Date: 2007-07-29
From: Davis Path Shelter

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

So its morning and I can still feel negativity in my attitude. I am trying to wash it away with positive thoughts, but I think its gonna take more than thoughts to make it go away. I think its gonna require some good pampering like a shower, laundry, and real food and calls home to friends and family. Chief is supposed to meet me today at Partnership Shelter and I hope he brings along more than fried chicken! Chocolate cake would be good. I've been craving the kind that my mom always makes for my dad's birthday. Maybe she'll bring one on Friday. A ride to town for a shower and laundry would be great too. But I think a hug and conversation would be best.These last few days as my frusration with the weather has increased so has my emotional level. I guess this is to be expected as I come to the completion of a dream. Wanting it to be done, to see family and friends, to have the sense of accomplishment. Not wanting it to ever end, I mean why would you want a good thing to end? Its like college - you can't wait to get out (as we say at GT), but as soon as you graduate, you want nothing more but to be back in school.Well, the sun is up and I'm out of food. 3 miles to a hardy breakfast at the Barn in Groseclose, then another 11 more to meet Chief. More later.It was a three mile hike to the interstate and I tried to go slow and notice all the beauty the morning after a storm can offer. Like the slanting rays of sun shining through the trees radiating as they hit the moist air, delicate drops of water on the tips of the leaves overhanging the trail, wild blackberries and their bittersweet taste, the bounciness of a cottontail rabbit, the intricacy of a spider web, the brillance of a black-eyed susan, the fleeting hello of a hummingbird. But I still feel sad and tired, gloomy like the weather. I'm writing this at a table in The Barn Restaurant. I just ordered the 2x4 - 2 eggs, 2 bacon, 2 sausage, 2 pancakes, home fries, toast and sweet tea. Hopefully, this will put a pep in my step...and, won't make me hurl as soon as I get back to the trail! Called Chief and he is planning to meet me and take me back to his cabin for a shower, laundry and a real bed. What a generous offer - I couldn't ask for more! I also called home and talked to the folks. It's always good to talk to the ones you love. I think we are all looking forward to seeing each other on Friday. Well, better get walking if I'm gonna meet Chief!As I was sitting at the table during breakfast, I saw two hikers heading north. Wished they were going south - would love to have some company.Yes, breakfast was a good thing for me. My spirit is lifted and I feel more energized. The weather is even being agreeable. I leave the road and walk through a field and soon come to the Settler's Museum. I only take time to check out the Lindamood School, a one room school house built and operated in 1894. Very interesting. I particularly like the list of punishments for ill behaved children. I can't wait to implement some of them this year with my students! The journal at the school indicates that the female hiker I saw outside the Barn restaurant was Crabapple, a hiker I met near Albert Mtn in June. I hate it that we didn't meet up again. I would have liked to have heard about her hiking experiences since I saw her in June.Upon leaving the school, I passed under an extremely powerful and loud powerline. Who knew that somewhere in this great big country someone has to listen to the sound of electricity passing through wires as it travels from the sub station to my house. It makes you appreciate the simplicity and solitude of the trail. It also amazes me at how heightened my senses have become. And, then the trail got rocky. So, you know what I do when things get rocky, I take a break. Luckily, I'm at the Chatfield shelter, but I won't break long as I am looking forward to my reward at the end of today's hike. (The rocks didn't end until I got within about a half mile from the road where I met Chief!) As I leave the shelter, a bug flies into my mouth. I about half gag and half wet myself trying to cough the bug out. I've got to learn how to breath during a cardiovascular workout with my mouth closed. There is nothing worse than having a bug fly down your throat!As I am coming down Glade mountain, I begin to smell a campfire and wonder how anyone got a fire going with all this damp wood due to a week's worth of rain. Then I meet who I am going to call, Nascar Bubba. I round a curve in the trail and see a man standing there with a big garbage bag on his foot and a beer in a coosie in his hand. He's missing a few teeth and has a rhaspy smoked-too-many-cigarettes voice. He seems very excited to talk to me so I reciprocate. This is by far not the full account of our conversation, but it highlights it pretty well. "Hi, yous walkin the Appa-latch-in Trail?""Yes""You-a goin to Georgia?""No, not that far this time.""Where ya from?""Georgia""Well, Ima curious fella and I like to know things. Some folks don't but I do. Ima from right here in Smythe County. Whatcha think about Smythe County?""It's nice so far.""Well, you-a got 'bout 30-50 more miles of it to hike. You like Nascar?""I don't know that much about it.""Well Smythe County's got the fastest short track around. You hearda Bristol?""Yes. I've heard of it" I tell him about my cousin Dennis who races hot rods, oh what do you call that kind of racing? Where the cars go fast in a straight line? Oh well. Doesn't matter anyway as he is only interested in making left hand turns and going from like 180 mph to 70 mph in order to make that turn safely.Anyways, it goes on like this for a while. I find out that his foot is wrapped in ace bandages, ice, and the trashbag because he "had an altercation with a tractor." He asks if I am hiking alone and I fib and say no, that I have a friend just up ahead (but with Chief meeting me at the road, it really isn't a fib.) He seems concerned with my safety as I am a woman and all. He seems sincere and I am sure he's harmless, but I am ready to move on, ready to meet Chief and soon be out of my mildewed clothes, drinking a beer and eating food that's not rehydrated. I get to the road crossing where his family and friends have made the fire (using gasoline as a starter) and they ask if I have seen him. I let them know he's right behind me, and they laugh like he's the crazy wildcard character of the family. I don't know why he wanted to go on a hike with a broken toe wrapped in a plastic bag. But I think its best not to question some things. Its a short and steep uphill to the top of Locust Mtn, then back downhill so I can climb another Brushy Mtn. I don't know why they call every mountain in VA Brushy. They ought to call them Rocky Ridge Mtn because thats what they all are. You follow the ridgeline, sometimes getting ledgy but always with tons of rocks. The yucky, roll under your feet kind. I swear I think they collected every rock in Smythe County and put it up on this ridge. I start to hear traffic and can even see the road so I know I am getting close to the end of this very long week. I arrive at the road and there is Chief in his truck. He gets out and greets me with a big smile and hug. Just what I needed. We sit on the tailgate and I take off my still wet socks and shoes and you wouldn't believe how striveled up and pocked my feet are. I should have taken a picture, but who wants to preserve the image of something so gross? As smelly as I am, he lets me sit in the cab with him and then he offers me a cold Diet Coke or Cream Soda. I'm in heaven. All of the past week's bitterness is erased. It's all gonna be okay. Better than okay.It's about a 45 minute drive to his cabin and we have lots to talk about. He stops at Ingles for beer and fried chicken and then we go to his cabin, really a mountain house. We chill on his porch drinking a beer and putting out all of my wet gear to dry. I shower and feel like a new woman. Then we have a delicious dinner of fried chicken, potato salad, and pork beans. Stumpknocker calls and we take turns giving him some good ribbing. Put the dirty clothes in the laundry and then plan out our slackpacking options for the remainder of the week. I'm up later than my usual 9 pm bedtime, but it was all worth it. I climb into a bed with cotton sheets and fluffy pillows, sprawl out and fall asleep.