Days 342-343 – 4/30-5/1/12 – Delaware

Denton to Milford; Distance = 36.5; People Met = 9+

Our entry into Delaware revived some previous experiences along the American Discovery Trail.  The most important of these was an old friend rejoining us once again.

We’ve encountered Mike Hinckley twice before on this journey.  We dropped some supplies off at his place near Denver on our way out.  He then hiked with us a bit and hosted us for four days when we hiked by the Denver area.  At that time he suggested we should visit his Mom in Delaware.

Jovial Mike

We connected with Jean Hinckley and arranged to stay with her for two evenings.  During that time Mike flew out to see us once again … and to hike this two-day stretch with us.  For our first evening together at Jean’s she made the observation of how jovial we were together.  That’s what long-distance hikers are like when they get together, particularly those who have hiked in groups.

Mom Jean and Mike

Usually when people hike with us I do much of the talking since I remember things better.   This time I deliberately hiked ahead of Cindy and Mike, enabling them to engage in light-hearted banter for much of the time.  I knew this was very good for Cindy.

Mike and Cindy

Zack and Tom of a road construction crew were interested in what we were doing.  As we sat down for lunch on the first day a man stopped his truck to congratulate us on nearing the end of the trail.  He and other folks in Delaware might be more aware of the trail because of the signage at road intersections with the ADT emblem.  They are the largest signs along the whole trail.

Zack gave us a hearty welcome as we passed by

We joked around with Tom

On the other hand the mileages on the ADT guide for the Delaware section have just been crazy.  A half mile section is listed as a 2 mile section and vice-versa.  I can’t even detect a pattern to the errors.  Fortunately I just go by the maps.  National Geographic Maps provided their entire dataset for the contiguous 48 states.  I transfer the GPS points from the guide onto their maps and print them out.  The route in Delaware is obvious following the maps; I might have had some trouble if I just went by the guide’s directions and mileages.

As we near the finish memories are bound to creep in.  The whole state is reminiscent of the flat farmlands of Kansas, or the border between Illinois and Indiana.  Seeing earthworms on the road after a rainy night reminded me of our last morning in Ohio.  Caterpillars crawling across the road were reminiscent of California.  The very hot hiking conditions on the second day reminded me of the Utah desert in summer.

I’m sure this is just the beginning of “memory lane” as we near the finish.  The day this is posted is the day we reach the ocean.

Other Photos

Just a couple of kooks

Which one gets the right of way?

ADT signage in Delaware