Day 28: Entering Vermont

Today I did 25.8 miles; it was officially the easiest day on the trail yet.  I am running partway up and most of the way down mountains the terrain is so easy to me.  I slept on top of Smarts mtn last night and woke up to a beautiful sunrise.  I did a quick 6 miles to Bill Ackerly's place right on the trail.  He is an older gentleman that sells cokes for 50 cents, gives ice cream to hikers for free, free water, free croquet in his yard and free tenting also. he was still asleep when I got there but I bought a coke, grabbed an ice cream bar, and watched some NOBO's play croquet for half an hour.  At 4pm I got to Hanover, NH which is the first "trail town" that a SOBO comes across.  Basically a super hiker friendly town.  It also happens to be the home of Dartmouth College which is an Ivy league  school for those that didn't know.  The trail enters right behind the soccer fields and baseball stadium Dartmouth has and then goes for a 3-4 mile road walk through downtown Hanover and then crosses the New Hampshire/Vermont border on a bridge going over the Connecticut River.  The trail then goes through Norwich, VT and down more roads until finally entering the woods where I am camped.  I had to night hike a little but thats ok.  I got trail magic at the trail head behind the soccer fields consisting of a thing of fruit cocktail.  A couple in a brand new Aston Martin car (we are talking150,000 - 300,000 dollar car depending what model which I am unfamiliar with that brand).  But they pulled over and asked if I was a thru hiker which I obviously stand out from the fancy Dartmouth student crowd; I said yes and she handed me a quart Ziploc baggy with 6 fresh out of the oven, still warm, chocolate chip cookies! She also said "welcome to Hanover."  I ate one on the spot and boy was it good.  I packed the rest for tomorrow.  I got my free doughnut for thru hikers at a bakery and bought a vanilla milkshake which i have been craving for about 150 miles.  I also got my free cheese pizza slice at a pizza joint and ordered a calzone for 9 bucks.  I figured I was in no hurry and could charge my phone while I was there so why not order dinner.  Well that calzone was 12" long and boy was it good.  After 2 hours of sitting there i moved on to Vermont and my campsite which is about 2 miles in from the border.  I had to night hike part of the final road walk which stunk because I have trouble navigating road walks already and in the pitch black with just my headlamp is even worse.  At one point I noticed a Styrofoam cooler and 2 Rubbermaid bins at the end of a driveway.  I thought that was odd so I checked it out and inside the cooler was ice and a bunch of sodas!  More trail magic at 8:30 at night in the dark. Woohooo!  Of couse I drank one and moved on until I found a piece of flat ground where I pitched my tent.  2 states down, 12 to go.