Today, we had a pretty short distance day and hiked a little over nine miles from just west of Pittsfield, Massachusetts to “The Writer’s Cottage” Airbnb location in New Lebanon, New York.
That’s right. The big news of the day was that we put Massachusetts in the rearview mirror and have started our journey through New York.
We made it to the Empire State. Two states down….only ten to go.
In other news, we spent about an hour at the Liberty Package Store at the base of Lebanon Mountain getting to know Bobby Jean, the owner’s daughter back from Bakersfield, CA helping her parents out for a spell. Typical Dad, he went in for a chocolate milk, and came out thirty minutes later with a new friend. I’m beginning to think that he likes to talk as much as he does just to get a few (or more than a few) more minutes of rest.
We finished off by coming down the steep back side of Lebanon Mountain in to the valley town of New Lebanon on the New York Side of the border. It’s the last really high pass we have to clear in what I’m calling the East Coast mountains. It’s basically all downhill from here into the basin of the Great Plains. There will be ups and downs, of course, but the high passes should be complete.
We finished up at “The Writer’s Cottage” and we’ll be holed up here for a couple of days while a relatively nasty line of thunderstorms clears the area. The storms are what’s left of the system that hammered the west and northern Great Plains states with a significant amount of April snowfall. I’m not complaining. Dad and I have separate rooms, and mine is a nice cozy loft where I can work on some reading and hopefully some writing.
“The Writer’s Cottage” Loft where I’ll spend the next couple of days.
The best part of today for me was that it was really just another day walking. My blisters have healed. My back is feeling good. The weight of the pack has started to feel like an old friend. The trekking poles go where I want them to go, and they actually help move me forward. When I’m heading down the road, I can get into this meditative place, and there’s nothing else but the road and the rhythmic sound of my pack riding on my hips and my shoulders. It feels like I could keep up the pace indefinitely. Of course that’s not really true, but I’m beginning to finally get into the flow of walking the miles. It’s a great feeling to have just another day walking.
Josh is pretty much right on. To me, one of the most positive aspects of the journey has been the brief interactions we have with individuals we encounter in our daily activities. And it's an interesting mix -- those we meet as part of purchase of needs, and those who initiate engagement with us as we walk. We're making acquaintances (too briefto become friends) Interesting realization! More later. Jay (AKA "Rory")
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