Date: 2005-05-07
From: Damascus, VA!!!!!!!

To: Same
Miles today: 0.0

OKAY- Back Again¢¦Same Day, Different Story. Insert Funny Quotation Here.Accumulative altitude gain so FAR: OVER 155,000 As of today, in the past 50 days I haved climbed enough ascent feet to have climbed EVEREST OVER 5 TIMES!!!!!!!!!Tuesday May 10: (VIRGINIA!!!!! YEAH!!!!!)I woke up at the shelter and didn¢t waste any time. I woke up earlier than I have in the prior weeks because I was so excited to get into town. I had about nineteen miles to hike and I was rushing as usual because I thought that the famous hostel, called, ¢The Place¢ would be totally full and that the town would be ridiculously packed because the crowd would be in for trail days on the upcoming weekend. I ate a good breakfast that consisted of every single piece of food I had left. I ate three pieces of bread with honey smeared on them, and some granola. I powered out and was on the trail by 7:30 am. The sun wasn¢t out and the rain was starting to fall about three hours into the days hike, but I kept on hiking, to hopefully make it into town before a big storm hit. I came across a funny looking shelter that didn¢t look like any of the other shelters I had ever seen. They are usually the same size, and this one was about one fourth of the size of the others and only fit two people¢¦.It was weird, but cool¢¦ I didn¢t take any breaks, and I completely blew any prior record in terms of mileage and time. I made the nineteen mile hike in six hours¢¦It was crazy¢¦I came out of the woods and saw my first glimpse of the town I would be staying in for quite a while¢¦Its awesome to finally be in Virginia. As soon as you enter town, there is a shelter on display, but no one is allowed to camp in it, but I went into it, to hopefully wait out the rain. I took a nap and about thirty minutes later, the rain cleared up and the sky started looking great. I didn¢t know where to go first, and so I went to ¢The Place¢, to see if there was any room at the hostel, and there was! The town was not crowded at all and I guess I beat all the other hikers in¢¦ I was so happy to get a spot at the hostel¢¦Instead of talking a shower immediately like usual, I ran down to the post office to see if my long awaited little wooden friend, (my guitar), and my food drop was there along with my food drop which also contained cotton clothing for town which is so nice. The packages weren¢t there yet, and so after getting some tracking #¢s and trying to figure out where and when I would be seeing them, I went down to a restaurant called Sicily¢s, and got a ton of food, because after looking for apples and fruit, and having no luck, I realized that I would not find my true desired food, and so it was time to eat dinner. I ordered a huge footlong hoagie that was BBQ chicken and philly cheese steak and it was huge, about 5¢ wide and probably over a foot long¢¦. I ate it all and wasn¢t that stuffed, and so then I went to grab a beer at a great restaurant/hotel/convention center called the old mill which is situated on the river that runs through town¢¦At the bar, My beer took about thirty minutes, because the keg was spewing suds everywhere, and the bartender forgot about my drink order once. The bartender was very apologetic however¢¦I got my beer which was not very tasty and had a funk of sorts, and so I didn¢t get anymore and I left. I walked around A little after talking to some people that I had met, and we chatted about the weather they had run in to during their hikes, one of who had died blue hair and a kilt and a bright pink shirt. He is quite a character, but everyone hiking the trail is a character of his or her own sorts. I went back to the hostel, and then decided to go the dollar general and pick up some of my favorite food of all time, which I love dearly and miss tremendously while hiking, CEREAL. I bought a box of lucky charms and a gallon of milk and then made a beeline to hostel to get seriously busy on putting a hurt on that cereal. Everyone was like, THAT¢S HOW IT IS DONE, when they saw the determination, joy, delight, smiles, and longing in my eyes and on my face when I poured my first bowl, and it was obvious that I planned on eating the whole box of cereal which was a family size box, and drinking the whole gallon of milk with it. I did it, and then I also ate some more cereal at the hostel. I was in heaven. STUFFED BELLY, POPPING OUT OF MY CLOTHES, feeling like a baby who needs to spit up. I went to bed to read and listen to my radio, but I passed out quickly and slept the night away¢¦.Oh yeah, the sun stayed out after around 4:00, which was nice¢¦. Wednesday May 11:Feeling hungry again after I woke up, I knew it was time to check out the famous DAIRY KING and see how good their breakfast was¢¦ After finally taking a shower I headed out down the street in this tidy charming little town and went into the