Date: 2015-10-28
From: Damascus

To: Damascus
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

10/28/2015A double zero in Damascus. I took the second zero because of bad weather. It was warm and sunny in the morning, but by noon it had started raining again and I was glad to spend the day in town. I had another wonderful breakfast at Dancing Bear: coffee, yogurt, granola, fresh fruit and a delicious morning casserole which tasted like quiche and which reminded me of the killer breakfast casserole which Marni made for us at the White Mountains Hostel in Gorham. After breakfast, I settled up and gave Melissa the contact information for Jeff at GMH as she was interested in possibly getting an AT Passport Stamp. I then called Hikers Inn and they had space there so I claimed a bunk to save some money. Then I went over to Crazy Larry¢s and donated some items to the hiker box after saying hi to Crazy Larry, Breezy, Skywalker, Vicious, Rivet, Sunnyside and Georgia. No one expressed interest in slackpacking, so I went ahead and made my arrangements. I arranged with Jeff at Mt Rogers Outfitters to have my backpack shuttled to TN91 and to meet the shuttle tomorrow at 4 pm after leaving my backpack with Jeff at Dave¢s Place before 8 am. Jeff gave me a loaner daypack for the slack tomorrow. Then I walked over to the north side of town and reconnoitered where the trail leaves town and goes into the woods so I would not have to deal with figuring that out on the clock tomorrow morning. I walked past the Visitors Center/Branch Library and the Circle of Freedom, an elegant memorial to local war veterans. Then I stopped at the town drugstore to buy a new toothbrush, new dental floss and some candy bars. Then I went back to Hikers Inn and met Paul and settled up with him and got my AT Passport stamped. Then I walked over to Cowboys and had another one of my extremely healthy lunches ¢ cheeseburger, fries and a 32 oz Mountain Dew. Then I went back to my bunk and lined up all my slackpacks from Damascus to Standing Bear Farm. I also met new SoBo Thundercat, who started on July 1. I later learned that Thundercat is the poor devil who got trenchfoot after hiking in waterproof boots in the Hundred Miles. Poet took a photo of his feet and posted it on Shaw's Facebook page. On my way out the door for dinner, I met Bayou, the caretaker of the Place, who was hanging out in the back with Thundercat and enjoying a glass of red wine. Bayou told me about how he hiked from Guitar Lake to Whitney Portal on a PCT section hike. On my way down Laurel, I ran into Geko and Crossroads, whom I met at breakfast at Dancing Bear the previous two mornings. They had just come from BoBo McFarland's and said the Bang Bang Shrimp there was outstanding, so I decided to go there for dinner. Geko and Crossroads have done a lot of sailing in the Atlantic, and shared with me their interesting experiences in the open sea. At BoBo¢s, I ordered a pint of Guinness, bleu cheese chips and the Bang Bang Shrimp. They were delicious. Then I ordered the meatloaf, with a side of mashed potatoes with gravy and a side of macaroni and cheese. That was delicious too. Then I headed back to the bunkhouse for a good night sleep.