May 30, 2011

Memorial Day Weekend

Eion
Sweet little Eoin! (:

beautiful flowers near the Flynn's house 


building in Fredrick, MD
downtown Fredrick, MD

Family Olympics (:

Gettin' ready for Family Olympics

The pyramid team
the Pyramid team


after winning Round One





winning Round 2!!!  Pyramid CHAMPS!


Eoin again! 


Douglas & Lydia "grass skiing"


Doug's broken nose! 


Sock Brock hangin' out at the Flynn's! 

May 29, 2011

Iron Week

This is my first post to the blog I have been diligently following for the past couple of months. As you probably guessed this is Brock aka "Loophole." Over the past week and a half, I have had to come to many realizations of what hiking the AT is truly about. I thought that I would come out here and have endless hours to read and reflect on where I want my life to be going. Boy was I mistaken! It has truly been a trial by fire for me so far. We have hiked over 200 miles in the last ten days, which is probably more miles than I have hiked over the last ten years of my life. My daily thoughts generally range from hunger to sore, beat up feet. I will say that it has been more difficult than I could have imagined, but hasn't been all doom and gloom for me. There are always awesome things happening each day. One of the coolest things is trail magic. It can come in many forms, such as people hauling 20 extra pounds of wine and candy and giving almost all of it away to something as simple as a bag full of bottled water that you come upon when you're thirsty, tired, and have no water. One thing about being in the woods for days on end eating camp food is that going into any town becomes an event to look forward to. You actually have the ability to acquire any of the foods you have been dreaming of for the past few days, which is amazing. On a daily basis, Mike manages to come up with some of the most ridiculous food ideas you could ever imagine. There has been talk of creating a 1500 calorie trail burrito, but we'll post more on that once we come up with the final ingredient list. It has definitely been rough so far for me, but I have survived and made it to our zero days. Hopefully, a couple of days off will give me the time I need to rest and heal up. I'm still grateful to be able to be out here for this adventure, and am looking forward to moving forward to Maine!

*If you want to send a package to us -- the next drop to do so will be Duncannon, PA. Please put:

Mike or Megan Martin
OR Brock Cooke
General Delivery
 Duncannon, PA 17020
*Please hold for thru-hiker
Expected Date of pick up: MONDAY JUNE 6, 2011


[please let one of us know via a message on here, facebook, or text if you're sending a package so we'll know to look for it!]

May 17 - May 29

Brock, Me & Mike at the Priest  
Brock, Me & Mike at the Priest shelter 
*this is where we met Porter, Pace, & Deva


Mike & Brock outside the Kroger

Sunset

Tentville in Shenandoah National Park. We were only breaking about 8 rules (: 

a real live BEAR!!!

Mexican for lunch! The most delicious Mexican I've ever had! (: 

In an old cemetery in Luray, VA 
This was in an old cemetery in Luray, VA. Pretty cool!


Brock -- at the end of the Roller Coaster  
Brock at the end of the [wicked] Roller Coaster
resting at the end of the Roller Coaster  
Me & Mike enjoying the view at the end of the Roller Coaster

all 3 of us enjoying the view  
Brock, Me & Mike

1000 miles!!!! YIPPPEEE!!  
uh, yep. here we are crossing the 1000th mile of the trail. whew...all in a days work. 

Spaghetti Dinner at the Blackburn Trail Center  
Enjoying a spaghetti dinner at the Blackburn Trail Center

The Blackburn Trail Center  
The Blackburn Trail Center

At the ATC -- in Harpers Ferry  
Mike & me in front of the ATC in Harpers Ferry, WV. This is where you have your picture taken and actually register as a thru-hiker (: 

#223 & #224 --- coming through the 1/2 way registry  
our "thru-hiker" card ... it's in the 2K11 book! 

Mike playing games with the boys  
fun with the Flynns! (: 
We're here at their house for Memorial Day weekend---loving every minute of it!

