Date: 2010-05-15
From: Damascus

To: Damascus
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

 Whew! It's taken me 2 days to update this thing! I don't know how you do it, Skippy, but it's amazing that you get all this done! And remember everything! I'll admit I probably got everything out of order! Good mental exercise. Anyway, awakened early again by some folks that probably haven't gone to sleep at all. But that's fine, the day awaits! We have another great breakfast, the grits are still going strong! We pull out our instruments and practice our song. We plan on playing in the talent show later. We're playing in a different key, since I forgot the capo, but Skippy has no problem figuring it out. Great fun! I think we wandered the town again and ate ice cream (just kidding), stopped at the Baptist Church again, stopped into the library at the book sale. Some interesting ones in there! Checked out the gear shops again. Looking for socks, but Skippy never ended up getting some. We went into The Place, the hostel, and I got to see what that was like. Lots of bunks, 2 showers I think? Reminded me of Tressler where I used to work. I can't remember what else we did that morning, since the rest of this day was just AMAZING! We made it back to the truck to eat more and figure out our costumes for the hiker parade. Skippy decided to wear my string bikini top and his "rice patty" grass hat with the Wilson pirate flag on the back of it. I decided to wear my other bikini top with some funky socks and a gear sack on my head. Random! Skippy looks way better in an bikini than I do! Apparently, this is the first time Skippy has worn women's clothing! There would be many more firsts to come this day! We kept our costumes under wraps and went over to the bathrooms to fill up our water balloons. We heard that the citizens have water guns and buckets and like to douse the hikers as they parade through town. So having ammunition to return is a great idea! The hiker parade starts way over at Mojoe's. We get there just as it's starting, and the hikers are supposed to group up according to what year they finished the trail. We found Backwards and them, so we think we might have been in the right spot. We ended up right in front of the fire trucks. You have to have fire trucks in a parade! I wish they would have sprayed the spectators! The parade was great! All of those hikers getting recognized in a crazy way by this great town! We loved it! A first major parade experience for both of us! Skippy hit some old folks and ladies with his water balloons. People unsuspecting it. I missed everyone I aimed for. There was one Southbound hiker that walked backwards against the parade crowd, ha! There was a kid with a hose from the power car wash, that was great! One little girl was squirting people with a huge water gun, and she got hit in the face with a water balloon! Yikes! It was a lot of fun, and felt like the best made-up tradition I've seen, just walk through town with a fire truck, some beauty queen girls, and I think a few horses, and you have a parade! Once we got to the end, we got rid of our costumes and headed over to the talent show. Took a while to get signed up, but we were around tenth on the list. Lots of people there, the most Skippy has ever played in front of! There were some "interesting" acts before us, some great ones, too. One girl was 11 years old and just learned to play the guitar, and already she was there playing and singing in front of all those people! Then a guy who hiked the trail I think last year with his daughter, he did a rap about the trail. Then we were next! I think we were both nervous. Skippy came in a little early on the singing part, after his microphone fell and distracted him, but we just kept going! I messed up my singing part, too. But it was so fun, and felt like good old times when we used to play together in Durham. But another first, a talent show! We hung around for a while, then got hungry and were going to leave early and go to the grocery store. But someone said we should wait around for our prize. Prize? We didn't know there were prizes! We at first didn't care, but then wanted to come back just to see. The guy said everyone wins something, so who knows. We got ice cream first, though. Soft serve, not as good on my stomach. They took forever tallying the judges votes. Then 3rd place was announced, the cute 11 year old girl that just learned guitar. Good for her! Apparently, there's only 3 prizes. And they are great ones! All kinds of gear! So then they announce 2nd place. Skippy and Patches (that's me)! I don't think Skippy got it right away, but we won! 2nd! We went up there and won about $300 worth of gear! amazing! Some great stuff sacks that were just what Skippy needed at that time to lighten his load. Also a platypus water holder, also just what Skippy needed so he wouldn't run out of water so much! Amazing how things work out that way! What a blessing! The folks that won where really good, probably in some bands, and wrote their own song about the AT. Who can beat that? It was a great feeling, but a little strange at the same time. We normally just play these little open mic things in Durham, where no one sees us. Now all these people saw us and we win something! Crazy. So next, we're still hungry, so we hitch a ride to the grocery store. My first time hitch-hiking! Another first. A nice lady picked us up on her way to dropping off something else for someone. Got chicken to grill for dinner. Yum! More rain at dinner, more eating in the truck. More wandering town. I know I'm super tired early in the evening, who knows why. On the way back to Tent City, we see the contra dance in the Rock building. We stop in and give it a try. No idea what we're doing, but people throw you around in the general right direction. Another first! It was great fun, and we stayed until the end! A full day! Made it back to Tent City in time to see the giant bon fire, complete with drummers, half-naked dancers, and fire-swallowers/breathers. Great Fun! We didn't stay long there. Back to sleep again for us. I'm a wimpy late night person.