Date: 2019-06-06
From: The Vortex

To: Vortex
Miles today: 0.0

Today I was really set on leaving. I packed up my tent and moved all my stuff inside to pack up. My rain fly was a little wet from rain so I hung it out to dry. I was really set on leaving, but Tramp said I should talk to Acadicus about slackpacking deals and staying here. Acadicus and I talked it over and he suggested I zero again today. He said that it was going to rain and it was too late to slackpack today. I was a bit more reluctant this time to zero, but I agreed. My new plan was to zero today, slackpack 20 miles tomorrow, go to Trail Days in Troutville with him on the next day, and then slackpack one more 20-mile day the next day. It would be a total of 60 miles ahead of Pearisburg, and it would allow me to go to Trail Days in Troutville, which I would¢ve missed anyway since my original planned arrival date for Troutville was Sunday. Acadicus said I was fam and could stay in the bunk in his camper for free, so I was set on housing too. I was worried about money since the slackpacking wouldn¢t be cheap, but he said I could do a work for stay for the past two nights and then wouldn¢t have to pay for stay. I talked with Tramp too and it was set! I was feeling really comfortable and at home with these peeps. Ziggy was staying with Tramp and he was like family too, so we were all kind of the new zero squad here! Ziggy knew them from before. He had met them in New Hampshire on their thru-hike since he is from there. Tramp said I could clean the kitchen for my work for stay, but really deep clean. I did just that! I vacuumed, I mopped, I scrubbed the counters and moved everything off and organized it all. It was about three hours worth of work and it was a good use of time. It made me feel productive. I like to clean and enjoyed making the kitchen look nice. It got dirty very quickly though with all these hikers! Haha. I met some slackpackers, Noodle, No Rush, and a girl who keeps changing her name. They had done three days of slackpacking too and were really awesome. They wanted to go to Trail Days so they got a shuttle there from Angel¢s Rest and were going to make the miles up later. Acadicus went to go pick them up, and I was going to come with, but I was tired and didn¢t want to sit in the car for three hours. It would¢ve been fun though and I think Acadicus wanted the company on his long drive, so I should¢ve joined him. I hung out at the fire with Tramp, Ziggy, Blazer, Chug, and a guy named Pop Tart. It was a funny night, as someone brought up ¢a moment you pooped your pants on trail¢. Most people said ¢nope, never happened,¢ but Ziggy said ¢well I once had an aggressive sneeze.¢ I¢m pretty slow and literal sometimes so I thought he literally meant that he had this big sneeze and it went everywhere and it was a mess. I later understood that it was not just a sneeze. Lol. I was laughing so hard and Acadicus has pointed out that when I laugh, I squeak. And they all found it so funny they named me Pip Squeak and Noise Box. Both awesome trail names honestly, but I love my Little Debbie name. Eventually Acadicus showed up after his shuttling. He seemed pretty tired. We all relaxed and chatted for a while and then he went to bed and I went to his camper too. I¢m a little anxious about the zeros, but I¢m also really enjoying being with these awesome peeps, so it¢s a hard balance. At least I¢m going to slackpack tomorrow! Little Debbie