Date: 2003-05-16
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Damascus: 5/15, 5/16, 5/17Well, as usual, being in town has robbed me of my ability to keep up with my journal... Hanging out with people that I've been hiking with recently as well as those I started out with occupies most of my time. There is a kind of carnival atmosphere here in Damascus. It's not a big town by any means, and here too, as in Hot Springs, the Trail runs right through town. For the townspeople, I believe that Trail Days is both a big event and a big pain in the butt. Kinda like Hallowe'en for the city of Salem...just for a shorter period of time. The restaurants and stores get overwhelmed with the volume of people coming through, lines are long and people get impatient. I'm trying to remain calm and not fall back into my ways of the "real world." So far, so good. I've been able to catch up with so many people here...Nuts, Twigs, Dutch, Cruiser, Reason, Laffy Taffy, Groovy, Snot Rocket, Phobia, Hoops, Mothman, Rambler, The Dealer, Taro, Moose Munch, Argon, Psycho Pat, GI Gyp!sy, Puff Daddy, Very Small Animal, Mr. Pumpy, Double A, IB, Jay, Famous Shoes and Happy Feet...and more. I even saw Mountain City! He lives near here, and wanted to see people he hiked with...it was so wonderful to talk with him for a little while. There are vendors here, selling lots of gear, and repairing gear as well. The Leki reps are cleaning and repairing any brand of trekking poles for free...very cool. They gave Dutch an award for having the cleanest, most well taken care of poles that they had seen (he was so proud!). There are also lots of food vendors...typical fair fare (okay...I had to get some kettle corn...yum!). It's a bit of a sensory overload...not as bad as Gatlinburg, but it's still somewhat overwhelming. I can't spend a lot of time down at the vendor area...it's too tempting, and I can't afford to re-do all my gear. I did get a summer weight sleeping bag...a microfleece, and a new, lighter cookset that will replace my pot and cup. I ordered a !lighter weight, microfleece jacket from Campmor.com which should be here by the time I walk back into Damascus in a week. Thursday night there was much partying in the Side Track Cafe, where Q and Jonachi performed. They were able to sell quite a few of their CDs, which will help them get to Katahdin...yay! Then a bunch of us went over to the Old Mill, from which we were able to see the lunar eclipse quite well. It was really beautiful...and amazing that we were able to see it, as all day long it had been storming. We then went back to The Place where we met Paw Paw, an older gentleman who was the oldest person to thru-hike the Trail. He was so funny, and such a great story teller. He had us all laughing hysterically, and brought me to tears a few times as he told us stories of his life and his times on the Trail. Then, it was time to go to sleep...I had moved out into the yard, tenting, as I just don't sleep well in bunkrooms. Friday was filled with more meeting and greeting, as more hikers came into town...both past and current thru-!hikers. The weather cooperated most of the time, although we got rained on at least once every day. I needed a hair touch-up, so Cruiser was my hairdresser for the afternoon...it looks much better. I went out to visit Tent City for the first time that evening. It was packed with people, and there were some specific camps set up...Billville, Hobo Central and, off course, Miss Janet's Place. It was pretty much mayhem, but lots of fun...At 7, several of us went to Abingdon to see The Matrix Reloaded, which was okay...definitely not as good as the first one. And talk about sensory overload...the digital sound was almost deafening to me. When we got back to Tent City, there was a fire burning and some people were drumming. I thought about staying for a bit, but I was tired and the energy just didn't feel quite right to me. I said goodnight to Reason and Cruiser, and they insisted on walking me home. We ended up getting a ride, and meeting up with No Pepsi in the kitchen at The Place. After chatting for awhile, I said goodnight to Mom and Dad (I just can't call them Reason and Cruiser anymore...I've dubbed them my Trail parents.) and No Pepsi, and went to my tent. Saturday...the day of the Hiker Parade. I really just did a lot of hanging out till the parade started. I got a water gun for the event, as I had heard that if you weren't armed, you were vulnerable. Not only do many of the hikers have water balloons and squirt guns, but the spectators do as well. The weather cleared up just in time for the parade, so it was hot and sunny for the quite wet festivities. After the parade, people just kind of milled around the vendor area. Mom, Dad and I got some wine and went back to Tent City. It was a very mellow afternoon. We went to the Italian restaurant for a late dinner, and then for the second night in a row, I got walked home to The Place. I said goodnight to Mom and Dad and went to bag...