Date: 2005-05-15
From: Trail Days Parade

To: Starting A New Leg Of This Life.
Miles today: 0.0

After the parade on Saturday, I went to get my free spaghetti dinner that was being given out at the center of the town. I was happy to see that that was a plethora of food, and so as I ate, I realized that I hadn¢t paid for a dinner in quite a while. Somehow, I had gotten a free meal this whole week it seemed like. Dinner consisted of spaghetti with a great sweet meat sauce, garlic bread, and toast, beans (I love beans), and sesame breadsticks. There were a lot of different drinks too, and it was awesome to see beverages like carrot juice and cranapple. Dessert was equally great and filling and I got a little of each of the offerings, chocolate cake, an orange velvet style cake and others. I ate dinner with fusion, kb, Funnel Cake Tophat, and then I saw a guy I hiked with the first week named good times from Bristol and so we chatted and ate. I got some free wheat thins, and some free sunflower seeds and then we went to sit on a bench and cut up. Sunflower quickly joined us. It was hilarious, I had brought my guitar, and so we played some power ballads from the eighties and sang really loud and everyone walking by was laughing really loud and applauding. I remembered sitting on the same bench a few days ago with Tophat and we were talking to this guy, who was putting on sunscreen, and he had it smeared all over his face, and he didn¢t realize it, he continued talking to us, and I felt like a dumb little kid at church who knew better than to laugh but accidentally let it escape. Tophat was laughing too, and then his friends walked up and they didn¢t tell him he had sunscreen globs all over his cheeks either. As soon as he would look away we would start laughing violently, trying really hard not to, but it was inevitable. It was very comical. After we left the bench because we ran out of songs to sing, we went to the old mill for happy hour drinks and the dollar drafts. We got the big poofy chairs in the middle of the bar and felt like kings, in this fancy bar, which was quickly becoming crowded with non-hikers. We wanted to dance, but it was crowded and the music wasn¢t loud. At the table was sunflower, fusion, tomato head, funnel cake tophat, saxy showed up with dandy, and panoramic was there too, everyone eventually showed up, and then locals came to talk with us also. It was great. I said that I felt this was our party, because I felt accomplished that the parade was finally over, and we can continue hiking. We had made it, and now the trail will change drastically and I can¢t wait. I left the bar and went back to the hostel to sleep, and everyone else went to the campground. Sunday May 15:I woke up and ate my typical pancake breakfast with KB and said goodbye to him, and headed to get my guitar to play for while before church. I played in the hostel since it was raining and played with the idea of taking a nap. I went to church and enjoyed myself, and got to see what their services were like, and then when I left it had finally stopped raining. I left church and went to the Mexican to use their computer since the library was closed because I wanted to check the weather forecast which looked good after this morning, and then I went to go play guitar in the street for the people leaving town today, and then I took a nap, followed by a really long yoga session. Tophat, Saxy, Sunflower, Redbeard, Zen, Panoramic, and Everyone got to the hostel and so I thought it would be cool that evening to have everyone there. Me and tophat walked to the grocery store b/c I wanted some apples and milk, and on our way back, we saw Inspector gadget and his dad who was visiting, and his dad treat us to some big burritos at the Mexican place. At dinner, I talked to tophat about surfing and I thought about how I always wanted to learn how to, because I could surf year round, and I can only snowboard for five months. I thought about moving to the outer banks or Sebastian Inlet in Fla this winter to surf and pondered what I would have to do to make it happen, and then I also thought about moving down during the spring so I wouldn¢t have to miss the snowboarding season¢¦We played Frisbee after going to Dairy for banana splits and after chilling with everyone at the hostel, I finally went to bed. Monday May 16:I woke up late this morning for a change, at around 8:30¢¦I knew today was my last breakfast at The Dairy King and so I was sad. I went to Dairy King with saxy, tophat, panoramic, and everyone else. WE sang happy birthday to sunflower and had a ball in the restaurant playing to jukebox and having fun. Not everyone is leaving today and so many goodbyes are being said, because usually everyone knew that they would see one another at trail days, but there is no common stopping from here on out, so the trail becomes more personal. I got to the hostel after breakfast and there was a sign on the dooor saying everyone had to pack up because there was a huge new group coming in, so I guess everyone is going to hop back on the trail or get another room somewhere¢¦. Before I sign off today, I want to say that I am completely healed, physically and mentally and I am really excited for this new portion of the journey, which will be totally different. I can¢t wait to see what is coming up, and so I¢ll write later¢¦ Take it easy everyone!BOTTLE-ROCKET Heading off to flight. 500 miles through Va.