Date: 2006-05-27
From: Thornton Gap - 0 With Family

To: Thornton Gap - 0 With Family
Miles today: 0.0

Well today was a zero day for me. I'm visiting with family near Culpepper, Va.I slept in till 8:00am which is really late for me, even before my hiking days. It felt so good to be in a bed too. The house is in the country on a road with little traffic. The bedroom is very quiet with solid walls around me I didn't hear the wind, if there was any.I did do a little shopping today, I bought myself another Sony Walkman radio. I had another radio earlier in the hike but it was difficult to use. That radio was manually tuned, it had a rotating knob with the numbers in the window. The tuner was difficult to tune and the stations drifted easily. This one is digitally tuned so it will hold the frequency I'm on. It also has the weather band so I can hear The National Weather Service, and it has TV channels 2 through 13. One fellow hiker who has the same radio listens to the local news broadcasts for the weather each night, I think I'll give that a try.Hopefully I'll also be able to hear NASCAR either on radio or TV, I haven't heard or seen any races since I started the trail. I thought I was going to see one [Talladega] as I was in a motel that Sunday. The race was delayed to Monday and I headed back to the woods before it was run.When I resume my hike This Monday morning I'll will only have a few more days in Virginia left. I should be in Harpers Ferry by the beginning of June, whch isn't that far away. Harpers Ferry is considered the "Psycological halfway point". When I reach there I will have hiked over 1000 miles, that isn't really the halfway mark though, that happens at approximately the 1086 mile mark. The reason Harpers Ferry feels like the halfway is because "The Appalachian Trail Conservancy" headquarters is in HF and every thru-hiker visits it. When you arrive there they take your picture and tell you the you how many thru-hikers have passed ahead of you. Your picture is put in a book with your number on it. I won't know much more about where I stand for a year or so until the final data is posted at www.appalachiantrail.org .The real halfway is in Pennsylvania at Pine Grove Furnace State Park. There is a sign there for picture purposes. The sign never gets moved even though the halfway point does. Every time a trail section gets relocated the milage changes. the relocation can lengthen or shorten a section thus changing the milage. The trail work is ongoing and happening on a regular basis. I'll bet there are new sections in places I've passed this year. When I finish the trail will not be the same trail I traveled, there will be some change somewhere. When I send in the paperwork to be considered a 2000 miler, I will be saying I hiked the entire AT as it existed on the days I hiked it. As I head north I keep getting closer to home. This may give me opportunities to see family and friends. I look forward to those opportunities as they will be a welcome relief. As I get closer to the best points to meet I'll try to have a schedule layed out. Usually I know about where I'll be 3 to 4 days ahead. I make a plan of where I'll be based on mileage and terraine. The more hills I climb the shorter the mileage each day. Pennsylvania is know for the rocks in the trail. These rocks make the going difficult and will probably slow me down. I'll have to adjust my plan daily by the progress I make.If you are planning to come meet me please contact Sue a week ahead to get an idea of where I'll be.   Old Goat