Date: 2018-06-02
From: The Barn

To: Va Rt 42
Miles today: 12.5
Weather: mist

We all planned to have breakfast this morning at a place called Sisters.  It¢s known for fancy coffee and scones.  Hugs was so excited for good coffee.  She grabbed up her stuff and beat us out the door.  By the time Big Kahuna and I started making our way down the street she was half way back with no coffee in her hand. Sisters doesn¢t open until 10am.  What a bummer, and what coffee shoppe doesn¢t open until 10am?  Carrie, our favorite shuttle gal picked us up at 9am.  I cannot say how wonderful she and her husband Jim really are.  We will be forever grateful for their kindnesses.  Carrie drove us quite a distance to the hostel we will be staying at tonight.  We dropped off our full packs.  Then she drove us back to the barn with a stop at Circle K in between.  She also gave us a little lesson on medicinal plants. There¢s a plant out here called a Jewel Plant that works much like Aloe.  She pulled one for us so we would know exactly what to look for.  We also saw another deer during our time with Carrie.  From The Barn we crossed a road and went under an overpass, then started into a pasture.  It was a little warm with no shade trees, but the pasture itself was beautiful with tall grass that danced in the breeze.  No livestock was out. I hiked ahead in the woods and came across the official sign marking 1/4 of the trail completed. We had to get a photo so I waited for Hugs and Big Kahuna right there. It¢s hard to believe that I only have to do this 3 more times!  I¢m laughing at myself right now!  Nothing about this hike is ¢only¢ or easy.  But everything about this hike is rewarding, even life changing.  We hiked together from there. I needed a water resupply and about a mile away was a stream.  When we arrived there was a SOBO standing in the stream. She was hiking solo.  I told the others to go ahead while I get water.  I knew I could catch them.  They hiked on. It was about that time this lady creeped me out.  She insisted on filling my water bag because she didn¢t want to get out of the stream.  When she looked at me it felt like she was sizing me up for dinner. It was weird!  My friends were long gone. I just wanted my water and to get out of there before she grew a wart on her nose and cast a spell on me.  She did hand me my water.  I squeezed it through that Sawyer Squeeze filter faster than you could say the alphabet!  Then I left abruptly, mid-sentence actually, and hurried to catch up with my tramily.  Hugs agreed with me, something about that SOBO was witchy.   The rest of our hike was just pleasant. A cute little baby bunny hopped out on the trail.  He stayed a while so we took some photos.  We did go through 2 more pastures.  The first one had cows with calves. Yes there was another female cow with horns.  Later we went through a pasture with male cows... they scare me!  Big Kahuna had to go first.  We finished hiking around 6pm and our hostel host Mack picked us up.  This hostel Appalachian Dreamer is the most beautiful hostel I¢ve been in so far.  He has a website if you want to check it out.  Try googling Appalachian Dreamer.  Anyway, he made baked spaghetti for supper along with green beans, corn casserole, dinner rolls, homemade Pickles and cheesecake for dessert.  I had seconds of everything except dessert.  My belly is full and my heart is happy.  Today¢s photo is the view from our hostel.  Can you imagine sipping your morning coffee while staring at that every morning?  Breathtaking!  I¢m in love with Virginia!   Until Next Time Blue Raccoon (2018)Where¢s your faith?