Interlude - Rick's account of his post-intermission solo hike

This is Rick. I thought I would tell what I did next. Peter will be continuing his entries soon but I will no longer be with him.  Peter is the one in the family who is the record keeper so he has his journal entries.  I don't have any journal entries so I need to work from memory. 

Along the Housatonic River

I think part of the reason I didn't continue with Peter was I had a time constraint.  I had already signed up to enter the Navy in October.  I was probably hoping to at least finish the New England part of the trail before then. Of course, that didn't happen either.

After a short break at home my future wife (Pam) brought me to the southern part of the trail in Connecticut.  I started from there heading north.  I don't remember how far I got or how long I was out on the trail.  I think I was probably out for a week.  All the time I was out I didn't see anyone else on the trail. It was pretty lonely out there and a little creepy out in the woods alone at night. I finally gave up and went back home.

Again after being at home for a short time I decided I wanted to go out to Cape Cod to see if I could find a job for the rest of the summer on a boat or something. I hopped on my bike in southeastern Connecticut and rode it out to the Cape. Because summer had already started I was not able to find anything.  After a while I went back home and spent the rest of the summer there. I am sure Pam appreciated that.  

In October I went into the Navy for boot camp in Orlando,  then to Great Lakes, Illinois (for the winter) for electronics school then to Groton, Connecticut for submarine school.  Finally I ended up in San Diego for four and a half years on the submarine USS Barb. 

Even though we did not finish our hike it was a great experience, and I think we both learned a lot.  Reading all the blog entries after all these years has brought back a lot of memories.