Date: 2005-06-05
From: Cornelius Creek Shelter

To: Glasgow, VA
Miles today: 19.9
Weather: light rain

Up and gone by 7:15 this morning. Dandylion and I are hiking together this day. Dandylion and I have known each other for a while and hiked at about the same speed so I figured why not. He was from England and was at the time only 18 years of age. He decided to travel before making a decision on what next to do in his life. We talked about all sorts of things (girls mostly). He asked the questions so I gave the best advise that I could. When he asked how he could go about meeting the right girl I told him this, "Just put yourself in the location where you can be easily found". He laughed, thought about it for a moment and then said that was a great idea. He told me he was living at home before the trail and was able to save enough money for the trip. He also hiked (twice) across England with his father (I believe) prior to this AT attempt. He did make it all the way to Katahdin finishing about a week before I did. We eventually lost contact with each other after Harpers Ferry but we kept in contact with each other through e-mail. I was ahead of him until mid July where I was taking long weekend trips home over the heat of the summer.    My son, Joshua, was 17 years old at the time and hiking with Dandylion made me wish my son was with me. I had all the equipment for and offered my son to "come with" over the summer. I know it's not "cool" to hang out with Dad but, I figured all I could do was offer. Problem was that he found out that girl's are soft, squishy and fun to hang out with too. I guess I cannot blame him, at 18 I joined the Army so, who am I to tell anyone what to do. He still had one more year left in High School and the timing of this trip lets me have that last year with him at home. My being away actually has brought my son and I closer together. He was upset when I retired and moved the family back East to New York. He wanted to stay in Colorado Springs where we were stationed last. I told him then that this was one of those decisions that effected everyone in the family at a personal level and for him it was to leave friends behind and move to a new school. By being on this trail we were apart once again like so many times before (when I divorced his mother, military missions and so on). My wife made my day one time (up the trail) when she told me that my son said, "I miss Dad".         I took a picture of Dandylion under the Guillotine, a boulder suspended between two rock faces over top of the AT (it is on file ). Once again the trail was a pleasure to walk upon and the miles moved along nicely. We took a break at "petites gap" and I noticed just how many people were slack packing. "More power to them", I said. I figured everyone had the right to hike their own hike, it was just not the way I wanted to do mine. I would joke and say that the next time I do the AT I will be one slack packing Dude, for now though it was north only, with back pack and that is how it was for the entire trip. I was told later that I was in a small percentage of those through hikers that completed the trip. I never considered myself to be an extremist but, I was a purist. That was how I hiked my hike, mostly alone but never without some company. Over the heat of the summer, during the week you could go for days without seeing anyone. That was just the way the timing worked out. If you wanted to stop and wait someone would catch up to you eventually. For this day though Dandylion and I were together until we reached "Matt's Creek Shelter". I went on to town for the elusive cheeseburger and he stayed on the trail. Tal evidently caught up to him and I saw them together in town the next day. I invited them both to my home for a fourth of July party I intended on having. They said they would go if possible and we left it at that.   I walked along the banks of the James River for a while. I imagined what it must have been like over 400 years ago when this area was settled by those from "The Old World". Now the river was calm and controlled. If only it were like it once was. There were cliff faces along the way that reminded me of "hunter sites" I once traveled along near Stuttgart in Germany. Where hunters would ambush prey along the waters edge because the terrain forced them to travel through these narrow sites. I could imagine the native peoples doing the same there (if only the wood line could talk). Now it was a nice easy path to travel with a bridge to cross the river by. The James also reminded me of the Hudson, both rivers are wide and have a similar shore line.      I pulled off the trail at the VA-130 highway and soon was picked up by a local man who was working in the area. He told me his name but I did not write it in my log. A nice man who dropped me off in front off in front of the "Mom and Pop's Motel". The room was small but I decided to take one anyway. I wanted to sleep in a room by my self and be alone. The room was so small you could lay across it and touch both walls at the same time. The shower was outstanding. Turbo Joe and Livestrong arrived in town shortly thereafter and took a shower in my room. They were not staying in town and only wanted to re-supply. The Motel owner charged them three dollars a piece to take a shower. The Motel restaurant served some great chicken at their Buffet so we each put on the "old feed bag". Shortly afterward they waddled on back to the trail and I waddled off to my room. It was nice to watch the news (weather report) and relax. I re-supplied that evening and planned on leaving shortly after breakfast. The weather forecast said the next day was going to be hot and humid.    My plan was modifying to the weather conditions, again adaptively was key. I would walk until what I called "The Heat of the Day" and then just pull off the trail and take a few hours to rest in the shade somewhere. Water was the real issue and staying hydrated was the priority. Rest and Hydration, that was reason for my success. It seemed, as I wrote before, that a lot of hikers left the trail because of the heat. Stopping and resting actually let me do more consecutive big mile days. What was nice was that, for now, because the days were longer you could make up the miles in the cool of the evening. You still got plenty of sleep at night and come morning, the miles were made up as well if you left early.