Date: 2005-05-08
From: Laurel Creek at VA Route 615

To: Campsite just past VA Route 611
Miles today: 15.9

DAY 58In the middle of last night, the local yokels were out in force. We heard the sounds of vehicles that needed mufflers, car horns, and lots of barking dogs. Rocky thought they were local people out hunting or training dogs. Then, this morning as we were eating breakfast, a female hound came through our campsite and licked Rocky¢s cup that had milk in it. That ended Rocky¢s breakfast, as she had to throw out the rest of the milk. The dog had a transmitter on her collar, and the owner came by in a car to pick the dog up. Kind of a weird start to what would be a long day.We were on the Trail early again, by 8 am. Rocky is really anxious to get to Pearisburg, so she can get her ride to Trail Days next weekend. We wanted to go into Bland, Virginia, seven miles up the Trail, to resupply and get a restaurant meal. There were no serious climbs enroute and we got to US Route 21 before noon. We got a hitch into Bland fairly easily. In Bland we found that the restaurant was closed as it was Sunday. Once again I have lost track of the days of the week due to our Trail daily routine. We did find a small IGA supermarket open for resupply. After finishing our resupply shopping, we met Captain Patagonia and Quinn who had also come into Bland for resupply. We joined them for lunch sitting on the grass by the road near the IGA.Afterwards, Rocky quickly got us a ride back to the Trail by her technique of walking up to an older man with a pick-up truck and asking if he could give us a ride. It is probably difficult for any man to say no to Rocky. However, the problem was that our driver wanted to be too helpful. Instead of dropping us off at the US Route 21 crossing of the Trail, he took us to a road crossing 0.8 miles further up the Trail. He thought he was doing us a favor by taking us further up the Trail. We didn¢t have the nerve to tell him otherwise, as he had been so good to us. At this stage of our hike, we are both ¢purists¢ and we were not about to miss any of the Trail. So we hid our packs in the woods near where we were dropped off. We walked the 0.8 miles back to US Route 21 and 0.8 miles back to our packs. We then resumed our hike into the woods. It was hot this afternoon, around 80 degrees. We went through water rapidly. We were on empty by the time we got to the side trail to Helvey¢s Mill Shelter. It was a 0.3 mile walk down to the shelter. Then even further down to the water source. Tomcat was asleep in the shelter, and Rocky chatted with him while I took the water bottles to the water source. Tomcat said he hadn¢t been feeling well. However, he must have gotten well fast, as he passed us not long after we left Helvey¢s Mill Shelter. Rocky¢s feet were hurting and she soaked them while we were at the shelter.Then we were on our way again. We walked almost seven additional miles to the Trail crossing of VA Route 611. By this time it was almost 7:30 pm. It had been a long day and Rocky was spent. She had no interest in going the three additional miles to the Jenny Knob Shelter. To tell the truth neither did I want to walk until about 9 pm. We went a little further along the Trail to get away from the road. We set up our tents in the quiet of the woods, just off the Trail. We have cooked our dinners, brushed our teeth and are ready to hit the sack. We have probably walked 17 miles today, between retracing our steps, hitch hiking, and the side trails. It is quiet and peaceful here in the woods.