Date: 2007-05-17
From: Abingdon Gap Shelter

To: Damascus, Virginia
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: clear sky

May 17, Finally in Virginia!We made it! I am officially out of Tennessee and North Carolina! I got up today at 6 a.m. and it was 41 degrees in my tent. I really wanted to go back to sleep and get up when it warmed up a bit. But I also knew the sooner I got going, the sooner I'd be in Virginia, the sooner I'd get to shower, and the sooner I could wash my clothes. So, I sat there and stared at my gear for a moment trying to decide what was dry enough to put on in such low temperatures. I decided on my rain pants, fleece, my neck gaiter, my hat, and rain jacket. It had been a while since we'd seen such low temps and I just wanted to be comfortable. Everything I have was wet to some degree. My rain fly was wet inside and out so I got up and started wiping that off as I froze my hands off! I made some hot Earl Grey and tried to hurry out of camp.I got on the trail at 8 a.m. and shed layers of gear as I went along. It took a while to warm up because the terrain was pretty easy, okay by me though. I was cruisin'. I just wanted to make it to VA. Six miles later, Mayo and Cobweb were in front of me and I heard "welcome to Virginia!" MapMan and Robin from the Class of 2006 were at the state line delivering trail magic! They welcomed us to VA and made us PB&Js and gave us cookies. They took our pictures and shared stories from their hikes. I celebrated with Cobweb, Mayo, He-Man and She-ra for a while and then waited for Certain to arrive so we could take our usual cheesy photos. I snapped some pictures of everyone - Mayo told me I couldn't post the photo of him and Cobweb hugging on the internet - whoops! When Certain arrived, she got a triple-decker PB&J! We started hiking again at 11:30 a.m. and about and hour and ten minutes later, I'd hiked the last four miles to Damascus! I stopped immediately to change into my Crocs and wait for Certain. It was a beautiful sunny day. Once Certain was there, we headed downtown past all of the people setting up for Trail Days. We headed to the laundromat and were there for a few hours as we washed all of our clothes. Certain ran to the post office to pick up our packages - I got the most exciting package from my mom - a box filled with all of my favorites! Pinwheels, Geneva Pepperidge Farm cookies, bagel chips, trail mix, Wheat Thins, Chex Mix, summer sausage, pistachios, etc. Thank you, Mom. I promise to share with Certain. I also got another postcard from David in Georgia - cracked me up! Thank you, David!C-Shot and his mom, Diana, came in to do some laundry and the rest of the day looked up from there. Diana gave Certain an energy rub on her hurt foot and made her sit with ice on it. We all just talked for a while and Certain and I decided we wanted Diana to stay on the trail with us always. So nice. She then brought us over to Sicily's so we could grab some take-out. I got a vegetarian calzone - delicious. Then (!), she and her husband, John, drove us to our hotel in Abingdon about 15 miles away. It was so nice to be around them - one of their sons did the trail last year and now C-Shot was doing it. They totally understood and we felt so taken care of. It's really great to meet such kind and concerned people. I hope their offer to visit is stil open when we get to Waynesboro!I got to the hotel, scarfed down my calzone, laid out all of my gear and then hopped in the shower. I now feel clean.I am very excited to be in Virginia! I'm hoping the ridiculous hills of TN and NC will be a thing of the past for a little while. I'm sure that's a little wishful thinking though. I've really enjoyed the last couple of days though - trying to make some bigger miles, getting to see the same people in the morning and at night, and feeling like I've actually made some progress. And doing all of that without my body protesting!We are going to stick in town for Trail Days and then head back out. Certain plans to go to the doctor to have her foot checked out. Hopefully everything turns out okay. But she's already given me the "you have to just worry about your own hike from here on out" lecture. We'll see. She's been pretty down this whole week about her foot and, I'm sure, other things so hopefully she gets some peace of mind soon.We did get some bad news today though - Not Guilty emailed us both to let us know that Sailor has decided to get off the trail and come back next year with his wife. I was so bummed to hear that! Certain and I were hoping to catch him soon. Well, I definitely wish him luck.- Sound of the TV in our Super 8 hotel room.Post Trail Thoughts:When I got to Damascus, I sat and waited for Certain on a nice grassy knoll. All of a sudden, Cobweb came running out of nowhere to give us free meal tickets for the hiker feed that night. He ran all the way back to give them to us and was trying to make it back in time. I remember thinking it was so nice of him.