थे जौर्नी ऑफ़ मानी नमस कांतिनुएस

Greetings my lovely ones

I am a hare's breath away from New Jersey. I got into Delaware Water Gap, PA this afternoon and am staying the night at my friend wild bill's parents house, Yaay! Thank you jane and john...shower, laundry, company..sweet. So that makes 1,286.3 miles so far and only 895 to go, pretty cool. PA just flew by, it was totally rocky, kind of an ankle turner, but fun. Yesterday we did some real climbing,and it was so fun to something different, i kind of felt like i was out west..Hmmm..
I spent the last few days hiking with ProffMark(who just finished his PA section hike today,Hooray!!)and Nattie. We camped out last night on this high clearing to watch the sunset and this morning i got them both up at dawn, made some coffee and we chilled while the sun came up, and all the mist and clouds in the valley looked so amazing.
I couldn't possibly go on any further without mention of 'The Doyle', short for the old Doyle Hotel in Duncannon, PA. This place has been in operation for over 100 years, and i don't think they've done any repairs in that long. I can't believe the place isn't condemned, but I, for one am so glad it's not. There's the bar and pool room on the 1st floor, the balcony, the old locked up ballroom and lobby with the red and white checkered linoliem floor on the second, and rising up two more floors around the lobby off a big rickety spiral staircases are the rooms.Mine was great, it didn't have mold on the walls, i especially loved the extension cord running up from the floor to the naked light bulb in the middle of the cieling. Enough description. That night so many hikers came in to stay at the doyle, it just kept filling up,the bar got packed, people everywhere playing guitars, singing, freestyling...a creative mystical vibe seemed to filled this creepy old place. Some of us were playing music in the 2nd floor lobby and looked up to see two floors of people just hangin' over the railings, i guess the music had traveled up through the hallways into the rooms and eveyone just came out. Someone on the 3rd floor found a bible and was reading a sermon, wearing a top hat...i just remember hearing his finishing words "And it was good!" over the music. Ah, the Doyle. I turned in early, but that party rocked till the wee hours. Oh, Yeah.
And how could i foget to mention that i also got new sneakers! Fascinating to all i'm sure......but i had hiked the 21 miiles into Duncannon in my crocs, cuz the boots were not rockin' my world and i was in agony!!! (I actually just met a guy named CrocStar, but he was wearing sneakers..so....)New sneakers...Great!! I am flying..it feels so good to have light feet. Of course, i am, as i write, nursing a new blister. That will pass, hopefully by tomorrow.
Well after Duncannon i was off solo style again for a bit. I was thinking that i wanted to be alone, and it was great for camping, privacy...but i was really starting to go a little crazy in my head. Too much alone can be tricky. It's hard to know when to stop. It wasn't until i ran into my old friend Jim Dandy, who i hadn't seen in months, at a shelter the other day. It was so good to catch up, find out about certain people. He was so suprised to see me! I met the guys he was hiking with,Amero, Nattie and Bee Man. They were heading to a B&B right on the trail about 4 miles away, for a meal. I ended up going too, then it started pouring and the owner suggested we camp out in the backyard under the pavillion....That was awsome. There was a good band, good company, beautiful morning the next day, refreshed after the rain. It felt like crispy fall before it got hot. And all of a sudden i felt like a normal person again.
Life is good. I still love this friggin' trail. There were so many blueberries the other day, i filled a ziplock bag...ate all the berries in it, filled it again, ate it again and filled again for later. They were so good and beautiful!
How can i forget the completion of the Many Names Missing Glasses story. Long story short...I lost my glasses on the trail, near a place called 'Lost Spectacles Gap' thought they were gone forever, but someone (mommallama, who i ended up meeting later) found them and through the magical workings of the trail, got them back to me. We met weeks later and became friends.She insisted that her textiles-major daughter would fashion me a glasses case to attach to my pack so i would never lose the specs again.Well, i just picked up the case at the outfitter in Port Clinton where she left it (she is way ahead)and it is so amazing! Way more than i expected. It's organic hemp or cotton, lined with silk with a little bell on it, and on the outside it says my name, Many Names..and on the back it says, if lost please return to.........all that info. She even put her tag on it..it was so proffessional. All week i was like, 'don't lose the glasses, don't lose em', you're almost in port clinton, almost there!!'
I met a hiker yesterday who actually made the mistake of wiping with poison ivy.Hmmm. I felt bad about that.
Anyway...off to bed.Pleasant dreams.

Peace
~Many Names~