Date: 2004-06-19
From: Jim and Molly Denton Shelter

To: Rod Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 18.9
Weather: broken clouds

I¢m sitting at Doc¢s BBQ Diner. It¢s 5:30 p.m. and I¢m writing early tonight. I hiked 15.3 so far and I have 3.6 to go still. In 2 days I cross 1,000 miles. Tomorrow I leave Virginia. WOOHOO! To be honest I am in the diner so I can have a coke. This is my 24th day in a row procuring a coke! Now I¢m afraid to not have one for fear of caffeine headache¢¦AHH! The food is fairly cheap, which is good for my budget :-). As I sip my coke I¢ll write the rest of this journal. We awoke early and I met ¢Pony Express¢. He is on his 29th day and is averaging 33 miles a day. I have already taken 27 days off. He said ¢I don¢t understand how you do it.¢ The feeling is mutual. I asked him to relay a hello to Krispy when he passes him. After that humorous discussion, I packed up my wet clothes I had hung on the line after last night¢s storm. At the early time of 7:40 a.m. we hit the trail.I felt slow as we started. The terrain was not particularly bad or particularly exciting. Poppins and I had a real discussion. Poppins, I would find out, also is one of 6 children and has 3 biracial adopted siblings. Whoa! In addition, she also has a family member with Hepatitis. It was so awesome to talk with someone who could relate to what I was talking about. She has a bipolar sibling too. Skippy hiked ahead to Manassas Gap shelter; we caught up shortly thereafter. The shelter is known for Copperheads. Poppins and I decided ¢No¢. We waited for Skippy at the trail and filled water. Poppins and I had already heard a rattlesnake this morning and one poisonous snake is enough for me per day. Soon Skippy rejoined us and we hiked on. We discussed how ¢insane¢ we must appear to walk this much. We also expressed joy at our last full day in Virginia. Soon we were thinking of 5 syllable words (my bad idea) as we covered the next 5 miles. At 12:30 we had covered 10 total miles and arrived at Dick¢s Dome, a shelter in the shape of a geodesic dome. Since it is not renowned for copperheads we went there for lunch. The ¢dome¢ looked more like a shed with no solid shape surrounded by shingles. Either way, it was facing a creek and was more than adequate for lunch. As I cooked Oriental Ramen an army of 25 boy scouts arrived for lunch. Poppins, Skippy, and I ate our food and soon the scouts departed. It seemed it would rain so we stalled and worked on word puzzles. Skippy and Poppins are ¢Word Puzzle Masters¢.As always with my friends, I was having a blast. Since the shelter had no register, Skippy started a new notebook she had brought with her. She themed it about what we encountered on the trail that was unexpected. I expressed my thoughts in the poem seen below:                        ¢What I Didn¢t Expect:¢        I will write some of the things I¢ve found unexpectedAll of them are things that I have detectedSome of them are silly since I am quite delirious Others of them are a little bit more seriousI never thought that I would have so little moneyI never thought that I¢d meet people quite this funnyI never thought that there would be this many bugsI never knew that I would need so many hugsI did not expect to rely so much on GodI even enjoy silence, although I find this oddI never knew that my legs could be this thickI never thought I¢d take my hair off with a BIC Now I have to say, before my poem here endsI never thought I¢d meet such amazing friendsI love you Friar, Skippy, Poppins, Krispy-you¢re my heroesAnd by the way I never planned on 27 zeros. As I did the last 5 miles I joked more with my friends. We played the ¢Random Thought¢ game and answered fun questions. Part of what holds me together out here is my friends. The other part, and of course bigger part, is God. I will soon walk 3.6 miles in prayer to a shelter where I will see some of those friends. No matter what fate befalls me, no matter what happens financially, no matter what trials come, I know I will be loved by people close to me. When this hike is over I know I will have lifetime companions to talk to, not just some acquaintances. My friends may touch me more than any view I see out here. I thank God for this blessing daily. WOW. Final thoughts:-        It was weird to hike without Friar today :-(.-        My journals are still soaked from yesterday :-(.-        I will see my family in 2 days¢¦and I¢m bald :-).-        I will hit 1,000 miles Monday and the halfway mark within a week :-).-        Today Skippy, Poppins, and I all ate from a Snickers at once¢¦on the   side of Route 50; it rocked! :-).-        I¢m going to eat a real crab cake at home :-).-        Soon I will update my journals¢¦woohoo!-        I have not had alcohol in almost 3 weeks and I don¢t want it :-).-        Now I¢m going to pray and rejoin my friends ¢¦I love smilies :-) :-) :-) Goodnight,BEATBOX   ttt P.S. I recalculated. I was wrong. Today is my 29th straight day with coke/pepsi :-) .