Brock's turn
Brock's turn...

Eion
Eion sacked out after our Sunday lunch (:

May 27, 2011

1K miles!

So I realize that I am not the gifted, creative, visual writer that Mike is & I think that comes from his idealism & my realism, but here's what I've (Caboose) got for ya!

The trail that I left isn't the same trail I came back to. We started where we left off of course but somehow it was different. For one I could move faster (it's amazing what a few days of rest will do for the body!) Second, it's been much drier...much to my pleasure. Don't get me wrong, we're still getting rain (/ the most horrible storms I've camped in) but its mostly been at night. This is a treat because we've either made it to a shelter or gotten our tents set up before the bottom fell out. Trust me, setting up in the rain puts a damper on things. Especially attitudes. Shortly after we came back we entered the Shenandoah National Park. I was not impressed...we ran along the Skyline Drive (aka the Blue Ridge Parkway) the entire length of the park. Real outdoors-y, believe me. One perk was the amount of restaurants along the way...we only had to carry dinner for one night the entire time we were in the park. While this was annoying to me because of how outrageously expensive these little joints were, the boys were in heaven. Seriously, you'd have thought we were on some sort of family vacation. Shenandoah won't be my favorite part of the trail for sure, but I'll always remember the bears that I saw! We were almost to the end of our time in the park and hadn't seen any bear (and very little wildlife in general) when I pulled a little ahead of the boys & came upon a mother & 2 cubs. I immediately stopped (the bear had already heard me) & back tracked to shhh the boys so they could see them too. Brock glanced at them & kept moving, but I was determined to get some pictures! Mike "stood guard" while I quietly dug out my camera & let me snap a few shots. I'm not kidding, seeing the bears in the wild is one of the coolest things I've ever seen.

I think Mike mentioned Porter, Pace, & Deva in the last post--our newest friends out here. Well, we ran into them again somewhere in the park & again enjoyed he fruits of their generosity. We pulled off at a road on Thursday because Brock had to have new shoes. It was pretty much the same situation that I dealt with in the beginning (plus the fact that we were making him do 20+ miles a day!...I'll let him give an account of his time out here though.) Back to the road. We got in & had NO service to call anyone for a shuttle, so we bummed a call off of 2 section-hikers & found out that the cab was on Skyline Drive with no service. Of course! Soooo we hung around and weren't sure what we were gonna do when Porter, Pace, & Deva showed up! The quickly got to the point with the section-hikers & got us a ride to town! 6 hikers plus all of our gear plus Rich the driver crammed into his Honda Element & headed off to Luray, VA. Once we got to town we immediately went to the outfitter & got Brock some new not waterproof shoes. Lunch was next on the list so on Gary's (the outfitter owner) recommendation we headed up the road to the local Mexican joint. Yuuuummmm! I think I had 7 refills of Diet Pepsi. It was heavenly! And, I even got to watch he baseball highlights on ESPN. Life was good! After lunch, we went to the store to resupply & headed back down the road ... again, not sure what we were going to do for a ride. We pulled back into the outfitter & what do ya know?! Porter, Pace, & Deva were in there waiting on us! Apparently when they walked by the local funeral home the owner came running out practically begging to give them a ride back to the trail. And bless them, they shared the ride with us! The best part of the ride was Deva asking Jason, the driver, "So, how is the dying business?!" Hilarious. After Jason dropped us off, the 6 of us hiked about 8 miles and found a beautiful camp spot. We got a little rain & a little wine from Pace (this time he only carried 3 liters haha!)...and a Payday for me! Oh man, good times.

