Well, well, well, look who it is... (AT Mile 488 July 24th)

So I'm here in Rutland, VT posting live and in person! It's been awhile and mom has been busy with other stuff so the journal updates are getting up here when they can. It is pretty cool to look back at the month of Maine (which was really June and July) and remember what I was going through. In case you haven't been checking, I made it to my third state and Vermont has a completely different terrain. The White Mountains were beautiful and a real blessing to have the weather and views that I did. I have meet so many people in all the different towns and have ended up taking more zero days than planned, but I am enjoying where I am staying. I have about 100 miles left of Vermont before I hit Massachusetts.

These last couple of weeks have been kind of stressful because I have been running into SOOOO many people on the trail its hard to get lost in my head and just hike. I enjoy staying with people in the shelters and in town, but like having the days to myself, but I don't think that's going to happen for a while. Each day I run into more and more NOBOs and on the weekend there are a lot of people who are out doing day hikes or short sections - Kelly had to remind me last night that she and I were those people not too long ago and to appreciate the interactions as they come because you never know who you're going to run into and what impact they might have (this is why I keep her around, well not literally she wouldn't fit in my pack). I guess that's part accepting the trail as it is.

I love this journey and keeping getting signs that this is where God wants me to be right now in my life, and I am more than OK with that. The other day I was doing a 20 mile day with Buffalo and it had been raining for the last 11 miles (so over half the day) and I was starting to get really cold and hungry - but I couldn't stop to eat because then I would have been even colder - and I was completely out of energy and I prayed my little prayer "Lord, if you will pick 'em up, I'll put 'em down" and right after I finished saying that I look up and see the sign for the side trail to the shelter. I was amazed because it wasn't even a minute after I finished saying that. Pretty cool, huh?

Well I need to get going, stay posted for more journal pages and pictures.

Happy trails and southward bound (most of the time),

Andrew "Zombie"