Date: 2006-04-10
From: Marion, VA (Econolodge)

To: Davis Path Shelter
Miles today: 14.2

8:48 pmI was talking on the phone with my mom this morning. She said "you're happy, aren't you?" I said yes. That's an answer that I could give freely and easily. And truthfully. Then she said that it seemed to her as if I was more home now than I had been when I was actually there. It stuck with me, because in a way I feel like it sums up what I'm experiencing and how my prospective is changing. I am at home here. And doing this has expanded my capacity to be at home anywhere. I was thinking the other day, and realized that this trip has been the longest I have ever gone in one stretch without seeing my parents. But that's okay. I still rely on my parents, and I still love them. I miss them, and I miss all the people who I care about and have invested myself with. I am an adult though. I am a happy adult. And that is new. As usual, going into town got me a day behind. Yesterday we hiked fast. Almost 21 miles in about 7 hours, including a long lunch break. It wasn't grueling though. Some parts felt fast, others didn't, but we certainly walked quickly for the whole day. Lunch was at Trimpi Shelter, which was pretty. Flowers and such. Then we continued to Partnership Shelter, which is famous for your ability to order pizza from. The shelter is just .1 mile from a road and a park building that has bathrooms and a phone. We got in early to Partnership, ordered pizza, and sat in the sun. For quite a while we just lounged. Sunshine and Kaptain threw gravel at me. Missed most of the time. Kaptain yodeled to communicate to me. Everyone made a big stink when I didn't yodel back. We hitched into town in the back of a very small pickup. The bed allowed just barely enough room for our bodies with our packs on our legs. We were dropped off at the Econolodge, where Kaptain got a room for all five of us--Lockjaw, Sunshine, Team Steve, Kaptain, and me. We had showers and watched Law and Order, then took off to a grocery shop and got a snack at Sonic. Kaptain had never been to a Walmart, so that was a new and interesting experience. We particularly enjoyed the camping section, which featured 8 lb. sleeping bags and 20 lb. tents. We headed back to the room and talked and watched Comedy Central until after midnight. A good day. A great day. Today we got up and had a continental breakfast at the Best Western next door that was included with our room. Not bad. We then walked to the laundromat, which wasn't all that close, with all our stuff. We threw in our laundry and Kaptain sat with it while the rest of us got a ride from a very nice man to the P.O. Getting a ride back out of town ended up not being that hard. A pickup again, and this one actually large enough to enjoy the ride. Today was gorgeous. The temperature crept up a bit higher than I would have liked at times, but because the terrain was so flat, it wasn't bad. It felt like spring, and Kaptain, Lockjaw, and I hiked together going a pace that was comfortable and enjoyable. We took lunch at a shelter, and later saw along the trail an old historical one-room schoolhouse that we checked out. We also passed by a few businesses that seemed to constitute the town of Atkins, VA. One of these was a Shell station, so, of course, egg salad sandwiches, chips, chocolate milk, ice cream, and tomatoes were in order. We just sat down at 3:30 or whenever it was and ate a big meal, knowing we'd still have plenty of room for dinner at the shelter. The water source for the shelter was a mile before it, which was annoying because that mile was all uphill. Water is heavy. Oh well. We got in on the late side, even though it was only a 14.2-mile day. We ate, talked, wrote journal entries. I sewed the patches we got for doing trail maintenance on the guys' packs. Sunshine had recently bought the story of Earl Shaffer, the original thru-hiker, so we had a story hour with me reading aloud right before bed. A warm night.