Friday .. much to the boys surprise we hiked 26 miles! Yay-uh (: another marathon day for me & Mike & Brock's first! It felt great to get the miles done - but it was out of necessity. We are meeting Karena & Lauren in Harpers Ferry Saturday & needed to move! We also had the "roller coaster" coming up. This is no joke. It consists of 10 big ascents & descent over 13.5 miles. Mike & I agreed that it was by far the hardest thing we've done on the trail. Sure, there have been higher climbs or bigger descents, but none that carried on for almost 14 miles. WoooHaha. We slowly got 'em done & ended up at the Blackburn Trail Center. This is also a really neat spot (both are owned and run by the PATC) - I tried my darndest to make the boys move on, but they weren't budging. Good thing...we got a delicious spaghetti dinner with homemade bread! And it actually saved us from having to hike & set up Tentville in the rain. The skies turned mean at the end of our picnic table dinner & forced us to retreat indoors. So here I sit, exhausted, enjoying the chatter of new friends, the pitter-patter of rain on the tin roof, & a full belly. We also got an unexpected treat at dinner: we're going to get to slackpack into Harpers Ferry tomorrow! Karena & Lauren (& family) - here we come!

PS- we crossed 1000 miles today! BAM!! And we are finally out of Virginia.

May 22, 2011

Getting back after it

"Its fun living like a bum, standing outside a grocery store counting your possessions." Brock says as we reassemble our food bags at our first resupply point- Waynesboro, VA. Pardon me, he doesn't go by Brock anymore...he's now Loop. Why Loop?! Because he refused to take H&R Brock, but couldn't escape the accounting reference once everyone out here knew he was a tax man. Loop is short for Loophole, bc accountants never cheat on taxes ... they find loopholes. So far, Loop is hanging tough, keeping pace, and eats much better than Sock Brock. However, we learned tonight over a greasy burger at Weasie's Kitchen that even real Brock is a bit of a food snob who is war too high class to eat at a greasy diner "more than once a year." As I wright this, Loop is frantically plucking every spot of dirt / mud off of his legs with tweezers--his first tick finding (during dinner) has left him a bit rattled. These things are certainly no joke though - can't be too careful.

Our first 3.5 days back on the trail the moral is high due to fresh legs & the addition of a good friend to our ranks. Our break put us way behind most of the trail friends we've met so far, but we're already meeting new & interesting (and very generous) friends. For instance, Pace & Porter who we met at the Priest shelter on Wednesday night. They refused to take "no" for an answer when offering us the first cup of wine, candy, fresh fruit, &the 2nd cup of wine. We literally had to hide our cup so they wouldn't keep filling it. Apparently these guys like carrying 15 extra lbs of food & giving it away. Seriously though, their generosity was humbling. Quick note on the Priest shelter: it was entertaining to read the shelter log with peoples' "confessions" like, "Father forgive me for I have sinned, I bathed in a water source, camped in an area not designated for camping, and stepped on a centipede." Pretty creative.

Hey to our friends & family back home! Hey to our friends & family in Virginia! And howdy to the Jack Porter folks (: We miss you guys!

May 17, 2011

first mail drop

Friends! If you want to send a mail drop to our first drop, please send it to Doug & Karena Flynn by the end of this week! We'll be there over Memorial Day weekend. (: Their address is listed as a comment on the previous blog post. And let me know if you sent it via USPS or FedEx / UPS. Thanks!!

New Mail Drop List:


Friends & Family (: Here is our new list of mail drops. I will do my best to post on here when the packages need to be mailed by in order to make it to us on time! [Please let me know if you're interested in sending a package & where so I can be sure to check at the PO!] Also - you'll notice there are quite a few more for this section of the trip - we realized that instead of carrying so much food weight that we could greatly decrease it because the towns are much closer and we'll be able to stop more often to pick up packages / resupply. 

*Thanks in advance to those of you sending treats (: We love them! [letters / pictures / dried fruits / candy bars / power bars / peanut butter / gum / crystal lite or gatorade powders....you name it, we'll eat it!]

