getting picked up by a police officer and brought here, not too shabby.

Physically I'm doing great, I've been putting in some long days, but feel awesome.  I haven't seen any sobo's in awhile, but I've seen tons of nobos.  Some pass on by and don't say much, and some sit down and we talk to an hour.  I felt like a celebrity for a little bit last night when a nobo was impressed by the fact that I went sobo on the pct last year, you would have thought I was a movie star.  She said, you're like 1 in a 100 that have done it sobo, of course I modestly insisted that it wasn't that impressive.  Thanks Cayenne for making me feel special.

So I'll head out tomorrow after doing a quick resupply here and will cross the Vermont/Mass. border and then I'll only have 11 states to go.  A nobo told me yesterday that I've already done 1/4 of the trail, crazy, it hasn't even been a month yet.