Date: 2008-04-29
To: Ground Control
Miles today: 0.0

And now, a word from Ground Control.The weekend's trip to see Bananas was a success! Most of our weekend is accounted for elsewhere by Bananas, but here are some other tidbits and highlights:1. Last week when I called to make reservations, we couldn't get a room at the bed-and-breakfast (Augusta's Appalachian Inn) for Saturday night, so I hit on the idea of taking her way off the trail for that night, which is how we wound up in Abingdon VA (about 11 miles northeast of Damascus). That worked out nicely, the Holiday Inn Express was a welcome change for her. Comfy!2. We had an excellent gourmet dinner at The Tavern in downtown Abingdon that night. That was also a welcome change for her, after 55 days of rehydrated food, pizza, and the like. She had red snapper over beans and rice and mango salsa, and a really decadent chocolate cake for dessert. Tip-top.3. Augusta's is a wonderful B&B. The owners, Sissy and Terry Kammer, are two of the nicest people you'll ever meet. If you ever find yourself in Damascus, that's the place to stay. They collect DVDs from the American Film Institute Top 100 Films list, so we were able to cross off "All About Eve" on our own quest to watch the entire Top 100 list. And you won't leave the breakfast table there hungry either. We had to leave before the regular breakfast sitting on Tuesday, so they packed us a big bag of breakfast sandwiches and snacks. How nice!4. I made good time getting down there, but actually locating her was the tricky part. I really did have to drive an extra hour around Watauga Lake to find the AT crossing where Bananas was waiting, and I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express the night before and everything! Thank goodness there are plenty of friendly and helpful people in Tennessee, it makes up for the lack of good signage in some critical spots. 5. Bananas had what I called "an enchanting musk" when I found her. For you non-thru-hiker types, imagine if you went for a swim in a pool of pencil shavings. Yeah. Now, I didn't mind, but for everyone's sake, she showered (and bathed) before we went to dinner. And yes, her clothes really did need two trips through the washer and dryer before they smelled neutral.6. Food City is a real place: it's a chain of grocery stores in Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. And some day, I'll be mayor. While Bananas stocked up on her favorite trail mix and other groceries, I bought a box of Boo Berry cereal and a fridge pack of Pibb Xtra. Yes!7. For our last night together on this trip, we went back to Abingdon for dinner (on the Kammers' suggestion) at a restaurant called The Pepper Mill. Very tasty, and some of the decor reminded us a bit of the old Astral Plane at 17th and Lombard in Philly. She had a cajun lobster dish that also made for good leftovers went she hit the trail again.8. It was fun to meet other hikers. They all seem to know Bananas, and for good reason - she's tall, blonde, and solo hiking. Bananas knew most of them, although the guys seemed to blur together for me. Whole lot of facial hair going on. But good people, all of them. Leaping Turtle is a funny guy, I really liked talking to him.9. It was a real treat for Bananas to be driven around so much. Especially with the rainy weather we had, it was nice for her to stay dry while out and about. Thanks Budget car rental!10. On Tuesday, I dropped Bananas off at the spot I picked her up from, which was tricky to find again coming from a different direction, but we managed. It was hard to drop her off again, but at least she's still living the dream. Every minute she's out there, she's living her dream, so that's pretty cool. We'll most likely see each other in Harpers Ferry WV, and maybe one time between now and then.Thanks for your support of Bananas!