Date: 2020-07-19
From: Rockfish Gap (Waynesboro)

To: Rockfish Gap (Waynesboro)
Miles today: 0.0

Actually relaxed today. But I still got my chores done. Replaced my trekking pole tips at Rockfish Gap Outfitter - after 1800 miles they were worn down to nubs. Practically useless trying to dig in on hills or stabilize against a rock. Resupplied at Kroger. Fruitlessly shopped at a Family Dollar and "neighborhood" Walmart for replacement shorts. The liner in my current pair is falling apart which I fear will lead to chafing. Hope they last to the next town. Plus I did lots of paperwork to renew my life insurance policy, something I had overlooked before starting the hike. Ah, the joys of middle age! Not something the college crowd is thinking about. I've no intention of biting the bullet on this hike - that would require an unlikely combination of creativity and stupidity - but at least my wife can rest easier! Fortunately thruhiking doesn't rank with skydiving as a high risk activity so I am still eminently insurable.Ming's Garden all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet has reopened, and I did some major damage to the sushi bar. Nearly all restaurants so far have been open and had seating. The major exception being fast food, many of which serve only through the drive-thru. Usually they are accommodating to pedestrians, having you walk right to the window rather than stand in line with cars. In fact the weight sensor in the pavement wouldn't register a person anyway. Kline's dairy bar, near Stanimals hostel, is different. The woman taking orders outside on the car line insisted that I follow the cars, ostensibly so they wouldn't mix up the orders. She was just writing them on paper though and handing them off to a girl, so it would have been easy enough to mark mine as a "walk-up". My mother sensibly taught me not to play in traffic, so I took a seat on a bench outside and waited for the car I was "following" to be served. This wasn't good enough for the order-taker, who shooed me off the bench lest I attract a crowd (no other pedestrians in sight). In her mind it was safer that I stand in a traffic lane than sit alone on a bench, because Covid. Irrational, yes, but there's another point. Only in car-centric America could people think it's okay to provide for drive-thru service only, as if pedestrians don't exist. Not very environmentally friendly, not good for health, not good for the poor, all things we claim to value. The trail is one of the few institutions that makes little accomodation for car culture. It celebrates nature, promotes good health, is open to all and, despite what vendors may claim, requires little investment. Shout out to Hardee's, by the way, for taking orders inside even though seating was closed off. See, that wasn't so hard. I will say Kline's has great milkshakes, so it was easier to put up with the nonsense.At the hostel Triton and another guest were grilling shish-ka-bobs. Triton is the guy who started the "Still on the AT" Facebook group for hikers to share information when established AT groups started censoring discussions that didn't start with "Get off the trail". Now it's the go-to forum for anyone looking for useful information on actual trail conditions. It was helpful for me in monitoring when was a reasonable time to start. Triton has been hiking to Harpers Ferry since March after thruhiking in 2011. He's smelling all the roses and taking at least a triple zero here. He has a wife and young daughter in southeastern Turkey, and is waiting for restrictions to relax so he can fly there.Tortoise returned after a 19-mile slackpack from Reeds Gap. He helped rescue a woman suffering from heat exhaustion. The heat is no joke!Somehow the day slipped by quickly though I feel like I did little. It was a lazy Sunday. Probably won't have any more like it until I get close to home in eastern Pennsylvania, when I'll be taking a week or so off trail to vacation with the family.