Date: 2005-10-01
From: Damascus, VA

To: Rt. 421, TN
Miles today: 14.8

14.8 miles todayDave's Place HostelDamascus, Va.Rt 421, Tn on the trailHAPPY 80th BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!I'm in Tennessee on the trail!!!!! I went to bed about midnight last night and I didn't wake up again until 6am. I couldn't believe it was morning already. I tried laying there for a while, but I just felt like getting up, so I walked outside to go up to Cowboy's for breakfast and a guy in a car asked me if Jeff was here yet to do some shuttles. We got to talking and he was doing a section from Erwin, Tn back to here. He said his name was Beanie and I told him mine was Stumpknocker. He looked at me funny and asked if I was that friend of Froggies. I said; "Who??" He said; "Frogcallers." Boy, it's a small world out here. He and I had met in the wilderness in Maine earlier this year. I didn't remember him, but he remembered me because he said when I got to a ford, I just walked right through it without taking my shoes off. I do remember a hiker making a comment about that though. :-))) Hey Frogcaller, he says to tell you hello from Beanie. I walked on up to Cowboy's and Gypsy was there this morning. It was great seeing her again. We talked for a while and I asked about Wolf. She said he's training for an ultra 50 mile cross country race and that he's in great shape right now. Hopefully I'll get to see him before I hike out of Damascus. I had a couple sausage and egg biscuits and a sweet roll and COFFEE...yeah!!! I said that I was going to listen to what my body was telling me today and do whatever it said. Well, when I asked it, it said; "Hey you lazy sack of beans, are we going for a walk today or what??" I guess that means i'm feeling better. :-))) This is the best I've felt in quite a while and it's a beautiful day, so I think I will try and catch that shuttle that's going to Rt 421 and walk back to town today. It's only 15 miles. I got in on the shuttle. It was already scheduled, so all I had to do was wait until 9am and get in for the ride. There were 4 day hikers from Indianapolis going to walk from Rt 421 back to here today, so it worked out perfectly. TreeHugger shuttled us up to Low Gap, Tn. When I got out, I went over to the spring and dumped out my town water and got some good spring water. I started walking north heading back to Damascus at 9:30am. I didn't think I'd see the day hikers again until we got back to Damascus, but soon after I started walking, I ran into a sobo!! His name was Tug Boat and I'd seen his entries in the registers for a while. We talked about 10 minutes before I hiked on. I was feeling fantastic today!! What a difference it makes when you feel good. I had my ol' spring back in my step and I really liked where I was at again. I was going along and I saw a familiar face coming at me. I couldn't place who it was, but he saw me and said; "Stumpknocker, I've been expecting to see you soon." My memory started kicking in. I had dinner with him in Stratton, Maine in July. He had started in Harpers Ferry, WV and was walking to Katahdin before getting back on in Harpers Ferry and walking the rest of the trail south. His name was Restless and I'm real glad I ran into him again. He's lived a unique life for the last 8 years and I wanted to know more about it. He lived on a 34 foot sailboat and would move from season to season to different harbors in the caribean. I remembered his stories when we had dinner in Maine and they fascinated me. We talked about 20 minutes, meanwhile, the 4 dayhikers had passed by during that time. I got his email address and warned him that he was going to be hearing from me. :-))) I hiked on and saw a buck in the trail ahead of me that hopped off trail about 20 yards and watched me walk by. He had strange anlters...just a stub on the left side and about a 5 inch antler on the right. I kept thinking to myself about how good it feels to feel good. I walked on and saw Patagonius coming at me. I met him in Grayson Highlands. We stopped and talked about 5 minutes before hiking on. It was a beautiful day...sunny and near 70 maybe. I was making good time even with all the talking I was doing. I caught up to the 4 dayhikers on McQueens Knob. I walked on by them and got to Abington Gap Shelter where I stopped long enough to sign the register and then hiked on. I had walked a few miles when I saw another sobo coming at me. His name was Bewildered. I had read some of his entries, but I had gotten just ahead of him in Grayson Highlands. I think he went into Marion and got back on right after Chief had dropped me off. We talked a while before I hiked on. That's 2 sobos I ran into today. I came to the Virginia/Tennessee border a little later and got to say hello to PK. From there it was only 3 1/2 miles into Damascus. I walked by a small fair that was going on when I got to town and Jeff yelled at me. I went over and talked to him a while, then walked up and ate at Baja Cafe again. I settled up my tab at Mt Rogers Outfitters, then I remembered that Patagonius said there was an envelope for me at the church hostel, so I walked over there to see what that was about. It was the pictures that Rosalind Suit took when she did that fantastic trail magic for me up in Maryland earlier in September. She was passing through here a few days ago and dropped the pictures off in hopes of me finding them. Great pictures Rosie...thanks!! Too bad I missed you here. There was a note in the register there from Mountain Man. He said that if I called him while I was here, that he would fix me a good dinner. He used to own Side Track Cafe here in town. I tried finding his number, but couldn't, so I guess I'll see him next time. I met Moose at The Place while I was there. I had hiked around him some early last year when he did a long section hike. He's back out to do another 400 mile hike this year. I walked over to Sicily's for dinner, but it was too busy, so I went back to Baja's and had a lite dinner. It's good to be back!!!!