Hey everyone. I am in Unionville, NY. Got here yesterday after a long day and I'm staying at "The Outhouse" AKA "The (former) Mayor's House." This is one of the best hostels on the AT. The people are awesome. When I got here, I was told, "This is your house, and you will act as such. If you dont, we will bust your ass. If you do, we'll probabaly still bust your ass. We expect you to bust our asses right back. We'll let you know if you go too far." lol. They do your laundry, feed you dinner and breakfast, and showering is a requirement (which isn't a problem). They even have a bunch of movies to watch and a computer with internet fore hikers to use. All this and they dont charge anything. They do accept donations so I'll definately be giving them one cuz this is just too nice of a place. I wasn't really planning on taking a zero here but my feet could use a day off and this place is the perfect place to take one.

I finally got my trail name. One of the other thru-hikers here gave it to me yesterday. It's "UCOC." Pronounced "you-cock," it stands for Uconn Outing Club. Its written on my shirt and some of the other hikers think its funny so thats what they started calling me. I'm sure anyone from the club will find it amusing. People have started just shortening it to "cock." I cant' help but laugh when someone greets me. I think its a good one lol. I'm just glad to have one.

So the last couple days in Pennsylvania were brutal. Just 30 miles of pointy/jagged rocks. It was either walk on the rocky trail or walk on the brush to the side of the trail but the brush still had rocks underneath so it was no better. There was very little dirt to be found and it took a toll on everyones feet. I'm sure they'll feel better through the next couple states.

So I'm coming up on CT and theres some people asking when I'm gonna be at different places. I think it would be cool if we all met at the same road to keep it simple. We'll just have a little party on the side of the street or somethin. Right now I plan to cross CT 55 very early on Sunday the 26th. About 7 or 8. Or the better option would prolly be CT341 that goes by Kent. I should be crossing that one around maybe 1130-1230 the same day. If Monday is a better day then I should be crossing CT 4 near Cornwall Bridge, CT around 8 or 830AM on the 27th. Those are my best guesses right now. If I think thats gonna be a lot different, then I'll do my best to post before that and let everyone else know. Maybe you guys can talk it over on the facebook group. For those of you planning on coming out, I'll see you soon. I look forward to it. Take care.

My parents have to come to visit. We're staying in Mechanicsburg, PA at a pretty sweet hotel. So I've been living the good life since mid-day yesterday. Mechanicsburg is about 30min from where they picked me up. Their original plan was to pick me up in Boiling Springs but I was a little ahead of schedule so we met at a road crossing. So far I've done about 1,145 miles, while leaves me with something like 1,035 to go.

For those of you who dont already know, Dan left trail in Waynesboro. We knew that was the plan a couple weeks beforehand but I couldn't post about it because he wanted to surprise the guys. I was glad to hear that went well. I definitely miss him. He hiked 850 miles with me and there were a lot of good times. I'm already looking forward to our next adventure lol. He'd planned to hike to CT with me but he knew he wouldn't be able to go the whole way since he had to get back to uconn for the fall semester. We both agreed that if you cant go the whole way, then whats the point. The trail can be mentally and physically stressful. If your not going the whole way, anything more than maybe a week long trip just seems pointless to me. I would've done the same thing.

Spending some time in front of the tv with some real food and sleeping in a bed can do wonders for the spirit. I think I'll be ready to hit the trail tomorrow morning. Looking forward to seeing more people and taking some more time off when I come through CT in a couple weeks. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer. And remember not to take any of the small things for granted (like a hot meal, a real bed, or a shower lol). You really learn to appreciate them when you dont have 'em for a while. Take care.