1. Doug & Karena Flynn


2. Mike or Megan Martin
Or Brock Cooke
c/o Ironmasters Mansion
212 Pine Grove Road
Gardners, PA 17324
Please hold Thru-hiker
Expected Date of pick up: _____________


3. Mike or Megan Martin
Or Brock Cooke
General Delivery
Duncannon, PA 17020
Please hold Thru-hiker
Expected Date of pick up: _____________


4. Mike or Megan Martin
Or Brock Cooke
General Delivery
Port Clinton, PA 19549
Please hold Thru-hiker
Expected Date of pick up: _____________


5. Mike or Megan Martin
Or Brock Cooke
General Delivery
Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327
Please hold Thru-hiker
Expected Date of pick up: _____________


6. Mike or Megan Martin
Or Brock Cooke
General Delivery
Unionville, NY 10988
Please hold Thru-hiker
Expected Date of pick up: _____________


7. Mr. &  Mrs. Austin
49 Mountain Avenue
Highland Falls, NY 10928



8. Mike or Megan Martin
Or Brock Cooke
General Delivery
Kent, CT 06757
Please hold Thru-hiker
Expected Date of pick up: _____________


9. Mike or Megan Martin
Or Brock Cooke
General Delivery
Tyringham, MA 01264
Please hold Thru-hiker
Expected Date of pick up: _____________


10. Mike or Megan Martin
Or Brock Cooke
General Delivery
Bennington, VT 05201
Please hold Thru-hiker
Expected Date of pick up: _____________


11. Mike or Megan Martin
Or Brock Cooke
General Delivery
Wallingford, VT 05773
Please hold Thru-hiker
Expected Date of pick up: _____________


12. Mike or Megan Martin
Or Brock Cooke
General Delivery
Hanover, NH 03755
Please hold Thru-hiker
Expected Date of pick up: _____________


13. Mike or Megan Martin
Or Brock Cooke
General Delivery
Glencliff, NH 03238
Please hold Thru-hiker
Expected Date of pick up: _____________



14. AMC Visitors Center
c/o Front Desk, N.H. 16
Gorham, NH 03581
Please hold Thru-hiker: Mike or Megan Martin OR Brock Cooke
Expected Date of pick up: _____________


15. Mike or Megan Martin
Or Brock Cooke
646 W. Bethel Rd.
Bethel, ME 04217
Please hold Thru-hiker
Expected Date of pick up: _____________


16. Stratton Motel & Hostel
PO Box 284
Stratton, ME 04982
Please hold Thru-hiker: Mike or Megan Martin OR Brock Cooke
Expected Date of pick up: _____________


17. Mike or Megan Martin
Or Brock Cooke
General Delivery
Caratunk, ME 04925
Please hold Thru-hiker
Expected Date of pick up: _____________


May 16, 2011

the Doors

St. Thomas & St. Maarten have these amazing doors and windows all over the island. I love them. (:

DSC09365DSC09367


DSC09341


DSC09340DSC09339


DSC09329

DSC09333DSC09334

DSC09328


DSC09314DSC09327

DSC09312DSC09323



DSC09308

DSC09306DSC09307

Vacation from Vacation

As you know, Mike & I got to take a vacation [a real one!] from our "vacation" [hiking is not a vacation people]. We celebrated Melanie graduating from PC on a cruise to the Caribbean (: We toured Cococay, St. Thomas, & St. Maarten (or St. Martin depending on what side you're on). We had a blast laying out, eating way too much, touring the islands, shopping, watching the shows and playing BINGO - Mimi even won the JACKPOT on the last day...$3000!!! Woohooo!! (:

Bon Voyage

DP & Mel on the shuttle


St. ThomasDinner the first night




CococayOn our way to Cococay

Dinner on the 2nd night -- the first formal night

still waiting!






Waiting to get off the boat at St. Thomas


Enjoyin' St. Thomas
Good stuff



mmmmm!
Cap'n Morgan & Mel
an Atlanta Braves loving bat!
Hey Mike! Where'd ya go?!

where in the world are we?!