Date: 2015-05-27
From: Stealth Campsite Near 716.9

To: Howard Johnson Daleville, VA
Miles today: 11.3
Weather: light rain

Today I struggled.I did have a decent night's sleep last night, thanks to Tylenol PM (and Yoda who carried it), but when I woke I found I had no voice. Win some, lose some, I suppose.I had left my vestibule half open all night, which meant I could see the sun light up the mountains across the valley just before six. Not a bad way to wake up! So I scrambled out of my tent to take some more photos of the same valley that I already photographed a few dozen times last night. Thank god for digital photography! My friend Lynn and I were texting last night and she asked if I could imagine carrying film. Eh, no!I equalled my earliest departure out of camp (6:45, it's the no-tea breakfast that makes that possible) and a good thing it was, because once again (for what feels like the umpteenth time in the last week or so), I had no oomph. I wasn't tired, i didn't feel like I was working particularly hard, but I did feel like I should be going a lot faster than I was, given the effort.I had about 11 miles to ponder my oomph-less and voiceless state and I concluded that maybe my body was telling me to take a zero. I also contemplated renting a car here in Daleville and going home for a few days, but then I worried I might get too comfortable at home and not get back to the trail. A zero seemed the right solution.So, when Yoda passed me (as she inevitably does every day), I told her of my new zero plan, knowing that she probably would leave Daleville tomorrow. And that is how it worked out. But first, there was lunch with Cherokee! The hike to Daleville was mostly unremarkable (though it did have some nice views) so we'll move right along to lunch. After much indecision, we went to the local BBQ place, which was so good, Yoda and I went back for dinner! We had the same server, who recognized us so we told her that though we wore the same clothes, both we and the clothes had been cleaned since lunch! At lunch, we caught up with Cherokee and came up with schemes to tell our respective readers that we'd had a huge fight and that is why we're not hiking together anymore. (Btw, it's hard to tell how it's going to work out, but we may end up back in the same bubble in a week and a half, so who knows. I have certainly enjoyed hiking together. And now I'll have to hang my own bear bag! . )Daleville is pretty much an intersection of two highways, but there is a little strip mall within walking distance of HoJos (I love saying that) that houses a good outfitter, a really nice coffee shop, a Kroger supermarket and the aforementioned BBQ place. I can kill some time there and get my chores done at the same time. I managed to leave my (new, bought in Damascus) socks hanging in a tree at this morning's camp site, so there will be at least a sock purchase at the outfitter, and possibly new shorts. My current ones are about to fall off my ass, though not quite as badly as Yoda's. At least hers have a drawstring. Lastly (but most definitely not leastly, not that leastly is an actual word), I received a lovely card from a reader of this journal, Bill Nestor, sent to the outfitter. It was such a great thing to read your card (impeccably timed, too!) and thank you so much for the gift as well. I never thought when I started this journal or this journey that these kinds of wonderful messages would be part of it. Thank you.Tomorrow, I will eat, resupply and read a romance novel by the pool. It's going to be an exciting day. Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?