It was a lazy morning. I crawled out of the confines of my little home around 7am. It wasn’t raining but just a dreary day. Linda had coffee and hard boiled eggs along with fruit and miscellaneous foods for hikers on her porch. I sat and drank coffee with her, and talked for sometime. She has 8-10 hens who lay many eggs, and one rooster who likes to wake up hikers early in the morning. It appears to work being everyone was packed up and out by 7:30-8:00am. Good plan Linda. Move along hikers.

As Blue and I headed out of town, we walked along the road for a bit. We met the owner of the original schoolhouse built in the 1800’s. The gentleman told us he bought it when he returned from Vietnam in 1960’s for $17,000. He has restored the schoolhouse and has lived there for over 60 years. Vermonter’s strike again. Such an honor to hear his story and love for this village, as they call it.

As we headed around the corner, the trail appeared and we were back on our ribbon of dirt. Today was easy ups and downs, with little mud and plenty of water in the rivers. There was nothing lacking except for my energy. I have some days where I’m full of energy and then days like today, that I just can’t seem to get out of low gear. Thank goodness, it was easy terrain. With that being said, I still stopped for a couple of breaks trying to refuel with mango strips, beef sticks and anything I could find in my food bag. No real success there.

Mary Poppins was waiting for us in Hanover, New Hampshire. We just needed to get to her. Around noon we walked out of the forest and started our road walk. Norwich, Vermont was our last sight in this state. It was a great way to end our journey in the muddy, rainy, humid but beautiful state that I learned to love.

Heading across the Connecticut River, we entered the second to the last state of the Appalachian Trail, New Hampshire. The river looked more like a peaceful lake and reminded me of Lake Natomas in Folsom, close to where I live. There were kayakers skimming across the river as we passed. Such a grand entrance to Hanover, the home of Dartmouth University.

Once in Hanover, it is obvious that this city is all about its Ivy League School. Everywhere you look, its’ Dartmouth. Parents are buying shirts for their toddlers and taking pictures in front of the school. We visited the Dartmouth U Retail Store to find out what this school was all about. Ends up it’s the premier Medical School, along with Business, Engineering and Master Programs. Did I ever feel like an uniformed hiker!

Mary Poppins had a booth for us at Lou’s Cafe. She had already eaten and Blue and I waltzed in and sat with her. Ends up that the place was not taking any more patrons as it was getting close to closing time. Blue and I lucked out because our waitress was quite accommodating and took our order lickety split. Blue had a Chicken Pesto Salad and I had Butternut Squash Salad, that was over the top. Endless cups of Iced Tea and a free donut for hiking the AT. This is my kind of place.

After lunch, we dropped off our packs at one of the halls of Dartmouth. They allowed thru-hikers to use this building to rest, recharge devices and free locker storage. We saw a few other hikers, sorting through their resupplies, chilling on the couches and dropping off gear. We stashed our packs and hit the town. It’s a College Town with tons of eateries, coffee shops and clothing stores. We headed to the Coop-Market for fresh fruits, vegetables and chocolate. It was a high-end store with expensive prices but we’ve learned that the farther north in New England we go, the pricier it gets. This was no exception. But, we needed some fresh food and are willing to pay whatever it costs. Good thing, we are only buying for ourselves and not a starving student! We sat outside on a bench and ate some produce, chocolate and MaryPoppins had her quart of Gelato. She needs the calories as she’s been hiking since Georgia. We finished our goodies and returned to retrieve our worldly possessions.

Blue and Mary Poppins made reservations with Ralph to stay in Etna in his trailer for the evening. Perfect! Out of the rain and access to a shower and laundry. When you have one outfit you wear daily, doing laundry often is key to reducing the stench of foul odors. Ralph met us in the afternoon and gave us a tour of his lovely home in the woods. We were so blessed to be out of the rain, pampered in a nice home, and surrounded by a caring family. Thank you Lord for leading us to this place, and providing a wonderful and safe home for the night. Amen.