Date: 2006-10-08
From: Ashby Gap, US 50

To: Va. 55, Manassas Gap
Miles today: 12.1

10/8/2006 Va. 55, Manassas Gap to Ashby Gap, US 50  S 12.1 MilesToday is Sunday October eighth, yesterday morning we had camped and slept in our vehicles at the Va 605 trailhead. Rained all night, was muddy, and we got up, we went down to McDonald's. Down the mountain to Front Royal, and it wasn't raining down there. So we did our thing in McDonalds and then said, let's hike, it¢s not raining now. So we go up the mountain and it¢s raining again. So we finally decided to take the day off, which was a good thing, because it ended up raining quite heavily at times throughout the day. So we went back and picked up Daves Vehicle and we drove it back into Front Royal, our favorite town it seems like. Terry and I got a room at Front Royal motel again. We cleaned up, I went to the grocery store with David to get some lunch, and Terry rested. I got back with our lunch, we ate and then we goofed off and took a nap and enjoyed life. And finally we got ready and we met David, who had walked down to East Main Street downtown, about a mile and a half away. He had found a really different restaurant called Soul Mountain. So we went there and had supper. it was very good food. Very well made, tasted great, many different cuisines. But the price was a little pricey for us. Dave ended up getting a free meal, they gave him the wrong meal, which he didn¢t know until he was almost done eating. His meal wasn't chicken, it was pork. So anyhow, it was all very interesting and then we walked down Main Street, in the drizzle. Looked at the shops, almost all were closed, picked up my tennis shoes, which I had left at the Weasel Creek Outfitters. They still had them from two days ago when I bought my new boots. And we went to the coffee shop again and Terry tried a strawberry banana smoothie, and I had some hot chocolate. So we're doing things on this trip that we would normally never do. And it's been a lot of fun. But today, we got up early, got up at 6:30, got Going at quarter after seven. We dropped off Daves vehicle down at Va725 in Mannassas gap. Then we drove back up here to Ashby gap at US 50 and Va 601, got on the trail at 8:15. And at 9:45 we stopped at a picnic table that was nice, went to Big Meadows State Park. And we've been hiking and it's been through open areas and then wooded, and the sun is just shining brightly.  We were in the clouds for a little bit up here higher, but now it's just beautiful day. We took lunch at 11:10, at five point six miles, at the turnoff to Dicks Dome shelter, Dave's down there right now checking it out for us, and then when he comes back here, we'll get on our way, and we have taken about a half hour lunch break. At 11:45 we left our lunch area and we continued on the trail.  At 2:30 we came to the Mannassas Gap shelter and there was a family with a husband, wife and their two children, two teenage girls, having their lunch. They were backpacking.  David was down there with us for just a few minutes and then he left. We took our boots off and really lay out for a while. It was nice log cabin looking shelter. Then we got back on the trail 3:15. We went across a number of old roads and then there was a neat looking stone fence. Throughout the day we were running across people, going the other way, and a number of dogs. There was Eddy the Jack Russell terrier and there was a husky and there was a boxer and you know just lots of dogs. Then towards the end, as we were heading down towards the car, there was like a group of eight kids coming up. And then another group of three gals, and they had a message from David for us. Hurry up, or he's going to leave us. Ha Ha Ha, anyhow at four thirty we came out to Manassas Gap. There was David, had all his stuff out, spread out, airing out his clothes. Anyhow so then we finally got going, went back and picked up our car. And now we finally found a motel for the night, Travelodge here at I-81 in Winchester, Exit 313. David is sleeping in his van in the motel parking lot. He can come in and use our shower and have continental breakfast tomorrow. And it's all on the up and up because he paid the extra guest fee. Just a beautiful day today. we did twelve point one miles and feel pretty good right now. And David's friends are in the area and we're going to all get together tomorrow to take a hike.