Made it back to the Commonwealth!!!!

I have made it home after four and one half months on the road.
I rode up and down many hills in New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts to reach my second to last destination on this journey.
I do think that the highest grade of roads that I went up had to be here in the Commonwealth.  I will be looking that up in the near future.
It was nice to visit the Catskills and then make my way back over the Hudson!
I thank the Clearwater Organization for letting me set up my tent at their camp.
I also want to thank Mary Kate for the awesome lunch in downtown Beacon.  It was fun to spend time with her and the students at her school.
I then waited out a violent store on the eastern border of New York.  Later that evening, I arrived in the Constitution State.  I found a place to camp near a farm.  The rains had finally stopped.
The northwest section of Connecticut is so beautiful.  The farms, rolling hills and quaint little towns are so inviting.
I spoke to many high school students later on in the day in Falls Village.  Thanks to the whole school community for their wonderful welcome.
Karen Rogers was also there to great me.  She is on a quest to run a race in every town in Connecticut.  She has two to go!!!!
I was then on a mission to reach my final state of the journey.
I crossed into the Commonwealth at about 4:30 that afternoon.
The roads had been familiar with me all day, as I have traveled through this area many times before.
The Appalachian Trail passes through this area.  I have hiked both the Connecticut and Massachusetts sections of the trail.
Time to tackle the Berkshires.  I knew that they would not be easy.  I had already rode this route from east to west a couple of years ago.
I rode for a few more hours and then found a place to camp in the forest with many, many bugs.  Some did get me and others tried to get me all night long.  Thanks tent for protecting me and my blood.
Just as I broke camp the next morning, it started to pour, really pour!!! It was also cold, very cold.  What happened to all of those hot, sticky days???
Here it was the middle of June and I think my lips were purple.  At one point, I was standing outside a General Store in New Boston;  it was raining cats and dogs.  I had very little food.  There was not much for me to choose from in the store.  I knew that I had a very big climb ahead of me.  It was time to eat whatever I had left and to hope for some decent food in the next ten miles or so.
The rain finally tapered off.  Time to tackle that hill going through the Tolland State Forest.
(I am exhausted - to be continued tomorrow!)