Date: 2016-04-20
From: Swift Run Gap -- US 33

To: Sugar Run Gap -- Woodshole
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

I got up & out in near-record time [50 min], but there was no rush. I got right down to the highway, crossed over to the other side, & started hitch-hiking. About the 6th car [Subaru, of course] stopped with a ride almost to Charlottesville. He works for the CIA somewhere in the area, & we had an interesting conversation about history, politics, & religion. As we neared the airport, the traffic slowed to a stop [major construction]. After a bit of stop-&-go, he decided he needed to drop me off, turn around, & head for work. Hitching in stopped traffic should be easy ¢ I can walk faster than the cars are going, & they don't have to worry about where to stop to pick me up. I soon got a ride from a woman calling her boss to say she'd be late, who has lots of experience giving rides to hikers when she visits near Front Royal. In the shopping center across from her work, I was able to get cleaned up & change to town clothes. Then I got the bus for downtown. I was hoping to find a Verizon store & quickly learned that it was near the place I'd just left [& besides, I'd left my hiking pole at the bus stop]. I ended up walking back there & eventually finding the Verizon store [Don't know why East Rio is SOUTH of West Rio]. They were able to diagnose my problem pretty quickly, but solving it would take all day because I'd need to back up all my photos & do a "factory reset". I can get along without using anything that involves Google.In the parking lot, I met a young woman who was willing to give me a ride downtown. She is from India, & talked a lot about having to "be the son" for her ailing father. I got to the bus station an hour before my departure time & picked up the ticket I had ordered on-line. When I asked whether the bus was on time, the agent said, "Why? You're not leaving till Saturday."My ticket said 23 April! Between poor reception in the Mtns. & difficulties with the Greyhound app [even tho it seemed better than their regular web-site!] on my phone, I had booked for the wrong date. When I asked what it would take to change it, the attendant said "$20.00". However, when she actually tried to change it from Saturday to today, the computer wouldn't let her. Apparently, I could change to a later date, but not to an earlier one. The only alternative, if I wanted to travel today, was to buy a new ticket at today's price, $43 rather than the $33 online. I reluctantly agreed & then went out for a quick lunch. I was getting hungry by now. In my 8-10 minute walk thru Charlottesville's nicely restored old downtown, the quickest place looked like the Taste of India Buffet, which was quite good, even tho I ate too fast & didn't have time for seconds. By the time I got back to the station, the bus had arrived & it was time to load up. Despite all Greyhound's advertizing about Wi-Fi on their buses, this one didn't have it working, & the driver didn't seem to care. Nevertheless, it was a fairly pleasant trip to Roanoke [fun watching the Mtns. go by so fast], then a short break to get the $4.00 bus to Blacksburg. I had been a little disappointed to be just a few minutes late for the previous bus, but it didn't matter when we found the other bus stopped along the road awaiting repairs [we got to take its remaining passengers the rest of the way].Charlie [who had given me a ride in March] was willing again ¢ he picked me up & took me to Woodshole Hostel in plenty of time for dinner. I chose to rent an inside room again rather than the [improved this year] bunkhouse. They had 2 full tables of guests. I also got to do some laundry, get a maildrop, & repack.One part of my mail was my glasses, sent by a trail-maintainer in PA, where I had lost them.