Date: 2012-04-23
From: Damascus. VA - Hikers InnÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ 

To: Damascus. VA - Hikers InnÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Day 29 - Monday, April 23rdHiking Days 22 / Nero Days 5 /  Zero Days 2Start Location: Damascus. VA - Hikers Inn Mile Marker: 467.1Ending Location: Damascus. VA - Hikers Inn Mile Marker: 467.1Time: 0h 0minMiles: 0.00 - Zero Day #2Weather: very cold around 32 with an official windchill of 24.  Snow of 1"-3" expected with moderate to strong winds.  Sun came out in afternoon.  46 with windchill of 39 at 3:30.  High for the day is 48 which with all the warnings really was not all that bad. Day started early.  Up at 5:15.  Hit the wonderfully flushing, heated bathroom just a short walk from my very comfortable room.  Was awake so I started to update my incomplete journals.  Not many but they still needed updating.  Worked on these untill about 8:00.  Then up and out to breakfast.  Upon leaving the Inn, it was cold and even a touch of wet snow was falling.  Over to the Dairy King.  Calves was finishing up there.  He was out to the trail today.  It was nice hiking with him a bit.  He is the first hiker to pass me that started after me which I am aware of.  He started on the 31st.  It took me exactly four weeks to hit Damascus which is very respectable.  He came in five days under that.  He has his legs and his head is around his hiking.  He has hit the groove and is off and running.  I won't see him again. At the Dairy King had a ham and cheese omelet with a side of sausage and four cups of coffee for $10 including a great tip.  Nice start to my zero day.  Back to my room for a bit and now leaving for the post office, the outfitters and possibly a stop at the coffee cafe.  Picked up my mail drop.  I could tell I was rushed when I packed it.  No battery, no zip locks, no flex-force bag (replacement for by pack liner) no rubber bands.  Missing all the small stuff.  No biggy I guess.  I'll make it work. Made my final gear switch choice.  Decided to keep the pants until Pearisburg.  As much as I wanted to dump them the safe and practical alternative with the current weather situation would be to hang on to them for another week or so.  Instead I sent my only other shirt back.  Decided to keep my windshirt for now since I have found it to be both versatile and reliable.  Since I kept my windshirt I sent back my dragonfly windbreaker that was going to replace the windshirt.  I also sent back my heavier night socks and replaced them with lighter ones.  Of course with the purchase of my new rain jacket I sent back my other one.  It will be sent back to Patagonia once I get back.  And of course I received my new shoes for the next leg through VA and beyond.  For lunch I walked over to the coffee shop. Purchased two eggs with a bagel and coffee.  With my refill I picked up a warm cinnamon roll with frosting.  While there I looked what the. Ext section was like.  It will include a five day section averaging over 25 miles a day if all goes well.  It will include the Partnership Shelter, which is always an interesting stop and the first  crossing of I-81 10 miles later.  Then on to Pearisburg.   So after lunch, back to my room, boxed up the return items, to the post office, the Dollar General for resupply, the outfitters for fuel and two mountain house meals and on to my quest to find my headlamp battery.  So far, of four stops, no one seems to have one.  I have one more semi-outfitter to go to after this section of my journal is complete.  I have to motivate myself because the outfitter is on the other side of town where I went for lunch.  My light is nearly dead and if I can't find a battery, I'll be without a head lamp for ten days.  I always have my squeeze pack light.  Most hikers need their 100 lumen lamps and I'll be headed to the hills with no lamp at all.  The only bad part is I'll have to carry the ounce of my headlamp without having any value in carrying it.  I also may stop at the laundry and wash my cloths one more time on the way back since there will be no washing opportunities for a week or more.  Ill be rinsing in the stream.  One nice thing is while at the outfitters I purchased this mini 1oz bottle with tini-tiny spout on it for my fuel.  Now I could dispense exactly one once for my large meals and 1/2oz for my hot chocolate and oatmeal.  My Ramen is somewhere in-between.  I'll see how this works.  If not, then it goes back with my pants at Pearisburg.  One area of disappointment so far is my body weight.  You would think that with my minimal food and bigger miles that my fat belly would go down.  It hasn't.  I don't understand why not because my goal was to loose 15 pounds by now.  If I have lost five that would be a lot.  Well, let's crank up the mileage a notch and see how that works.   As it turns out, I think the slack I was hoping for tomorrow is not going to pan out.  No one does it.  I wanted a 23.5 mile back to Damascus.  Oh well.  It will save me the slack fee plus another night at the Inn.  Next slack possibility isn't  until Dutch Haus.  Bummer. Nearly 500 miles and still no slack.  I guess you can say that i'm slacking on my slacking.  I ran into the German couple.  As it turns out they are here at the inn this evening.  I guess they had another real snorer at the Place that kept them up for a second night in a row.  Calves told me that this happened when I saw him this morning and she confirmed it when I saw her on the street.  So I went to the other outfitters.  They had my ion headlamp but no batteries for it.  They even indicated that someone came in earlier asking for one and they sell the lamp but still don't put it together.  Da Stop at the dairy king on the way back and grabbed a shake.  Ok but not worth $3.  After looking at my pants I decided to go for a final load of delicates.  That would include my pants, ground sheet and windshirt.  I also threw in my underwear and bandannas just for good measure.  When done  here I'll take one more shower, pack up and head over for a final dinner.  Calzone tonight.  Hit bed early, breakfast in the morning, and do a shorter 17 mile day.  I don't want to camp in the Highlands with bad weather around.  Iris completely exposed and cold even on a nice day.  After that my 25 plus miles pace begins. Shower done, nearly packed.  Now at Quincey' Pizza and Pub. Actually they don't call it a pub since that would probably cause an issue with the town.  For a small town there had to be at least 12-15 churches around the immediate area.  Many are in the store fronts of downtown.  Ordered my last dinner in town.  A calzone with sausage and opinions and of course a sport sized beer.  Looking forward to breakfast and then back on the trail.  Still cold tomorrow but its time to go.  Not sure when I will have signal again.  I would like to take this time to thank everyone who has signed guest book.  If you haven't ... Scree you.  LOL. Realty only kidding.  The sport sized beer is really large and I'll blame it on that.  Take care.  And despite the sometimes poor attitude on religion among the hiking community may God bless you, your day and your life.  Faith is not a bad thing.  Get over it.  Be happy.