Falls Village, CT

Some days you just never know where you will end up. Right now, I am
waiting for the inevitable rain to accompany the heavy thundering
going on over my head. Believe it or not, I am camped in the yard of a
toymaker in the tiny town of Falls Village, CT. He allows hikers to
tent on the property, order pizza from the local delivery restaurant,
and use his spigot for water. Thank you so very much Greg! However, I
am still waiting for my lesson in toymaking. I did, however, have a
most excellent spinach, tomato, and (REAL, NOT CANNED...for the first
time on the trail) mushroom calzone. Mmmmm.

In fact, this post is dedicated to all the trail angels on this
incredible journey. There have been countless gallon jugs of water
left by road crossings in areas where streams and springs have run
dry. Thank you very much bringers of magical water! And then there is
Gene. The trail angel from Bear Mountain. He not only picked us up a
while back, from 15 miles away, but brought us back to the trail the
next morning. He would not accept a single penny for gas money. Thank
you Gene, a true trail "magician".

Of course today had it's own unique set of challenges. We keep looking
at the profile in our books each day and the trail "appears" tame...on
paper. In reality with the heat, the humidity, the incessant bug
activity, and the constant elevation loss and gain of 200-1000', we
are all completely zonked every day. We keep asking ourselves what
it's going to be like in only a couple of weeks, when the elevation
loss and gain is more like 3,000-4,000'? Is it fall yet? When is
annoying no-seeum, mosquito, horse and deer fly season over????Huh???
When? When?
And then there was "the bridge". Ok. So the trail had a "recommended
reroute" on a few busy roads and highways that added a mile to the
day. They are rebuilding the bridge over the Housatonic river.
(Doesn't that sound like a mixed drink?) Anyway, it's only a one lane
bridge with zero shoulder that the cars take turns via traffic light
to cross. So yes, I will admit we were being lazy and did not want to
take the fancy new... turn here on this road, and turn there on this
road...reroute. We thought we were being "old school" by taking the
original white blazed A.T. Well, we couldn't get across the bridge.
So while traffic going our way was stopped at the red light, I asked
this guy in a pickup if he would take us across the bridge in the back
of his truck. He said no problem (he had Maine tags of
course...Connecticans don't seem to like us smelly hobos all that
much..but that is another whole can of worms...) and he dropped us off
at the other end. So a long story, even longer, we are officially
"yellow-blazers"! This of course being a much dreaded term, an insult
if you will, meaning that you "skipped" a section of trail by hitch-
hiking north. Even though it was only 100', we joke around and call
eachother "yellowblazer" and "section- hiker" now. Ha.