Date: 2013-09-30
From: stealth site

To: stealth site
Miles today: 20.2

Wow! What a day today was! This is going to be a long post. I've gotten to the point where I can do 18-20 pretty consistently I think, and feel good at the end of the day! Finally...right before I take a week off in D.C...hopefully I won't have to start over when I return to trail. Anyway, back to today. I went into Fayetteville to resupply. Got up early because I wanted to do some miles today to set myself up to catch up with Doc and his mom tomorrow. The grocery store was 0.8 down the road and I wanted to be able to charge my phone for a few minutes there as well, so I needed an early start. Got to the road by 8:15 and started walking down US 30. After 20 minutes (by which point I should have definitely been past .8 and was probably at a mile) I realized teh the "out of business" building I'd just passed five minutes before, was probably the grocery store I was looking for... I walked for 10 more minutes or so to an intersection where there was...nothing. Super pissed, I turned around and walked back to trail, thus starting my day off in a horrible mood. Which made me hike at a pretty fast pace. I went about 10 more miles in 3.5 hours and realized I needed to take a break and re-evaluate. Stubborn me wanted to make what food I had left last until Harper's Ferry on Thursday. (3 Ramens, 2 granola bars, 5 instant oatmeals...not even close to enough for 3.5 days). But, believe it or not - I heard both my mom's and my dad's voices in my head...and actually listened! My mom often likes to tell me that I think I'm invincible but am not...and as much as I hate to admit - she's right - I think that a lot, and it's not true. So, maybe I could it to Harper's Ferry without resupplying, but I'm not invincible and would probably actually end up passed out on the trail from insufficient caloric intake. I equate hiking the AT with golf a lot in my head, and that's where my dad's voice came in. When I played golf in high school, and was out playing 18 with my dad to practice, whenever I hit the ball in the woods (often...) my dad always advised me to "play smart." Meaning, even though I want to be cocky and aim for the 5" of space between two trees to aim at the green...chances are I wouldn't make that space and the ball would ricochet and land in a worse lie than I had to begin with... or it'd hit me in the face. The point being, I should take the safe shot and punch it straight out onto the fairway - it may be an extra stroke, but it's better than the likely 2+ extras! And of course, he's right. So, I made the decision to walk into Waynesboro, PA (a 3.2 mile roundtrip roadwalk) tomorrow morning and maybe not get to meet up with Doc and Madre during the day tomorrow, but at least I'd have food. I wasn't happy about this new , smarter, more mature me, but I suppose God was because the rest of the day after that decision went so much better than I had originally planned even if I had gotten food in Fayetteville! And this is where it got better (I think so at least - told y'all this would be a long one!) I was still able to hike at a pretty good pace, and was having out-loud conversations with myself. I guess I startled some birds who I couldn't see because they were on the other side of a log from me. 3 out of the 4 birds flew away to the left (away from me), the stupid one flew right into my hip as I was passing by - which scared the crap out of me, but was amusing. It's friends should have left it an arrow...I spent the next 20 minutes wondering if anyone would actually believe that story, then settled on the opinion that y'all would, because if I were going to make up stories for entertainment, I like to think I'd be much more creative. Then I decided I didn't actually care if people believed it. Then, I made it to Deer Lick Shelter by 3:30 (I thought that was going to be my sleeping place for the night originally), where I met a SOBO who just started in PA and is hoping to go all the way to FLA! His name is Pocono Bill. We talked for 35 minutes about baseball (he's a Phillies fan - ick!) and backpacking. I hope to run into him again - he just started so is doing 7-8 miles a day, so maybe after D.C. I'll see him again! But that was awesome because I really enjoy people and haven't seen any in a few days that I've actually TALKED with! So, I thanked him for that and kept going. Since I was ahead of schedule, I got to the road at 4:40, and decided to try to hitch in to Waynesboro from there instead of walking in from a different road tomorrow morning. I gave myself 15 minutes, then was going to hike on and camp by Pen Mar Rd. where I could walk into town safely. I was about to give up on hitching (15 minutes feels like FOREVER when you're being passed by a ton of cars) when a couple in their mid 20s or so passed me, then turned around to get me. They were really cool and were asking me about hiking and then decided I'd inspired them and they now want to do it. As they should. They asked if I'd be OK getting back to trail, and I assured them I would. I was in and out of Walmart by 5:00pm and with 2 hours of daylight left, I felt pretty confident I could charge my phone for a bit and still get back on trail by dark (since I'd hitched in, it was only a 1.2 mile roadwalk back to trail, plenty of time!) So, as I'm sitting by where the motorized carts are plugged in, putting food in my pack and looking at my guidebook - getting all kinds of looks from people going in and out - a man comes up to use one of the carts I'm sitting by, and asks if I'm hiking the trail. I said yes and he told me his life story (I'm sure the abridged version) and how he took a six month sabbatical from the military in '94 to hike the AT NOBO to get back in touch with himself, his upbringing, his Native American heritage, and his God. He told me what the trail did for him, and then said "You're sitting there thinking 'there's no way that fat man did this!' aren't you?" I told him "no sir, 1994 was a long time ago, I believe you weren't fat then." He thought that was hysterical and asked if I'd like a ride back to trail (yes!). I told him later that the real reason I knew he'd hiked it was because he'd verbalized emotions and feelings that you experience while out here so accurately that there was no way anyone could fabricate that. I waited for him to get his groceries, and another older man came to get a cart and talked to me for a few minutes. He was funny. He told me to never get old, but if I'm going to get old, to "keep that sparkle in your pretty blue eyes." Thank you Mr. Stranger, that is very kind of you! =) The NOBO (Ben, trailname Smooth) returned and we walked to his car. I'm not sure how we discussed so much in such a short car ride (Native Americans - he's 1/5 Chippewa - his life and upbringing, he's now in theology school just because he wants to be, religion, politics, and what I want to do with my life (that was a short one - I don't know)). He drove me to Pen Mar Park where he lives right across the street and it was convenient for him (so I unintentionally yellow-blazed a couple miles, but I made it for it with my stupid Fayetteville excursion this morning). He dropped me off at the park because "it's a beautiful place to eat!" and he was right! He gave me a small stone engraved with a butterfly that he had made himself out of white quartz found in the mountains here - it's a hobby of his. He told me that to the Chippewa, the butterfly means "free will" and that he only wanted to give it to me if I would carry it all the way. I promised the stone would make it to Springer Mountain, GA and I plan on keeping that promise. He is such a good guy, and I really enjoyed getting to know him. I wish I had gotten his address so that I could send him a letter when I finish. I crossed into Maryland today! And crossed the Mason-Dixon line (goodbye North!!) and tonight I am going to bed feeling incredibly blessed beyond words and completely at peace. This is the good life. God is great!