Rollin’ with the PUDs and Punches

Day 63

We enjoyed a peaceful night at the Toymakers Cafe. Falls Village is a lovely quaint New England town with a few cafes and an Inn.

We enjoyed breakfast in town although a bit expensive but then again we know this is Connecticut. It’s interesting to see as the elevation of the mountains get lower, the prices in town will get higher. This trend will continue into New York, then we’ll see prices go down once we get into New Jersey and even more so the further south we travel.

Our first few miles followed along the Housatonic River. It was very flat and eased us into a day full of PUDs. We could hear the Limerock Race track and at times got glimpses of the cars racing around through the trees. From some of the nice open fields the trail crosses, we got views of very quaint Connecticut Countryside.

Not much to report today, the day was long and hot and the PUDs continued for most of it. The terrain wasn’t very interesting and since we were at a lower elevation it was extremely buggy. Sometimes you just have those days where you just put in the miles.

Thankfully, the last 2.5 miles were the same as the first, flat and following the Housatonic River. It was nice to see some views of the river and we were able to fill up at a pipe spring that was still flowing. This cold spring water will start to become much harder to find as we continue south. We camped near the river and enjoyed listening to it as we dozed off.

Day 64

Up and out early due to excitement of second breakfast in town. We continued following the river for a few more miles and enjoyed watching a bald eagle fly nearby. The PUDs continued for the final few miles and we did enjoy a nice misty view from St. Johns Ledges. We arrived in Kent shortly before 10:30AM with a nice view of the prestigious Kent School on the way into town.

Kent was buzzing with small town Sunday morning energy, we certainly were not the only visitors. The small downtown was filled with people going into the several coffee shops and bakeries. Dozens of people were eating breakfast outside restaurants, the smells wafting in the air. Smiles filled out faces excited with the many treats available. We set off to the laundry mat, once the first load started we went to get coffee at one of the bakeries. This is when we started to roll with the punches.

All bakeries had lines out the door, we started to feel overwhelmed by the throngs of people having not experienced this in a while. After walking in and then right back out of three bakeries/coffee shops, we ended up getting cold brew coffee and some sticky sweet baked goods from the grocery store and eating in front of the laundromat. A nice concession and at least we would be on top of the laundry situation.

Next stop, was to charge electronics and use the coin op shower at the welcome center. 2 dollars gets you 4 minutes, it really put our washing efficiency to the test. This also allowed us time to plan out the next few days. While walking over we met up with Zombie, a SOBO we haven’t seen since just after we left Monson Maine (our very first town in Maine!) He now goes by Laptop because he has started to carry a laptop on trail as he is a writer. Funny how some of these trail names can be so literal but Laptop is embracing it.

While planning out our next week, we met a few locals and then someone approached us and asked if we lost our phone. Confused we said no ours was charging just 20 feet away at the Welcome Center…. then walking over to check, ahhh it’s not there. Apparently a good Samaritan saw the phone (which was plugged in to the wall) and thought someone lost it so they unplugged it and brought it and the charger over the raffle that was happening in one of the buildings in town. ?????!!!!!

Thankfully the guy at the raffle thought this sounded a little odd since the phone was found plugged into the wall. He had the sense of mind to bring the phone and charger back to the Welcome center, saw us sitting there and put two and two together. Well that was a mini heart attack and we are just relieved it was brought back because we wouldn’t have had any idea where to look for it.

Once our panic level eased down, we got back into hiker mindset and finished our laundry and completed our resupply. Our final destination was the Chinese food lunch we had been talking about for weeks. We just had this strange craving that had to be satisfied. As we approached the restaurant we read a sign that said they would be closed today and reopened tomorrow. Noooo!! How lucky. Well guess that is 0 for 3 in Kent. We did enjoy pizza and beer (a nice consolation prize) at another restaurant before heading back to trail.

It has certainly been a strange but successful day, our last in New England. Tomorrow morning we enter New York. The Deli Mile begins!