Date: 2018-07-23
From: Liberty Hill Lane 

To: U.S. Route 522
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: light rain

Just getting out the door was a challenge. We had to get to the Post Office for our resupply boxes. That took time. A nice elderly gentleman gave us a ride back to the hotel. We had 4 boxes total. Then, Hugs could not find her glasses. Our shuttle driver Sherry picked us up at the hotel to drive us 20 miles north. We planned to southbound back to our hotel in Front Royal. Hugs had given up on her glasses and chose to Hike without them.  Then it was a challenge just finding where we pick up the trail. Sherry was very patient with us. She¢s a truck driver, and the safest driver we¢ve been with so far. I¢m thankful for that because the last 10 minutes of our ride was in a torrential downpour!  Yes we hopped on the trail in the pouring rain! No rain, no pain, no Maine. This is my mantra today.  By now it was 11:15am. and we plan for a 20 mile day on the Roller Coaster. This area is called the Roller Coaster because the terrain is literally UP & DOWN like a coaster would be. I could actually envision it as I walked. In my head I would say ¢clink-clink-clink-clink¢ on the UPs, then ¢WHOOSH¢ on the DOWNS.  It¢s funny that yesterday Hugs and I mentioned Dozer. We figured he may be in Harpers Ferry by now. He will end his hike there this year. Then out of nowhere here comes Dozer!  We are right on track to be there for his ending this year. Harpers Ferry is the honorary halfway point.  Right behind Dozer was Onion and Gusto. Old home week! We¢re the last of the few still hanging in there for the thru-hike.  There¢s also a guy we call ¢No Name¢ because we can¢t remember his name, and Everywhere, Cyborg, and Trail Walker. I¢m sure there¢s a few others, but right now that¢s our bubble. The rain was pretty relentless for the first couple of hours. Just like the old days our path became a creek st times. I¢ll be wearing wet boots tomorrow for sure.  About 10 miles in there was a shelter. We stopped for food and water. There was a nice piped spring. In the rush this morning we both failed to grab our water bags. I forgot my Sawyer Squeeze and Hugs¢ Squeeze wasn¢t working exactly right. I had to laugh! How did we do this?!? And we call ourselves hikers!?! Together we made it work and both hiked out with water.  The rain had stopped. Here comes the heavy after rain humidity. My glasses were fogging up so bad I couldn¢t see a thing. It was better without them. I hung them on my shirt collar so I could use them if I needed to look at Guthook¢s.  The trail opened up at one point to a couple of grassy areas. It was ice because the breeze could come through right there. I saw a bunny shortly after the field. She¢s the only wildlife I had seen all day.  Marching on in wet boots, I decided to see how many miles we had left. We were pushing it to get off trail before dark. When I reached down to grab my glasses, they were gone. What???  I couldn¢t believe it! I hiked back a little distance but without my glasses I couldn¢t see what I was looking for anyway. Unbelievable! $300 pair of glasses...gone.  I ran into a couple doing a day hike and asked if they would keep an eye out for them. I gave them my number and Trail name. As soon as I said Blue Raccoon the man told me he reads my journal.  I never got his name, but he¢s spreading the word on the trail for me. I saw Everywhere and Cyborg too. Hopefully someone will see them.  We saw one more bunny before hopping out onto the road. A young man named Tyler picked us up. He¢s 26 years old and had just gotten off work. He¢s an electrician working for the Union. He took us to CVS where I could by some ¢cheater glasses¢, then to our hotel. He¢s a very nice young man. He takes care of his parents who have serious health issues. Keep Tyler in your prayers.  We systematically went through our hotel room to find Hugs¢ glasses. NOPE! Can you believe it? We both lost our glasses on the same day. Papa Big Swig is shipping my glasses from last year to me. They¢ll be better than nothing. Hugs has to get a new pair made. It¢s really hard hiking without your eyes, but tomorrow we¢ll be doing just that.  Until Next Time Blue Raccoon (2018)Where¢s your faith?