New Jersey & New York were absolutely brutal on us! Record high temperatures and unforgiving boulder-like terrain. We spent the better part of both our last days in NY walking tip-toed over huge rock formations -- the mountains were just ROCK! Anywho’s, we packed it in a little early to make it to CT for the weekend and were thankful to be greeted by good friends and good times there. I originally planned to post up pictures of how much fun we had on “vacation” last weekend, but just like last time, I downloaded all the pictures onto my desktop computer and came back out on the trail without them. Oops! A huge “thank you” goes out to all the great people who were nice enough to stop by Humphrey’s in Branford on Saturday to say hello and have a drink with us -- it was a pleasure seeing all of you! Also much thanks to our friends who let us crash at their place while we are homeless, for our friend with the sweet boat with whom we hung out on Sunday, and to the awesome chicks who met us for lunch on Monday -- it was great seeing all of you! We did learn while we were home that there are more people in CT who want to hike with us than we originally expected. For this reason, we have decided to skip the 50 miles in CT for now and move on to hike in MA. Once we are done with the full trail we will complete the CT portion on weekends when our friends can join us. If you would like to join us in a day hike after this is all over, just let us know.
In other equally awesome news, we just got our first pledge donation and all we had to do was hike 1,500 miles to get it! A friend from Germany, Will Vu, has successfully entertained himself (and me) by pledging money if we complete the following two acts on the trail:
1) Aly must take a photo during the hike with a Texas flag either in the background or foreground of the picture. He notes that he wants me to do this because he knows I will hate it. I find this request HILARIOUS and will not disappoint! Will knew me at a point in life where I actually owned a t-shirt that said “I’d rather go to hell than Texas.” Please, Texas people, don’t be offended! LOL! Will is from Texas along with most of my friends from when I was stationed in Germany, and I really liked to wear that t-shirt when I went to visit them at their respective houses. I bought the t-shirt in Korea when I met Aaron Milner, a huge fan of Texas, who thought it would be really funny to send me a Texas flag t-shirt, Texas shaped pillow and other Texas souvenirs. To get back at Aaron I bought him a bunch of awesome California stuff and made him a CD of all songs with the word California in it. OK, so my hate for Texas carried over to Germany and became quite entertaining to me. Now, three years later and after having lived in Texas for 9 or so months, Will is getting back at me in an even more awesome way! I cant wait to figure out how to accomplish this one.
2) Purposely spill a pot of chili. Strange request right? Well, if you knew me in Germany you might know the story of when I made a crockpot full of chili for a potluck at work. Being the genius that I am, I thought it would be a good idea to put the crockpot on the back seat of my Ford Focus. Everything was good as I drove to the base until I rounded one of the last of many corners approaching the main gate. As I turned I could hear the lid of the pot fall as the chili spilled out all over the back seat of my car. It was a total mess as I scrambled to reach back into the dark backseat of my car to try and put the lid back on the pot. My arm was soaked in chili, my car was soaked in chili. I showed up at the Group Commanders building with myself and my car covered in chili, and everyone just started laughing at me, specifically for setting the pot on the seat and not the floor. OK, well NOW I know! THANK YOU WILL for reminding me AGAIN of what an idiot I am!
My question is, can I spill the pot of chili on the Texas Flag and take a picture of that?
Anyways, that’s it folks! Hope to post some pictures of Massachusetts and Vermont in the next week! If you want to make a “pledge donation” like the ones above, just send us an email!
~Styx & Bones
Ready to donate? Visit http://www.hikestrong2010.com/ and click the “donate online” button! Easy!
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ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure Texans don't put beans in their chili, so make sure there's no beans if you do spill it on the flag! Have a great time!
ReplyDeleteI'm totally bummed that I missed you on the trail in NY. I think the two of you hit the NJ state line and turned on the afterburners!
ReplyDeleteStay groovy through the last few states. And hopefully, come September 1st, I'll get to see you both on a daily basis. :)
It even says it on the can!! "Goes on Everything"
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