OUTHOUSE/MAYORS HOUSE

BREAKFAST AT THE MAYORS HOUSE

DICK & SHADOW

DICK

BILL

Well we are doing very good it is 1:30 and we already done 12 miles and showered .

Last Sunday we were in jail in Palmerston,PA. It was a very nice experience . On Sunday in this town you go to the police station and sign yourself into the old jail that they use for recreation and in the basement they have 10 bunks that thru hikers can sleep, shower and a nice place to rest . There were 20 people sleeping there that night .

Yesterday we came into Unionville, NY . The trail is still NJ . We are staying with the mayor of the town They call it a village. He was the mayor for 9 yrs and did not stand this year because he is to busy with the thru hikers. His wife died 6-7 yrs ago of MS . He did not even know that the trail was going thru his town at that time . He did notice that most of the people in his village do not like the hikers, he could not work it out so he started hanging around the post office to meet hikers that he liked . When he got home he will tell his wife about all the nice hikers and how they stink . She then said "Well would it not be nice if we get stranded next o the road and somebody would come and rescue us and let us shower". That is where his idea started to open his own house to all the stinking nice hikers . He opened the mayors house 3 years ago his name traveled all over the trail . He also took an older man in his house that does all the cooking for us, he is 81 yrs old, could not afford to stay in his apartment any more . So Dick , Bill and Busch is now running the OUTHOUSE for hikers. They do not asked any money, they feed you 2 meals do your washing and let you shower. Has a few rules when you arrive you must shower 1st . If you like all 10 fingers-stay out of Bill's kitchen , DO NOT TOUCH THE washer or dryer . If you say a 3 or more syllable word you pay 25 cents that goes in to a jar towards Shadows food (their dog).Your 1st beer and coke is free after that you pay 25 cents . They have never hiked and think we are beyond stupid to do this but celebrate every ones victory-what ever your victory is. All the hikers are very impressed and almost cannot believe that someone can just open there house like this, most of us give donations. Bill took us up north this morning and we hiked 12 miles back to his house with our full packs, we do not believe in slack packing-that means you do not carry your pack someone is driving it or you leave it and pick it up later .

We are doing very good .Tell everyone I said Hi and think a lot about all of you .

Crazy Lady

Port Clinton, PA - 1205.3 miles

Still jumping - falling - tripping on rocks. The big boulders are ahead of us. We are staying at Port Clinton Hotel - some rooms upstairs with an outside door to the rooms. The people in this area is not very friendly or it appears that way. This is a very small town - the only place worth stepping in is the "Peanut Shop" - a candy store with tons of Licorice from England - wonderful trail mix.

We are leaving for the trail - Patches is felling much better after a good nights sleep and a shower. We did get medical advice and he will be OK to go on slowly. He has "Lyme disease" - all smiles - feels good - has 75 miles left of PA.

Have fun...........

I borrowed another thru hiker's description of PA "Hello, I am Pennsylvanian, your sever today (next week) - our special is ROCKS (medium rare) with a side salad of poison ivy and copperhead for dessert - water on the Tab with no limits - our starter is on the house - deer ticks and a bowl full of mosquitoes - would you like to start with the starter?"

We have 94 more miles of this - hang in there - the big rocks is not that bad - you just have to balance good - some of my butt and hip muscles work all the time - not to talk about concentration - you have to follow the white blaze - you have to look for copperheads before you put you foot or hiking pole down - then you never know if the rock is going to move when you jump on it - Lots of fun!!!! One of our thru hiker - Tag & Tag along - she fell on the rocks and has a blue face - so I am very careful!!!!! The small rocks is the devil - sharp and so close together you cannot get your foot to fit between them - your ankles bend in all directions. At night your feet are tired - lucky we have new boots and hiking poles. The sun is shining and we are only carrying 2-3 days of food so our backpacks are not so heavy. I guess our glasses are full - we are happy and blessed.

Hitch hiked into town - 3 miles today - 3rd truck picked us up - how lucky. It is Monday - everything is closed - no nice town food - we got a ride back to trail head - Thank you nice people of PA. We were told that after the Mason/Dixon line - no more pick ups when you hike.

Well....have a nice summer in GA. We enjoy every day - still meet new hikers daily.

4th of July Fire (No Works)

We did 15 miles like good hikers - not many hiking today. Patches stepped on a copperhead's tail - lucky nothing happened - he was faster than the copperhead. We reached the shelter in good time to rest and enjoy a peaceful evening. We shared some American whiskey - a few sips each - more for the thought - our party group was - Patches - Crazy Lady - B.B. We have been hiking with B.B for the last few days - he is a section hiker (PA section) - very quite - real academic smart.

