Well, we are coming up on our last week here in Rhode Island and have begun to prepare for our next adventure, thru-hiking Vermont's Long Trail. We pulled the trigger on a mode of transportation to get from the Massachusetts state line (North Adams), where we will be leaving the van, to the northern terminus of the trail at the Vermont/Canada border. After much research and a few tentative plans that would have involved a number of different legs, including Amtrak train and then a series of buses and/or private shuttle, we decided to go with just one shuttle from Mass all the way to the Journey's-end trail in northern Vermont. We have made reservations with a private shuttle service for pick up in Massachusetts at mid-day on Tuesday, Sept 24th and should be dropped off at the actual trail head in Northern Vermont by dinner time.
On Monday of this week, after a visit with my brother Scott and his family in central New Hampshire I had the opportunity to try out my new hiking boots when Andre & I hiked Mt. Monadnock. The day started out a little chilly but blossomed into a perfect fall hiking day.
The boots worked well, with very little rubbing and no blisters - not bad for a brand new pair - so they should be good to go the 273 miles over the mountains of Vermont in a few weeks. Over the last week or two we have been picking up random items we needed to purchase before the hike and we will get down to some preliminary packing and organizing in the next few days.
Between these mini shopping expeditions for miscellaneous hiking stuff, we also made a number of repairs to the van that have been piling up including the re-positioning of our Satellite radio antennae, re-stringing one of the day-nite window shades, repairs to window screens, and getting a new remote van key for me for the van, as I accidentally flushed mine down the toilet a few months ago (don't ask!).
We also fit in a brief trip to the Rhode Island beaches this week when we were driving around visiting some old haunts. These photos are from Galilee and also Sand Hill Cove, where we spent many summer days with the kids over the years.
We are looking forward to the upcoming week when we will enjoy reunions with a number of relatives who are coming into town for a family wedding on Saturday (one of the reasons for our visit home). Also traveling to Rhode Island for the wedding are our boys, from Delaware and Pittsburgh, respectively, so we are very excited about getting in an extra visit with them before we disappear into the woods for a month. It should be a great last week in Rhode Island.
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