August 27th, 2012
     The rain is presently picking up, but no matter, for I'm sleeping in a barn, circa 1860's. I never expected this when waking earlier today, let alone the fact I'd have to earn my stay in this humble place, doing of all things, 'work'. Work, to the tune of about 2 and a half hours of weedwhacking. I was coming down through a field, 6-7 miles away from my goal when I noticed a nice barn and house, then a hiker at the road said we could sleep in the barn. I considered it, some rain was moving in and my right knee was hurting me more than any day on the trail so far. I calculated I'd done 15 miles already and talked myself into staying. Then the owner came out and wondered if we could do some yard work, weedwhacking and whatnot. "Sure" I said, I'll do some oddjobs for my stay. Easy Peasey. Well after I topped off the gas tank on the trimmer for the FOURTH TIME!!!,  I started to wonder if all this work was worth it just to sleep in a barn. Soon into the ordeal though, "4 Spoke" the hiker i'd just met, said the guy mentioned something about a pasta dinner if we did a good job. This was what kept me going; and the hope that the guy was a good cook.
   Earlier, when 4 Spoke and I assembled to work, the owner asked if either of us had weedwhacker experience. My 5 years of mowing and trimming my church cemetary during my salad days easily outweighed my new buddy's trimming resume. I set off toward my work, overhearing that 4 Spoke's employment would involve the use of a wheelbarrow. "Sucker" I thought. Then 20 mins into my job, the trimmer head clogged and the guy had  to fix it whilst I helped 4 Spoke pull weeds. "Sucker" I thought. By and by though the guy got the thing fixed and I was soon back to laying weeds low while dreaming of a big pasta meal. I wasn't even sure if the meal was in the bag; he said 'IF' we do a good job. Once, I overfilled the tank and the guy wiped the spilled gas off a rock with a paper towel. One strike I thought. But then later he said I had a steady hand at running the weedwhacker and that he now trusted me to trim between his Hostas lining the driveway. Up til then I'd just been down trimming along the creek bank. So I tarried on, now hoping I'd have shower coming too. I dreaded getting into a sleeping bag all grassy. In fact I was getting thrashed by small stones and debris in my hiking shorts. Formerly, I would always weedwhack in jeans.
   A little later the guy mentioned shower and laundry too. I think we were impressing him. He's got us tidying things up for a wedding in his yard in a few weeks. The place needs alot of work. The back yard was trashed by Tropical Storm Irene last year. Piles of sediment, silt and rock still linger. Some lingered in my leg flesh after I plowed into them with the trimmer head.
   So finally, as darkness and light rain fell, he said we could put the tools away. I got showered. The guy, Dan, is definitely a bachelor. He said he didn't have any bar soap, but handed me a pump bottle of instant hand sanitizer to shower with...luckily I found some sort of soap in a bathroom closet.
    Anyway, he made us a great meal with homemade pasta sauce from his garden's tomatos. Quite good. Also, I found out he owns a company that restores old buildings, specifically church steeples.  Dan said he's done work in New York City on the Statue of Liberty torch and also  on the Old North Church. So we talked old stuff.
    Sure enough then he asked us to work tomorrow too. He said it would be worth staying because there's a dinner tomorrow night on the green in Woodstock, celebrating or commemorating one year since Irene, which devastated the area and much of Vermont. Woodstock is a beautiful historic town. I drove through it the other day when I rented a car to see some friends. I guess the meal will be family style for like 3000 people which would be cool to be a part of. So again, the perenial question, should I stay or should I go? Always a dilema. I'll sleep on it. In a barn.

August 28th
    As  I was slowly waking this morning, still deliberating on whether to stay and help this guy, I decided to stay. I think mostly out of the sense I had that he really needed some help. Also recalling Carver's philosophy, "Where I am is where I'm supposed to be" ran through my head.
   Anyway I found out that Dan is divorced, which makes me understand why his house was a little messy, not in a disgusting way, just as if it hasn't been swept or dusted in a very long time. When I told him I'd stick around to help he seemed elated. "You have no idea how much stress you've taken off me by agreeing to stay" he said, very genuinely too, so I felt good that he really needed my help. So like I said, it just needed sweeping and dusting so I worked on that all day, and it's a big Colonial with many rooms, I had plenty to do. While cleaning I realized I still hardly knew a thing about Dan, he doesn't divulge harldy anything personal at all in conversation. So I let myself put things together, at least as best I could, based on context clues from his house while working. Which was kinda fun.
   For supper, like he promised, we went into Woodstock. I was amazed as we walked into the center of town, and came to the Green. There were so many people; and tables lined up for hundreds of feet in length. The high school Jazz n Funk Band was jamming and it was great music, then later as we ate grilled steak and vegetables, kabobs, beans, rolls, everything; and all so good, a New Orleans Style Jazz band walked amongst the tables playing 'In The Sweet By and By' then, and I just sat back and soaked in the scene. Thousands of people eating together, the biggest collection of people eating a family style dinner I've ever seen. There was laughter and smiles, a drastic contrast I'm sure from what flood victims were going through exactly a year ago. I've seen the look of defeat and hopelessness on the faces of people recently displaced by floods and other disasters and I much prefer the happiness on the other side of the trials endured when things have turned around and are better.
    This was a great, unexpected treat the trail has given me, this night, really this whole experience, meeting Dan and all. He said I've always got a place to stay if i'm in the area. Also I'm sure I'll take advantage of his building and timberframe knowledge if I'm ever in a pickle. Well, back at the old grind tomorrow.