Date: 2003-04-29
From: South of VA623

To: Helveys Mill Shelter
Miles today: 17.9
Weather: light rain

What. A. Day. The cloudless night turned into a cloudful morning. I woke up at 6:30am. (WHY? I don't know.) As I was laying there, watching the sunrise, I noticed it wasn't getting much brighter. Then I looked around and saw some clouds. I thought "It's just fog. It'll burn off." I wrote some postcards, then heard light rain falling. As I debated putting the fly on my tent, or packing up, it stopped. No one else was up yet. Finally, over an hour later, Fly, Smoothie and Hotdog showed signs of awakeness. We were all going about our morning rituals (breakfast, tent breakdown, potty usage) when we heard thunder. We went about our morning rituals much quicker. I think we were all about packed up when the rain started. Since it interrupted breakfast, we decided we'd eat at the next shelter, about 4 miles away. The rain was off and on most of the way, and I was able to take off my rain jacket (It makes me sweat anyway.) about a mile from the shelter.This shelter, Jenkins Shelter, supposedly has a "must-see" privy, so I went to see. It was pretty cool, not what I'd call a must-see, but I took some pictures anyway. The three walls and concrete floor are painted, and the back wall says "Feed Me". Unique, to say the least.Fly, Smoothie and I cooked some oatmeal, and we called this break "brunch" since it was around 11am. Hotdog and I planned to go into Bland to resupply, and we found out there's a Dairy Queen there, so Fly and Smoothie were considering it too. The road crossing to Bland was 11.5 miles away, so we thought we'd arrive around 6pm, and could be there late enough to stay in a hotel, but we'd see how it went and decide later.We had a beautiful, and fun walk for the next 5 miles, crossing a stream 12 times. It was fun coming to a stream crossing, figuring out the rock-hopping puzzle, and trying not to fall while crossing. There were no falls. Yet.At the end of that 5 miles, Hotdog sat down before crossing a road, and Chameleon, a fellow thruhiker, yelled to us from across the road "There's a cooler full of cold stuff here!" We quickly got up, grabbed our packs and headed over. Sure enough, there was a cooler with V8 and Grape Juice in it, a garbage can, and a picnic table. We all enjoyed the cold drinks, and got rid of some garbage. Thank you Methodist Church!Fly and Smoothie decided they probably wouldn't go into Bland, so we set up a tentative camping/meeting place, if/when Hotdog and I got out of town. Then Hotdog and I were on our way. Seven miles to town. Paces are never quicker than the miles to town. They seemed to fly by, and all I had on my mind was FOOD.When we got near the road, we found remnants of Trail Magic (empty soda cans and water bottles in a garbage bag, weather forecast in a ziplock) and were bummed we missed out. But we already received some earlier, so weren't too disappointed. Besides, we were going to Town! There was one curious thing though: a sticker on the ziplock with the weather forecast said "In Memory of Ted "Soleman" Anderson..." and had an email address. Hotdog and I both memorized the email address, thinking we'd have to find out who this Trail Angel is.We got to Va21/52, and were shortening our hiking poles when one car came around the corner. I stuck my thumb out, but no ride. A minivan, coming from town pulled off the road, right by us, and before stopping, the driver asked "Are you Wench and Hotdog?" Surprised, we said "Yes" and he stopped. "I'm George Fisher, a friend of Ted's." I remembered Ted mentioning him. He gave us cold soda, and offered us a ride to town. We accepted and had him drop us off at the grocery to resupply. He said we were the 7th and 8th that he'd shuttled since he got off work today at 3pm. He gave us directions to the restaurant, and said he'd check on us after he ran some drinks to the trail. We told him Fly and Smoothie were behind us, so he could be on the lookout for them. As it turns out, they'd already passed by, and he drove ahead to track them down and give them sodas too. What a guy!We did our shopping, walked to the Citgo with a restaurant and had some real grub! Turkey sub for me, plus a corn dog! We met a couple of section hikers while we were eating, and talked with them for a while. We'll probably see them in the next few days, before Pearisburg. George stopped in to see how we were doing, and said he'd wait in his van, with his dog, Gina. We finished up, and rode back to the trail with him. Along the way, we talked about Ted, and Ted's Flag. He didn't realize we were carrying it to Katahdin, and wanted a photo of it. When we got to the road, we got the Flag out, and he took a picture. It was great meeting him, but I'm sorry Ted wasn't around to introduce us. He is a great Trail Angel to hikers, even though he does no hiking himself. We thanked him, and went on our way, down the road to cross I-77.As we were crossing the interstate, I motioned to truckers to honk, and three of them did. Hotdog, not knowing I was doing that, turns around and says "Hey, they're honking at us!" I laughed, and told him why. It was fun either way.We thought Fly and Smoothie would be just into the woods, near a creek, but we didn't see them. Hotdog whistled, but no response. We decided to head on into the woods. Unfortunately, the trail went uphill, and we kept climbing, finally deciding we might as well go on to the shelter, even though it was 0.3 off the AT. When we got to the shelter, it was full, with 6 people already tenting. It was well after 8pm, and we set up camp too. No sign of Fly and Smoothie. I'm sure we'll meet up with them tomorrow.I'd brought up some Chips Ahoy cookies, but most people were already in their tents or sleeping bags. PopPop peeked his head out, and asked who was moving in next door, then said goodnight and crawled back in.   Ben/Spoon Man, Wicked Wizard, Jasper, and Chameleon split one pack of cookies, and Hotdog and I split the other one. Aaaahhhhh... a pound out of the pack!!Somehow, once again, we went farther than planned, but it's okay. Our distance to Pearisburg is shorter than expected, so we'll either have three easier days, or push hard for two. Probably what we'll end up doing is have two days around 15 miles, and then a short day into town. I know Fly and Smoothie are taking a zero there, and I'm about due too, but, as usual, I'll just see how it goes.Right now, I'm glad to be off my feet, and in my tent. There are a couple of owls hooting around, and a coyote in the distance saying his share too. There's also the rustling of the neighbors, but nothing bothersome, just zippers and sleeping bags. I forgot about my fall today! Before Hotdog and I left the church's trail magic, I went back to the creek to get water for all of us. Just as I started to squat down to fill the water bag, my feet slipped forward, I fell backwards, and ended up on my back with my feet up in the air! I laughed, and was a little disappointed no one saw me, because they surely would've had a laugh too! I can't imagine how that would've looked to someone else!