Gettysburg, PA - the Jagged Edge cafe, free wireless, damn fine organic Sumatra coffee in a MUG. 'ritha on the radio~ whoop!

miles on miles - i'm driving them! i rolled out of michigan monday morning-ish and drove through 5 hours of driving rain (get it?) to niagra falls, canada. i checked into the hostel there and walked into town to see the falls. the weather was quite shit, but those falls rocked on. that evening i hung around with an austrian guy and braved more rain to get a look at the falls all lit up at night. the lights, mega though they were, proved to be somewhat ineffective through the rain and fog, but it looked cool washing out that rain and fog with colored light.

in the morning i bust out of there and put in a good 8 hours, scenic drive to gettysburg. no trouble at the border this time.

him: bringing anything back from canada with you?
me: just this tasty 12" subway sandwich.
him: what's on it?
me: oven-roasted turkey, swiss, honey mustard.
him: veggies?
me: a little bit of everything, really..
him: sounds good - have a nice day~

the roads were nice and scenic, like i said. that was nice. the weather held out ok. i rocked up on this hostel north of town in the Pine Grove Furnace State Park. it was an old converted colonial mansion that was a major stop on the underground railroad. i got to see the hidden rooms under the house where slaves could seek refuge. beautiful old place. there were only 3 other people staying there, so we stuck together. and get this, the hostel is a comfort stop along the Appellation Trail~ too cool! the girl was a through hiker and she had walked there all the way from MAINE!! 2.5 months in at nearly 20 miles a day.. with only 3 months to go before she hits Georgia. my kind of woman.. the other 2 guys were hiking together and only doing the AT in sections and idiot hikers carrying all the wrong gear. i asked loads of questions, the AT is, after all, on my list of to-do's. i peeked at the through-hiker's registry and read about the coolest people who have kicked ass where few others have kicked ass before. i got some sleep but it turns out i'm allergic to colonial mansions that have been converted into hostels.

this morning i talked for a while to the little old lady who works as the care-taker there and made a rough plan for today. i walked around the little town part of gettysburg and then found me some wireless - score! feeling good~ miles a more'a today. peace!