Date: 2003-05-27
From: Bland Va.

To: campsite
Miles today: 14.2
Weather: light rain

I spend along time on the phone trying to get my pocket mail back up and running. It does not work so I have to send it to California for repairs. I beg them to just send me a replacement but no way would they do that. It is amazing how quickly we can become accustomed to things in our life. I can rewrite the journal entries, but I had my addresses on the composer, along with emails I have gotten the last two months. Then email addresses, phone numbers, and mail drops. I hate to lose all of that informaton, but I have no choice. I will go back to good old pen and paper for awhile. I was leaving Bland when I noticed a building that had a sign in front of it that said Baptist Outreach Mission. I thought maybe I could get a ride to the post office. My feet were still screaming with pain and I figured a mile saved was a mile saved. I went inside to find the people in there distributing free food to the needy. I asked if anyone was heading towards the post office and could I get a ride. Sure enough several men offered to take me and I went inside to wait. Someone handed me a bottle of water. Did I look thirsty?? One of the ladies inside offered to take me to thr post office and then back out to the trail! Wow!!! More magic. I found out that her name was Rita Roberts and she was from St Augustine Fl.. She was here visiting her daughter, who just happens to be a hiker. They had hiked this past Sunday. We headed to the post office, picking up another hiker on the way. After mailing my package, she took us back to the trail and dropped us off. My poor feet were much appreciative to her. I come upon two men on the side of the trail. One of them says something to me that I cannot understand. They both come over to me and start asking me if this is the AT. They are loooking for timber to cut. I make a face at them and then tell them my husband is in the paper business. I know how it is. We Americans really like to buy toilet paper and use plenty of paper products. You have to do what you have to do. They ask me if I am hiking alone and I say no. Well I am not, I have God with me. I wish them luck and hike on. I had gotten a bag of Doritos for ChickenLegs and her sister Triple T while I was in town and was going to try and catch up with them today. The other night at camp I had pulled out the Dorito bag that I use as my garbage bag and they looked at it with such longing that I decided to bring them a bag of Doritos. They had asked me to eat a blizzard for them and drink a cup of cooffee which I did, even though the coffee kept me up that night. Well that plan fell through. I got to Jenny Knob Shelter where I had planned to stay if I did not catch up with the other hikers. The shelter was full and a group of Scouts had every available tent site. There was nothing to do but keep on hiking. I did get water there though since I knew I could not make it to the next shelter without hiking in the dark. When I first got to the shelter there were only a few tents up. When I came back from getting my water, more tents had been put up so I did not recognize the trail I came in on. After a few minutes of hiking I knew I was on the wrong trail. I turned around and was back in camp in no time. Then I spotted the correct trail and headed out. It was nearly dark before I came to a site that was level enough to tent on. This is the first time for me to camp alone. Sorry Papermaker. I set up my tent and set about fixing supper. I even hang my food bag although it took several attempts. Any self respecting bear would be able to get to it in a minute, but if he did come into this camp, all he would get is a food bag and one tough old bird. I listen again to an owl, and to the sounds of dogs in the distance. It is supposed to rain tonight and again tomorrow, but right now I am snug in my tent. I can hear the wind as it whispers through the trees. It starts to rain as I doze off. I grimmace. More mud to hike through tomorrow.