I'm writing this from Hamburg, PA, where we're riding out a nasty stomach bug. At some point on Tuesday, Shiz and I ate, touched, or otherwise ingested something that didn't agree with us...with explosive results (we have our suspicions of the source, but I won't slander any local business). Fortunately, we were camping only four miles past a town with a Microtel, so we backtracked to town and are now taking advantage of a soft bed and indoor plumbing until our own internal plumbing recovers.
Even more fortunate than a nearby town was the fact that we were hiking with our good friend Martin. After a fantastic graduation weekend in VT, Martin drove us back to PA and hiked with us for a couple of days. Although his trip was cut short by our illness, we managed to pack the full thru-hiker experience into his visit - trail magic, thunderstorm, rocks, climbs, rattlesnakes, and a town crossing. It was so great to have his company for a few days, not to mention that he must have carried 60 lbs on our backtrack to the Microtel to help lighten our loads. This is the person you want around in a crisis!
We have another 70 miles of PA, which we look forward to tackling once we can keep down more than ginger ale and saltines. The upcoming miles are rumored to be rocky, but we've heard that about other stretches in PA that weren't too terrible. We'll just keep plugging away one day at a time. If this unexpected hiatus has taught us anything, it's that we can't plan too far ahead on this journey. Just when you think you know where you're going, you find yourself crawling out of the tent at 2 AM with stomach pains...which is every bit as not fun as it sounds! Thank goodness for good friends, nearby civilization, and a sense of humor :-)
- Sweet Pea
Google album link, new photos at the bottom: https://goo.gl/photos/yVaQgu5Xce88YoVb8
Trail magic! We were excited that Martin was able to experience this aspect of trail life with us.
Crossing the Reading River, heading into Port Clinton, PA
Views of PA
Peggy, this one's for you. We heard that you think we look too happy in our pictures!