Tristate Takedown!

O.K, so since the mayor's house we experienced the rest of Jersey (which actually had some small, but scenic climbs) and went straight into New York for a couple days where we met up with Alden, Bret, and Neville! We got to stay at the luxurious Tuxedo Motel (there's actually a town named tuxedo, complete with it's own tuxedo police that we want to be a part of) and spent most of our zero day at Lake Tiatori. It was actually the first time this entire trip that we have gone swimming, very relaxing/ sad since our upper body strength has diminished quite a bit. After that we spent our last night with the folks at the Franciscan Monk Spiritual life softball field, and had them drop us off at Bear Mt. to restart our hike. It was quite a sight to see indigenous animals at the NY zoo the trail passes through, and more people than we have seen in one place in months! So far I think New Yorkers have the most entertaining reactions to where we have traveled from; everything from "Get-da [expletive] outta hear" to "why da hell you doin' that?!". One woman in Connecticut simply kissed Stewy's zombie foot and blessed it with the power of God for the rest of the trip (It's as odd as it sounds, you don't wanna kiss that foot man).

The rest of NY was quite nice, with some decent climbs and very well maintained trails, actually less road walking than PA if you can believe it. CT has surprised all of us with some very good climbs, and some of the first real views we have seen since Virginia really. Today we stopped in the very expensive town of Salisbury to grab some overpriced food for our last ressuply (aside from lunch in Dalton, Ma) to Mt. Greylock near North Adams, Ma where we plan to meet with Jeff's folks after a longer 28 mile day. So some of you may be seeing us as soon as this Friday when we drive back east for the weekend (I know, two days off, crazy stuff). We are finally stepping down our miles a bit since we are finally in a safe place for scheduling and I have to admit it has been nice being able to sit for more than ten minutes after eating before falling asleep.

Hope to see as many of you as possible when we head east! Your support for us has been one of the few constants (aside from hiking) this entire trip! Thank you so much.

PS: Thanks again to Stew's parents for the maps and food when we got to Bear Mt. and thank you Sam for the Biscotti