Date: 2011-04-29
From: Southern Terminus Ribble Trail/Woods Hole Hostel

To: Woods Hole Hostel
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Happy Birthday to me! I really couldn't ask for a better place to be for a zero day on my birthday, I just wish I didn't hurt so much. Woke up in the night last night to dig some vitamin I out of my bag and take a double dose in order to get back to sleep. I had contemplated slack-packing back to where I got off at the Ribble Trail, about 9.6 miles, but decided that the legs definitely did not need to be walked on much, especially not on the trail. Pretty much spent the day running errands in Pearisburg with my mom. Picked up my drop box from home, which finally had the right amount of food in it; glad we finally got that dialed in right. Also, this was where I am switching to my warm weather gear, so we spent quite a while in the post office organizing everything to make sure I was sending the right stuff home and keeping what I still needed. While I was there, Sherpa (female; not to be confused with the male "Sherpa", or the "Sherpa" who is now "Crazy Goose") came in and was organizing a drop box as well. After the PO, we went to Walgreen's to put my photos from my camera onto CD's to mail home. I was originally going to just send the memory card home and have Jen send me a blank one, but I decided I didn't want to risk losing the card in the mail. The plan now is to send the CDs home, and when I know that they are home safe, delete the photos from my card. Ended up doing two sets of CDs, one for my mom and one for Jen. Following that, it was time to hit the Chinese Buffet! A significant number of hikers were there, the whole crew I had been hiking with that had gone from Woods Hole to Pearisburg today, plus Earl Gray, Mammoth, Chainsaw, Sherpa, and some others. Made it back to Woods Hole to prep for dinner and move to the bunk house, and most importantly to get an utterly fantastic massage as part of my birthday present from mom. Both Neville and Michael are state and nationally certified massage therapists, and they have an entire large room devoted to the healing arts, including massage tables, indoor sunlight sauna and meditation space.Now, I have over the last decade or so been trying to plan out where and how I'd like to end up putting down roots. So far, my plan involves being in the Northeast somewhere and getting a good chunk of land, building or renovating a small cabin and living as self-sustaining a life as I can. Michael and Neville are living my dream at Woods Hole. I spent a total of five zero days at Woods Hole, spending much of the time helping out with garden work, kitchen work, and odd jobs around the place. While doing all of this however, I still felt like this was a complete rest time instead of work of any kind. There is something so fulfilling about working with your hands and ending up with something to show for it that is functional, such as the grape and raspberry trellises that I helped Michael build in the garden. They plan on going off-grid in the next few years by putting in a micro-hydro system and supplementing it with wind and/or solar. Already they use a wood boiler for all the heat and hot water, and only use about 12 cords of wood a year, which is a pretty light load considering it burns 24/7. Much of their wood comes from their 83 acres, or the slash left behind from a neighboring parcel of oak that was logged recently. They have beehives, can what they report as 1200 jars of food last year, and manage to get most of their vegetables from the garden, meat from neighbors, and almost everything else that they can from the Amish grocery nearby. Michael also states that they are looking into tapping the maples and raising goats as well. And of course continue to run not just a hiker hostel but a full retreat center open nearly year round. I honestly could have ended my hike right there and spent the remainder of my leave of absence staying there. Unfortunately but wisely I decided after 5 days to push out. I must explain as well that the left quad was much better, that had been simply the latest in a string of muscle pulls that I had experienced and a little stretching and relaxation took care of that. The shin however continued to give me trouble. During the day it was just a minor bother at times, and completely silent other times. However when I rested at night and the muscles cooled down, the pain increased significantly. I had initially thought the pain to be shin splints, a condition frequently experienced by runners that run long distances on pavement, kind of a repetitive impact stress fracture. However I gradually shifted to the self diagnosis of tendonitis. The reasoning was that when I place my hand on my lower shin above the ankle and flex or extend my foot, the sensation I can feel in my ankle is best described as a rubbing; kind of what the sound of a door hinge in need of oil would feel like. Also, the pattern of pain being worse in the evening is more consistent with a muscle or tendon problem than a bone issue. Cure is pretty similar, anti-inflammatory medications and rest. First is no problem. The second..... we'll see.