small concrete building to order my breakfast. They have all you can eat pancakes which I would normally devour, but knowing that I was going to be in town for nearly a week, I chose not to indulge, and I also skipped my beloved sausage, because of its ridiculously large amounts of animal fat. I drank coffee and sat for a long time, and then headed down to the post office to check on my packages. They didn¢t arrive yet, and after talking to the very polite and helpful postmaster, I went out to walk around, and check out the cycling shop and talk bikes with people. This town in where a trail called the Virginia Creeper Trail goes through that is a trail built on an old rail road bed that people can bike on for days on end¢¦ I did some yoga on the lawn at the hostel and I felt really good afterwards, I ended up doing yoga for hours¢¦It was awesome, and I felt great¢¦I also got quite a tan from this day and the previous days of sunshine¢¦After the yoga, I walked around more to see who else had arrived into town and more and more people were getting in¢¦I saw a lot of people I knew from the trail and talked to everyone as we all exchanged stories stories from the trail, and then me and funnel cake sat on the bench on the main and only strip in Damascus and gossiped like housewives about hikers¢¦I ate at subway, which was great, I ordered two footlong subs, because you can order two footlongs for only $8.99 which is a steal, and I could have eaten both, but I didn¢t, and then I went to Dots, which is a bar, and I split a pitcher or two, or twelve with Tophat.(Just Joking about the TWELVE pitchers, It was only eleven between the two of us, no seriously, I¢m kidding)¢¦I went back to the hostel and ended up eating my other footlong sub that was supposed to be breakfast and talked with wandering bull and then I went upstairs and went to sleep¢¦It was later than I was used to, at nearly 11:00¢¦Thursday May 12, 2005:I woke up this morning and I didn¢t realize the only other people in the room were two chicks, and I was amazed that the hostel wasn¢t full, but everyone else wanted to go to the campground where everyone was going to camp for the festival¢¦I decided I was going to stay at the hostel because it is much more low key and it isn¢t like camping of the middle of the derby infield or something like at the campground¢¦ Since I had ate my breakfast, when I left the bar, I decided to go to Dairy King to eat more pancakes and drink more coffee. I was greated by the same friendly order taker, I the food was great pancakes again, and the coffee was free and delicious again, but the tiny little hut was definitely reaching capacitiy and this weekend it will be nuts¢¦ I took off a little earlier after breakfast, which I ate with a shop owner, (we shared a booth), and talked¢¦I headed down to the Post office, but I didn¢t expect to actually get my stuff since I didn¢t think I would get it until Friday, but it was there!!! I was SO HAPPY! The post office crew who know knew me by name were laughing at the ridiculous size of my boxes, and so was every random person in the street as I walked back to the hostel¢¦I kept telling everyone that I was now going to be a ultra heavy hiker and carry tons of extra stuff¢¦I was beyond happy to see my guitar and smell it. I played it immediately and then headed off to check out the campground. I said hey to some people and showed off my guitar that I finally had, and then headed out to the library to take care of my journal and stuff like that. The wait was long for a computer, and someohow my name was crossed off the list, so while I waited, I look at a book on bluegrass guitar, and wrote down some music. Afterwards, I went to the street to play guitar on the sidealk and in this historic, beautiful town, I guess it looked cool because some guy took pictures and video of me playing my guitar on the street¢¦ It was pretty cool¢¦ Then he came over and got my name and stuff, in case he uses the film¢¦ I then did some yoga, and ran around talked to more people who are now getting in¢¦This town is starting to bust at the seams, and it is just getting started. I haven¢t eaten dinner yet, so I guess that is next on the agenda, but I don¢t know what I ¢ll have yet,¢¦. I really need to treat myself, and just not worry about anything for this week¢¦I have put to many pressures and stresses on myself¢¦I need to treat myself to a good dinner at a nice restaurant, so I might go to the old mill, and eat on the deck, overlooking the river, that would be nice, but expensive¢¦I don¢t know, but I won¢t figure it out by writing a continual stream of consciousness until I figure out¢¦Anyways, being here in Damascus is a huge milestone¢¦.I am at the start of VA which is huge. I have hiked 460 miles, and Virginia is another 500 almost¢¦OH¢¦Gotta go again, time limit is up!Take it easy everyone!I was about to get philosophical¢¦