Date: 2007-05-17
From: tenting at The Place, Damascus, Va

To: tenting at The Place, Damascus, Va
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Things are getting busy here in town. The library's kind enough to open up today at 9a.m. instead of the usual 11 so hikers have more time available to use the computers. Yesterday hikers, currently hiking and past years' hikers, flowed into Damascus in droves. The yard space at The Place is full of tents and as far as I know, it's a full house inside The Place. Here's some of yesterday's events: I bought a 6 inch Subway sub, a Mt Dew, and a cup of Earl Grey and vanilla tea(from Mojoe's a Starbuck's-like cafe)for my lunch. Rain set in in earnest on my walk back to The Place. Fortunately, I carried my Frogg Togg rainjacket along, just in case. Thanks, Mom, for training me to always(I do 80% of the time)carry a jacket or sweater on outings. A mother's wisdom is invaluable . While I was off fetching my lunch, Fred dove into a can of sardines and crackers. Rain set in in earnest on my walk back to The Place. Fortunately I carried my Frogg Togg rainjacket along, just in case. How he can stomach that stuff is beyond me. But he sure has been anticipating that meal for hours! I brought my food back to The Place to eat in the dining room, thinking I'd have a leisurely repast. Not!...Into the house came a woman, Jitterbug, and her husband, Hoover, each who drove here in separate cars so they could provide trail magic shuttles to hikers this week. Hoover took a carload on various errands, and Jitterbug took us up the road a couple of miles away to a Food City grocery store. We'd wondered when we'd get around to resupplying and figured it would have to wait til It's so astounding that problems are resolved before we even get around to fretting about them. That's one lesson I'm learning from hiking--relax, even if something's beyond my control, it'll more than likely work out fine. The other lessons I've learned are: if you step on a stick more than one inch long, the other end of it will pop up, extend higher than I've lifted that other foot, resulting in an almost fall(this lesson is still being reinforced several times daily-I'm a slow learner; other lesson is that I am a natural blonde...it's impossible to multi-task while hiking...moving along and trying to put on chapstick or look up and around at the scenery will result in a discombobulating stumble for sure...I must come to a complete halt before attempting any non-leg movement activity...if I arrogantly multi-task, not only will I not complete the task cause of almost tripping and tumbling onto my knees, but I'll have an adrenaline/blood pressure rush that depletes my energy reserve(I know this for a fact cause I'm determined to master multi-tasking and the cumulative effects of those adrenaline/blood pressure rushes are felt as the hiking day gets long).Ok, now where was I ? Oh, I went to Mt. Rogers Outfitters all by myself!to get some Peanut Toffee Buzz Clif bars and a Chocolate Brownie Clif bar to complete my resupply for next wks hiking. Fred stayed back in the tent, listening to the rain pelt down and nappying, I suspect. At 5 p.m. we went over to the Baptist church covered picnic area for the hiker grilled hamburger dinner. Probably a hundred hikers feasted, received yellow bandanas, goodie bags with food and medical/hygeine supplies, and even had free massages available! It was fantastic and the massage felt so good! At 7 under the big tent in the church parking lot, Circuit Rider, a hiking minister led hymn singing and gave a brief sermon. Afterward, Susie Montgomery(the B&B and active church member chatted with us and Linda Austin-church member in charge of the hiker ministry activities). Then back to The Place. Soon after our return there was trail magic 3x's! A box of paperback books for hikers who read after hiking day, a huge box of "energy" type bars such as Snicker's multi-grain supplement bars(chocolate covered anything gets grabbed up fast), and a woman who'd approached me earlier today saying she recognized me from my trailjournal pics brought a large box of fresh tee shirts, shorts, and tops for comfy camp wear. I picked out an Ann Taylor petite medium long-sleeved avacado colored ctton top. Oh, golly does it feel delightful to wear something besides my long-sleeved gray nylon/wicking top or my short-sleeved yellow top(yeah, I only have 2 tops-minimizes any fashion dilemmas on the trail-but sure gets "old" wearing the same 2 tops wk after wk). Went to bed with full tummies, clean, happy, safe, and sound. Around midnight a group of reveling hikers returned and disturbed EVERYONE outside and inside with their banter. They were hushed and we all settled back down to sleep. This morning the rain was gone, blue skies, and mild temps. Vendors, hiking gear reps are in town for the duration thru Sunday, and the Baptist church is serving a free full home-cooked meal this evening in 3 seatings(we're scheduled for the 6 o'clock seating). For hikers who didn't pick up free seating tickets, they're serving hot dogs and homemade chili. Can't beat that! The church members have really put so much energy, time, and funds into hiker outreach and warm hospitality, and it's done very respectfully so no one feels pressure or gets that "cornered" feeling that some outreach efforts sometime inadvertently cause. Following dinner we have entertainment(free)provided by a professional storyteller at the library from 6-8. Somewhere in the day we'll be eating lunch, socializing, and I plan on helping out the church set up for tonight's meal if they'll take volunteers. A good day is ahead! Oh, Leatherneck just stepped up and told me to check out his trailjournals.com site, Leatherneck(pick the 2007 one if their's a choice). I and you may want to check it out to hear his recent trail experiences and look at his pics if he has some.