Day 48 - Green Mountain State (18/8/2016)

My package arrived yesterday, so it's back on the trail. Rather, it *arrived* on Friday, but the postal clerk finally *saw* it yesterday.

I've only seen Norwich so far, but right now the people of Vermont seem like the most generous I've met.

After 3 nights with Jennie at the Episcopal Church, I was about to leave town when I stumbled on a local cafe. The owners were abroad and had planned to close the shop, but the community rallied and were keeping it open as volunteers. The proceeds are going to charity. I had a latté (quite a good one, actually.)

When I did finally leave, I only made it 8 miles before I stumbled on a house with an AT sign and a camping symbol on it. I wandered onto the property, and meet Captain Stash. Captain did the PCT 40 years ago then accidentally bought a house on the AT. Now he and his partner Cathy let hikers camp there. Not only that, but Cathy gave me free reign in her vegetable garden. Fresh veggies on the trail! For dinner I had a cucumber and tomato salad with basil, and then stir fried some green beans, peppers, and broccoli to mix in with mashed potatoes. Delicious!

At the Norwich post office, I discovered the postal clerk had been discreetly hiding the "Charlton Heston" stamps because they don't sell well in Vermont.

This is a great state, and I've seen less than 10 miles of it.

Also managed to connect with Eskimo and Littlefoot over a drink at Starbucks. All in all, a good day.

Start: St. Barnabas Episcopal Church
End: Captain Stash and Cathy's, West Hartford
Distance: 7.2 very friendly miles