Date: 2011-06-22
From: Paul Wolfe Shelter

To: Grace Lutheran Church
Miles today: 5.0

Day 93 ¢ I did not put on my rain fly when I put my tent up so when I saw lightning at 10:15pm, I had to get out and do that. It did not rain until 4:15am and did not last very long. I slept ok and was up at 7:10am. Since I was going to hitch a ride with Dennis we both got on the trail at 7:55am.While hiking in the rain and sweat soaked shorts the last couple of days, my shorts rubbed me raw again. It was lower on my thigh than before but it still hurt. It was like a sunburn and in fact the skin rubbed off. This happened even though I had used Body Glide. I think it was the salt from the sweat and it just rubbed me like sandpaper. I will start rinsing out my shorts when given a chance. It hurt so bad this morning, I actually hiked in my underwear and it did ok. I realize that is too much information for many of you but it shows again how one has to be adaptable while on the trail to make things work. After the short 5 mile hike we were at Dennis¢ car (yes, I now had put on my shorts) at 10:10am. Dennis took me into Waynesboro to the YMCA, which had a very nice facility and caters to hikers. I had a nice hot shower, changed clothes and left a small donation so that Lisa would watch my pack all day. I gathered up my dirty, smelling clothes and headed off into town. There was a BBQ place mentioned in my guidebook and I asked Lisa about it and she said if I wanted to eat I should go to Ming Garden. I took her advice and I was glad I did. It was an AYCE Chinese buffet with an unbelievable selection. They had a great salad bar with boiled shrimp and a hot grill where you could put together your own concoction. Needless to say, I got my $14.00 worth. After stuffing myself there, I took off to the laundry mat and put in my wash. I had not eaten dessert at Ming so I walked over to an ice cream stand that was mentioned in my book and had a chocolate ice cream cone. After doing laundry, I had seen a flyer for free internet usage at a place downtown, so I headed in that direction. I got there and got logged on but the air conditioning was broken and since it was 88*F plus outside I elected to log off and go the library. The library was right across from the YMCA so that worked out well. I did stop by Kroger and restocked my summer sausage, cheese, bread and Gatorade for the next couple of days. The library was air conditioned and I entered several journal entries from there. The next thing on my agenda was to go to Grace Lutheran Church (ELCA); they offered free housing to hikers and a free dinner on Wednesday evenings. Finally, I was at the right place at the right time. What a great outreach program this is for this church. They have a large room where you can set up a cot that is provided, an area with 2 showers, a small TV room with snacks and they allow 15-20 hikers to stay there. Irma, a member at Grace, and her husband, Woody, were very instrumental in setting up this program 7 years ago. They do not open until 5:00pm but I was there at 4:30pm because I did not know how fast they would fill up. They allow a hiker to stay 2 nights so some were already registered. As it turned out, there were 18 of us that evening. We had a delicious dinner of taco casserole and chicken casserole, salad, and cookies and ice cream. For the first time in 3 months I had 2 showers in the same day, I am now spoiled. Grace has a bunch of great volunteers and provides a real haven for hikers. I started out on a cot but got up and blew up my sleeping pad and ended up on the floor and slept well. Several of us attended a short vespers service after dinner where Woody shared some of his hiking experiences around ¢perseverance.¢ With today¢s 5 miles my total is now at 854 miles and I am entering the Shenandoah National Park tomorrow, another mental milestone.