Kent, CT

The final stretch of New York

Many thanks to the Savoie family for the wonderful care package and oh so delicious cookies!!

Enjoying the lovely pool at Marc and Jan's on a hot day!


Greetings from our first stop in CT! It is hot today, in the 90's, but what a day we have had. We met a wonderful couple while eating breakfast here this AM and they kindly brought us to their home where we took showers, did laundry, swam, had a great lunch and wonderful conversation! Jan and Marc you are amazing trail angels, we won't forget you guys!

We are both continuing to do well and have passed through some beautiful spots in New Jersey and New York. There are so many stories to share and loads of pictures, but time limits me as the library is about to close.

We are looking forward to our beach house vacation in Maine coming up in ~4 days (we're not counting can you tell). Much love to all at home!
Miss you guys!
Love,
Ben and Amanda

Delaware Water Gap, PA

Hi Everyone,
We are finished with PA after having walked on lots of loose unstable rocks and our feet are feeling it. New Jersey tomorrow with new sights and adventures. Short and sweet this time, we are well and living life to the fullest!
Much love,
Ben and Amanda

Pennsylvania, a visit from Mom and less than 1,000 miles to go!

Hi All,
It has been a while...we have finished Maryland (only 40 miles) and have now been hiking in Pennsylvania the state famous for "the rocks". The terrain has been mild and the rocks are not constant but they do make for sore feet (nothing new there). We passed the halfway point and Ben along with thru hiker friends participated in the half gallon challenge of which he is now a proud member. The flavor: cookie dough, Calories: ~3500, Grams of fat: ~160 and tons of sugar! We also had a wild and fun 2 days of birthday magic for Ben last week! We hitch hiked to a town where us along with 2 other thru hikers purchased very cheap bicycles and we biked for 2 days instead of walking....yes we biked!!! For those of you who know Ben, you would love to know that on his birthday he actually got to assemble 3 of the 4 bikes and boy was he is tool heaven! Day one we rode with our 35-40lb packs on our backs and day 2 a little smarter, we found someone to drive our packs to our destination and ride bareback! We had a blast and my stomach muscles were sore from all the laughing! The funny thing is after 2 days of riding our plan was to somehow get rid of the bikes so with magic marker and paper in hand we made a sign that got a lot of attention: Bikes $15 each. We had bankers in suit coats running out to buy our bikes it was hilarious!
So we are back to walking now and my mom arrived yesterday evening and hiked with us today. We also had a surprise visit from my brother which was great. There's just nothing like a visit from family!
Well shower, laundry and rest are in store so goodbye for now.
Much love to all at home!

I will try to post pic's tomorrow.