Mt Cube Lean-to

The hikers had a great day in sunny weather to hike today...unlike the past several days (almost the whole month of July) in the rain. All is well as they hike on...Their boots were dry and they made good time. Stickman's camera has stopped working...a problem yet to be solved....but, we are so thankful for no injuries and great hiking weather! Lillian and Dan Barnes (Faithful's parents) met up with them in the Glen Cliff area and hiked with them and brought them to the Rumney area for warm showers and food, and to dry out. They stayed with great people, Chet and Kathy White, wonderful supportive friends of the Barnes'. Tonight they are staying at Mt Cube lean-to. Then, tomorrow they head onward toward Hanover, NH.

STICKMANS' JOURNAL...7/19/07...Thursday...Got up today with no hurries, no worries, but still planning on a little hiking. We intended to do some “slack-packing” (very little in our packs...), but actually hiked “no packing”, opting to take only water. We got a lift to Rt 25, and hiked in the rain, over to Rt 25C, a distance of 4.9 miles in 1 hr 50 minutes! I took one spectacular fall, tumbling into a big vat of mud. Nothing hurt, not even pride... you learn that this is just the way of the hiker... a dirty, sometimes muddy trail, that you will eventually flounder in. I was, as they say, a chocolate mess! You really have to have a bit of a sense of humor to be out here, and definitely no aversions to being dirty most of the time. ... We met only one hiker, “Taj” like in “Taj Mahal”. We did get to chat for a bit, sharing with him about the ScriptureStick ministry, and giving him a card. Nice to meet you, Taj. We hope your hiking is truly blessed! ... Dan and Lillian showed up about an hour after we reached the road. When we had told them what time they should come meet us, we had grossly miscalculated our ETA. Who knew we could hike so fast! The wait was fine, though, as we were able to rest, and eat some raspberries that were all around us. When we again struck out on the trail, Lillian was hiking along with us. We walked, this time, from Rt 25C to Rt 25A, a distance of 4.8 miles. We were amazed to complete this stretch in 2 ½ Hrs., especially since we were still slogging around in the rain, everything muddy, slippery, and quite dangerous. Lillian did a great job hiking this stretch, which really was quite difficult. We never saw any other hikers... I think it was just too wet for anyone in their right mind to be out there!!! We got to the road, and didn’t wait terribly long for Dan to pick us up. We got back to the White’s, went to the showers, then got all of our clothes washed and dried. We enjoyed a nice, comfy evening, with some company stopping in. A very nice lady, Yvonne, who is a Pastor from Windsor, Canada, came by for a visit. Many things were talked about, and the ScriptureStick ministry being one of them. Yvonne loved the ScriptureSticks, and now has one of them to take with her back to Canada. I also gave her a few cards. Well, it was another nice day, even with the rain. I believe that it is time to turn in for the night, and get rested up a bit. Tomorrow is going to be a “zero” day, get the mail, decide what I want to take back on trail with me, and try to set some kind of a schedule as to where we intend to be, and when. Seeya tomorrow, then... God Bless you, and keep you all in His care!

Stickman

STICKMANS' JOURNAL...7/20/07...Friday...Today was a big, fat, “ZERO” day, and I loved it! I just relaxed and started to get my gear sorted out for a little re-packing session. We went to Glencliffe P.O., where I forwarded my resupply box on to Hanover, N.H. . The whole day was very relaxing. The highlight of the evening was the speaker right here at Rumney Bible Conference. It was Rev. Paul Veit, the “DinoPastor”, who speaks on creationism. A lot of his subject focus is on dinosaurs and fossils... by the way, someone had brought a fossilized potato to show everyone. Yes... a fossilized potato! It was a very interesting night! I had heard Rev. Paul speak several years ago, back at Crossroads Bible Church, back home in Madison, Maine. I enjoyed him then, and equally enjoyed him this time. He said it would be great if Pastor Val would have him back at Madison sometime... Well, Pastor Val? Probably many of you back home remember Rev. Paul... Hey, Tyler, I bet YOU do!... Still got that FOSSIL!?! Oh, by the way, before he spoke, Kathy White introduced Faithful and I to the attending group, shared an overview of our ScriptureStick mission, and then prayed for us! I can’t begin to say just how much that means to me! Thank you Kathy, you are so very thoughtful!... After the presentation, I spoke for a bit with Rev. Paul, then we all went for a trip to the Snack Shack, where I opted for a terrific strawberry shortcake. YUM! I stayed around a bit longer for a big helping of chit-chat, and when I got tuckered out from talking, headed back to Chet and Kathys. Now I lay me down to sleep... and pray that God is Blessing you all real good!

Stickman

STICKMANS' JOURNAL...7/21/07...Saturday... Ah, a beautiful, mostly sunny, day! I kicked about a bit this morning, having a light breakfast with lot’s of coffee. I sat on the steps out front, savoring it, and attempted to place a few phone calls. I got through to a few folks, and the rest I left messages with. I do want you all to know that I think of you often, and pray for you. I wish that I had more time to talk to more folks. ... I finished getting ready to go back on trail, and tried to get a couple of pictures, but my camera has finally gone kaput. The display is now non-functioning... I went on up to WalMart to see if there was anything they might do to help me out. There wasn’t. Looks like I may have to bite the bullet and buy a new one, but we’ll see. Cari may be able to get some help on this. Sure hope so. ...I got back on trail at Rt25A after we said our thank-you’s and goodbyes to Chet and Kathy White. Their hospitality was wonderful! One last goodbye to Faithful’s parents, and we were headed downtrail. Although we hadn’t got going until almost 3:30 PM, we were able to trek the 5 or so miles to Hexacuba Shelter in fair time, arriving at 6:30PM. We met three NOBO’s along the way, and they each stopped to chat for a few minutes, taking our card before moving on. ...Hey, Wolverine, Truffles, and Secondwind, we hope you all have a great finish to your hikes! ... As I sit reading the shelter log, I see that John “Huck” Pendolino was here on the 14th. He was hiking NOBO now, heading to Gorham, NH. Huck is the young man that Cari and I met at SHAW’s in Monson, Maine. He is the one who took the awesome picture of the moose, from within his tent. You may remember seeing that picture in our blog... Thanks, Huck, for letting us use the picture. It is great to see that you are still on trail! Happy trails, and God Bless you too, Huck, so sorry we missed you! I see from the log that we are a couple of days behind Brit, Smokey, Yellowbird, and E.T., would sure be nice to see them again. ...Well, time to drift off to sleep. Hope your day was as Blessed as mine was!

Stickman