Date: 2017-09-13
From: Daleville

To: Johns Spring Shelter
Miles today: 18.8
Weather: clear sky

At 7:30 am I am walking out the motel room door, headed for the nearby trailhead, and I¢m thinking about relationships. Frodo is on her way to Denmark for a week and now not just the bulk of a continent will separate us, but an entire ocean and part of a continent. And last week, the night before parting, I nearly spoiled it, I finished my day of hiking behaving badly. This morning my right low back and butt cheek is at a simmer, tolerable, ignorable. But that evening a week ago, it had been at a boil. ¢Think about me; obsess about me!¢ The pain was an obnoxious, whiny 5-year-old. I acted annoyed when Frodo asked me questions, unappreciative when she tried to help. Withdrawing. I was heading on a collision course to spoil our last night together.I reached deep and stuck a stick in the spokes of the careening bicycle that was me. ¢San,¢ I said, (Frodo: my real name¢s Sandy, by the way) ¢I¢m really hurting and have been most of the day. I don¢t want to act like this.¢ I was saying, ¢help¢ and ¢I know I¢m being a jerk.¢ And with it out in the open, we could both work on righting the ship. And that, together with generous wine at dinner, led to a fine last night together. But another young couple I know have dug themselves a pit. That¢s why I was thinking about relationships. I hope they can dig their way out.Is this the AT? On one half-mile stretch, Tinker Cliffs, there are more viewpoints than there usually are in a week. And before that there are views at Hay Rock. And after Tinker Cliffs, later in the day will come the best view in all of Virginia, that calendar pin-up photo spot: McAfee Knob. The day clears up like it does only after a hard rain. There are enough clouds for character but no more. And there are not one, but three different overhanging rocks; the house-size slabs would provide dry space in a storm enough to protect a school classroom.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...There were more milestones today. We hit the two-thirds-done mark, and the ink ran out in my third pen since the start.Though I hiked alone the 12 miles to McAfee Knob, I met some great folks. Four first-time young backpackers were at my mid-day lunch shelter. They had most everything they carried hanging on a line drying out from yesterday¢s storm, but they were all smiles and had a warm fire going.Not long after that I ran into a couple from the opposite end of the age spectrum, out on a day hike to Tinker Cliffs.  Dale was so charged up about the AT tattoo, he put it on right then and there, on his forearm, and said excitedly, ¢I can¢t wait till they see this in church.¢ Here are Dale and Sharon. http://www.trailjournals.com/j...Finally, I had been worried about how I¢d get a photo of myself on McAfee Knob if no one was there. I was going to tie together a Rube-Goldberg tripod and put my camera on 10-second delay. But Anthony, Nickki, and Skyler were there and so patient taking photos with my smart phone. http://www.trailjournals.com/j... (Princesses: Don't try this until you're at least 21 years old.  Isn't that the age when your dad will let you start dating?)  The three of them have never backpacked and had hoped to meet a thru-hiker.  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...  We hiked the next two miles together, chatting ¢ one¢s an artist, two are in college. I even sang ¢The Scotsman¢ for them and they joined in on the booming chorus.