Date: 2007-04-29
From: Partnership Shelter

To: VA 615; U.S. 11; I-81
Miles today: 11.6

It rained during the night. I got thirsty and got up to fill my water bottle but it had stopped briefly and had warmed up from what it was when we went to bed. A little while later it was raining and windy again. This morning, however, there was no rain in sight, and eventually the sun shone and we were warmed after we started hiking. I wore ear plugs last night so had a hard time hearing anything. Toto woke me up to tell me it was raining. I think he wanted me to be as elated as he was that we were not camped out along the trail in our tent. Toto did not wear his ear plugs so heard everyone make their 2 or 3 trips to go to the bathroom. Remember, it was just us old folks in the lower part of the shelter.   Bonnie-Carolyn was up early and took off before the rest of us. We took our time getting packed up today because we had only 11 miles to do but we were still on the trail by 8. We never did catch up to Bonnie-Carolyn until we got off at VA 683 and caught up with her at the Relax Inn where she was staying. She was only minutes ahead of us. We had found a lid to a water bottle on the trail and thought it possiby was hers since she was the only one we knew that was ahead of us. Sure enough, it was hers and she had no idea where she would get a replacement since there are no outfitters around this area. She said she was walking along and began feeling water splashing on her when she realized she had lost her lid. Some rhododendrum branches must have caught it as it was lying just beneath a bush. She was sure happy to get it back.Since we were being picked up we went on up to the Barn Restaurant and had lunch. We called our friends to tell them we had made it in and they showed up in a while to pick us up. Later we went to an AYCE restaurant and satisfied our hiker appetites once again. What great people they are. The trail today was pretty much walking along the ridge tops again. The worst part was the rocks and roots along the trail which can make feet feel pretty beat up in a very short time. I'm glad we had a short day today because this week is going to be a fast-paced one to get to Pearisburg by Friday evening. Our shortest day as we have planned will be just over 13 miles and the longest one just over 24. We have to try to add some miles to some other days to even them out a bit which means looking for camping spots between shelters along the way. It should be an interesting 5 days to see how we come out. The reason we need to be in Pearisburg is because we have someone coming to meet with us there to interview us about our hike for Restoration Trail Foundation. I'm not exactly excited about being video-taped but if it helps to raise funds for the national historic site we've been volunteering for the last year then it will be worth it. It is late and I need to get to sleep. Toto is already snoozing away. We have our packs pretty much ready to go except for a few last minute items to put in. We are trying to lighten our packs by packing a box to forward to Pearisburg before we leave for the trail in the morning. Once we get our summer gear our packs will be lighter but it seems it is not going to be warm for a while. We'll have to see what the weather is like this week.      Life is Great!Dorothy & Toto