Before leaving Boiling Springs, my friend Skipper and I decided to grab some lunch at the local pub before heading out of town. There we met Russ, a very friendly guy who flips houses for a living after retiring from flying helicopters. He even took us for a ride in his 1920 Model A. After talking for a bit, he invites us to camp in his large backyard instead of the campsite for hikers that's ten feet from the railroad tracks. We thanked him and piled back into his car to head over. As we arrived our eyes bugged out of our heads as we pulled up to a mansion. One of the biggest houses I had seen in a while. He's shows us around and says we can sleep in the basement if we wanted to so we went and checked it out. The only thing that describes it is a total man cave complete with pool table, DJ set up, beer pong table, and disco lights. We said it would work. Russ called over some friends and told them to grab some brews so we called some hiker friends, the rest of team vortex. Russ let us drive his truck to go pick up out friends and the six of us headed back to the mansion. Beer pong was already set up outside and the night began. By the next morning we had played countless games of pool and pong, danced under the lights, and burned a Christmas tree. The next day we headed back to the trail after stopping at the art fair and stocking up on three massive bags of kettle corn (all purchased, carried, and mostly eaten by the women in the group). We hiked eight miles to a dunkin donuts which was extremely unnecessary. Which made us have to night hike into the shelter where a couple friends of Mile Markers friends were coming to. We got there safe and sound and had a nice fire as we heard embarrassing old stories about MM. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to them the next day and we headed into our next town, Duncannon Pa. We got some food and visited the very interesting Doyle hotel (an extremely old and dilapidated hotel in which the top three floors will never lose the stench of dirty hikers). We decided to move on when we saw a sign in front of someone's lawn that said "Hikers welcome to camp in backyard. Cooler by the door and you cam use the grill". When we got there we met Mr. and Mrs. 219, two Penn state alumni and super fans. They offered us beer and said to set up anywhere. We talked all night with them about how they started this and how our hikes were going. Unfortunately this will be their last year on trail. The next morning they made us lots of coffee and let us heat up our pop tarts (a real treat) before we begrudgingly started to pack up our bags. To prolong our stay we played a couple rounds of cards. While playing, Mrs. 219 came out and told us about a huge storm and tornado warning for the afternoon and evening. She said it was probably better to just stay the night in their garage. We debated but as we saw the massive dark clouds roll in and the wind start to pick up, we decided she was right. Mrs. 219 then told us she was fixing us dinner and not to argue because she had already started making it. We enjoyed a nice family dinner at 219 that night. Later that evening the 219s treated us to a scotch tasting of all of his favorites, needless to say we stayed very warm that night. The next day we had to go and left duncannon and Mr. and Mrs. 219 behind. We hiked a few rocky and muddy days before getting to a road and trying to hitch in for a resupply. If took a while to get a hitch and we were thinking about giving up until a car finally pulled up and let Skipper, Mile Marker, and I pile into their car. They were Abby and Pastor Bob, a couple in their early 20 who were just discussing picking up hitch hikers when they came upon us. They had recently gotten married and Bob had gotten the job in town as the pastor while Abby led the church choir and band. During the car ride they asked if we would like showers, being the only girl in the group, I jumped at the offer. They took us to their perfect little house and gave us the softest towels and nicest shampoos I had seen on trail. As we were taking turns showering, Abby offered to do our laundry while we went to lunch. I warned her not to touch anything but I was incredibly thankful to have clean socks. We went and grabbed lunch and headed back to their house, where the pastor offered us a beer and we had a deep conversation about life and how we all ended up where we are. Also our laundry had been folded and she had tried to separate it for us. Stunned by their hospitality we made a plan to get back to the trail. It began to rain outside so Bob said we should stay the night in their family room. Before we could answer, he was setting up the TV for a movie. He then made us coffee and tea before bed. We woke up the next morning and they asked if they could take us to breakfast. They had already done so much for us already but they insisted. After a huge breakfast he brought us back to the trail and we started off again. Soon after we ran into Scooby-Doo and Murphys Law and hiked with them for the next few days into Port Clinton. We were pulled into the barber shop where we got the low down on you town, had a little jam session, and stocked up on cookies and coffee. There we were told about a members only bar that would allow hikers to come in on occasion. We found the secret door and rang the bell. A loud clock unlocked the door and we walked into a tiny bar with darts and a pool table. We watched women's soccer and chatted with the locals all evening. The next day we got to go to the biggest Cabellas in the work, filled with probably 500 taxidermy animals and an aquarium. When I woke up the next morning, I felt terrible. I could barely lift my head up and I felt like throwing up. Instead of getting back on trail, we decided to visit a nudist resort. I started to feel better and we got to soak our sore muscles in a hot tub before taking in the nudist experience. It's weird. We got back on trail the next day and had some really difficult days. The rocks were everywhere and thunderstorms were hitting us off and on. Nobody could keep their feet dry which caused terrible raw skin all over their feet. Luckily my friend Banjo from the PCT came out to see us and bring us soda and pizza on a very wet day. We finally made it to Deleware water gap and out of Pennsylvania. They had a free hostel in the basement of a church that hikers were able to stay at for a day or two. The next day I had a to fly back to California for a few weddings and a bit of a trailcation. I hopped a bunch of busses and got to the airport were I sat for the longest amount of time I had in the past three months. Mile 1293