Happy 4th...........

Duncannon, PA - 1135.4 miles

Duncannon, PA View

We rushed into Duncannon, PA to re-supply and wash our sleeping bags - they stink. The trail goes thru Duncannon - down a road with a different church on each corner. We are on our way to the campground - $3.50 to pitch tent - can shower and shuttle service - we got to the camp - what a dump - he does not shuttle - has taxi service - so we have to walk 2 miles and back to the store and laundry. The restrooms are cement black - stink - get sick if you shower - the camp is also next to railroad - it is like an interstate all night - trains coming and going - I guess it is true - you get what you pay for! We did walk to the store to re-supply and when we left the shop a young man asked if we were on our way to the Pub - we said yes - so we did not have to walk 1 mile. Cost arm and leg to wash our sleeping bags - but worth every penny of it. We went to the Doyle Hotel - most hikers spent the night in a hotel with a pub - the food we wonderful. We visited with some other hikers until about 7:50 - then went to our dumpster camp, railroad & trains.

Patches has a lot of animals/snakes he wants to see. Today we saw our 1st copperhead - PA is known for it's rocks - well.....Mr Copperhead was on leaves (the same color as him) you could hardly see it - sort of under a rock. With all the rocks - up & down - it has slowed our pace - makes the day longer. We also saw a nice box turtle. PA's mountains are very flat looking, but on top of the flat was rocky as can be!

Patches critters:

Copperhead

Box Turtle

Snapping Turtle

Book Worms

Tomorrow is the 4th of July - Happy Fourth of July to all you Americans - we will see what happens on the trail.

Have fun.............

Boiling Springs, PA - 1109.7 miles

Bench made out of rocks



Tunnel for hikers




Patches relaxing at Creek

Old Cemetery in Cumberland Gap

We plan to have an easy hike into Boiling Springs, PA. Well...the PA boulders start - you climb up - down (hand & foot) - it is like a maize - you can get lost or take a wrong route - then you get almost to town and it is cornfields and soybean fields with lots of blackberry bushes -
Life is Good!

Boiling Springs is a very small - pretty town - the springs are so clear. We went to the ATC Mid-Atlantic Regional Office and we find on the notice board - This lodge has hiked rates - $25 for a double room and $10 for buffet (all you can eat). It was very nice to sleep in a bed again - 3 showers in 2 days - what luxury!

Patches mis-placed his book - hope the hiker that picks it up will enjoy it.

Looked at the map today - it is flat thru farmland - nothing to look forward to. We put on suntan lotion because these cornfields are going to burn us up. What a surprise - the tail goes thru this canopy of Mulberry trees - blackberry bushes - shade trees - today was a very nice hike day! The cornfields look fantastic - the wheat is pretty also. I felt like "Ruth" pick a few wheat ears and shuck them - then cut - very nice to nibble on - the mulberries were so sweet!

We took a lunch break after 7 miles at a house with sign "I can make to the fence in 2 minutes 9 seconds - can you" Pit bull - did not see the dog, but the tree looked safe and climbable.

In Harrisburg they have a big beer brewery. In PA you can get learners license at 16 - but real license at 18. You can only buy beer at a pub or package store - not at grocery or convenient store.

We made it to the shelter - pitched tents just in time for a heavy storm - thunder and all.

Well have a nice summer - enjoy - we do............

AT midpoint

Pass the real 1/2 way mark - completed 1103.0 miles - 1075.3 miles to go- ALL THE WAY!

Pine Grove State Park General Store

Very nice early hike today. We did eat ice cream - but did not go for the half gallon challenge - we did 6 oz each.

Pine Grove State Park - Pine Grove Furnace is where they made iron in the 1800 and early 1900's - very nice park.















Pine Grove Furnace

We camp tonight at Deer Run Camp ground - showered and did laundry ($5.00) - paid only $10 to pitch tent. The lady at the office gave us wood for fire - 4 hamburger patties - 8 hot dogs - we bought buns - what a feast!

Patches is a very good student with his African lessons - a few more weeks his hiking tongue will be African.

We are really enjoying every day - we stay dry in day - get the rain at night - wonderful!

We are looking forward to our next 1/2!!!

Crazy Lady climbing over trees & rocks

Tom's Run Shelter - 1088.5 miles

Patches eating blueberries

"feed bag" in the non-snoring section of Tumbling Run Shelter

"Happy Brithday - Mofo"

Mofo thru hiked a few times before and hiking again now - he is 62 today - from SC.

PA has the best shelters and tent spots so far - very nice. The last few days we had fresh blackberries and blueberries - sweet and delicious. We watched the blue berries for the last month - 1st they were flowers - then berries - now blue & sweet.

The past few days we have hiked with 2 teachers. They grew up together - one teaches history in Florida - the other teach English in Ohio. We give them a hard time - they section hike for last 6-7 yrs (1 month at a time).

We are sleeping tonight at Tom's Run Shelter - 1088.5 miles - 6 miles from the mid point of the AT. After tomorrow we have 1089.2 miles to go - ALL THE WAY!

The Mountain Laurels and Rhododendrons are still blooming - very pretty!

Crazy Lady had hair cut yesterday - It feels fantastic.

Have fun we do............

Sign outside of Quarry Gap Shelter

Patches filtering water

We came we saw - we went - Maryland is behind us. W VA and MD was good to us - so are our new boots - no rain for 3 days - very nice easy hike - we are in PA now (we have 230 miles of PA). Water sources are for away from each other - we must carry our water with us now. PA is low elevation - very rocky - with rattlesnakes.

We have read and heard about 2 incidents in the past few weeks - hard to believe but is true - hikers suffer bad:

Just before Harpers Ferry we read story about a rabid skunk that attached 3 hikers - 2 hikers sharing a tent heard something (5:30 am) looked outside the tent and saw the skunk and tried to chase it away - did not close tent and the next thing they knew the skunk was in the tent and sprayed them- another hiked started running up the trail and the skunk chased him - the hiker sprayed it with pepper spray, but it did no good - the skunk bit the 3rd hiker on his leg - he had to go off the trail to get rabies shot. Sad but true

Another story we read in shelter was about Raccoon attack - a 19 yr old hiker climbed up a tree to get food bag and the raccoon bite him in the face - this young man also had to leave the trail.

It is not the bear or snake we have to fear - enemies are in all sizes and shapes here on the trail.

I have to confess.....The last 2 days I started to section hike the trail - which works like this - We meet for lunch at a nice spot or shelter were there is water - then we meet up at night were we camp - the rest of the day each hiker is own his own. After 3 months of hiking your body knows when it is close to lunch/rest time.

Well... Wednesday the June 25 I got to this road and knew the shelter must be close - so I look in my book just to see the shelter is before the road - so I turn around went back up this rocky hill about 1 1/2 miles - took my cap off just to make sure I did not miss the sign - no shelter - turn around - ran down hill by now Patches must be worried (lucky he was with Mofo & Sita that helped him to stay put) - in my hurry I fell - very mad at myself - try to jump up fast - I did not see if I fell in poison ivy or what - lucky it was a OK spot. Came to the road again still mad at myself - just to find the shelter not even 1/2 mile after road crossing (hiked that section twice)

Today I made it to lunch and had some nice espresso coffee - happy hiking on cross rd's - saw a south bound blue blaze - sign very high up in tree - did not look around for north bound sign - just carry on my merry way in my own world - then hear "Talitha" - look back - Patches is running - I asked him "Did I just pass your tent" - he answered "Yes, a mile back - did you not see the blue blaze" - (I section hiked that part twice to) Patches said the only reason he ran after me was for the water filter and he wanted to see if hiking had change his running speed - IT HAS!

Today I did not mess up. New state and it rained on us. We are at camp early and in our tents.

Have fun - We do...........

History/Gathland State Park - 1023.5 miles

Highest Point In Maryland where gliders take off

Crazy Lady and Church


Harpers Ferry - non segregated college - first college for black ladies.
From the Jefferson Rock you can see Shenandoah and Potomac River.

Harpers Ferry Train and foot bridge

Ruins @ Harpers Ferry

Lewis & Clark - Lewis came to Harpers Ferry - built a boat and went to PA on Shenandoah & Potomac River (which become one river at Harpers Ferry)- came back to Harpers Ferry - then went to Philiadelphia, PA met up with Clark and went on to tour the west.

Gathland State Park - Frederick's troops captured Harpers Ferry - Gath built his tomb 10 yrs before he died and then lost his money and died very poor. Ruins of library that was 3 floors was built in 1800's during civil war. An Arch was erected here for the correspondest during civil war - it is 50 ft high and 40 wide - the design of arch was based on Harpers Ferry train tunnel and fire department.

Correspondent Mounument for Civil War

Barn from Civil War

Washington County - has a Washington Monument State Park with a monument for Washington - he was born 1732 in VA died 1799 in Mt Vernon - he became president 1789 - 1797 - Commander in Chief - same time as the Revolutionary War - Independence was 1784. We went up to the monument - gate was open so we went up the stairs - 360 view.

Washington Monument

Inside Monument

On Top of Monument

Reno Monument - 2 generals were buried - Union General has nice big tombstone and wall around it - Confederate General had a small almost forgotten stone.