Date: 2013-05-03
From: Dickey Gap Campsite

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: clear sky

I woke up and could immediately tell my blister would need more than watching. It was very tender to the touch and puffy. My hiking shoe would make it worse so I decided it was time to act. I cleaned it off with an alcohol swab, did the same with my knife and then lanced it with my knife. I covered it with a blister band aide rather than duct tape because I thought the padding might help. Once again it rained during the night and I had the pleasure packing up a wet fly. It didn't rain hard so my tent stayed dry. I slept great last night and was anxious to get in the miles today. As we began our climb out of Dickey Gap I could see the sun slowly burning the overcast away - it was going to be a good hiking day. Just before the first shelter Dan-O, Slim, and Opa caught up with us. They tried to talk is into going to the shelter with them for lunch but it was only 11:00 and we had just had a snack 30 minutes ago so we decided to keep going. Less than half a mile down the trail we came across trail magic from a local Baptist church. I had a root beer, can of Vienna sausage, and a pack of cookies. No one was there from the church, but they had a cooler and plastic containers sitting near the trail. In addition to the snacks they had unusual stuff like socks, hats, dental floss, and first aide supplies. Smothers and Better Man joined us for the trail magic. They are a nice young couple from Kansas. Back on the trail we ran into Jonathan, one of the Virginia Ridge Runners . Like the other Ridge Runners that I've met he was hard working and interesting to talk to. The day was full of ups and downs and Trouble was struggling. Her boyfriend is coming tomorrow and I think she is in need of a zero day. By 5:00 we were at the Partnership Shelter near Marion, VA. This shelter is famous on the trail because it has a shower and there is a visitors center near by where you can call and have pizza delivered. Who would have ever guessed that you could have pizza delivered to you while hiking the AT?!? I decided to forgo the shower since everyone said the water wasn't very warm and I knew I'd get one tomorrow in Marion. Trouble said she wasn't very hungry and I'm out of breakfast food so I wanted a few slices left over. By the time the pizza arrived we were so hungry that we ate the entire thing. That's ok, I still have a hot dog, tortilla wrap and two slices of cheese for breakfast. We huddled in an outside stairwell at the visitors center to stay out of the wind. Smothers and Better Man had ordered two pizzas and they joined us in the stairwell. It was fun getting to know them better. This is a popular shelter and there must be 25 to 30 hikers here. It looks like a tent city. The people around the shelter seem to be the party crowd and then there are those of us who want to stay out of the center of a action who are camped in a nice pine padded location around the corner from the shelter. Crasher and Rocky are set up right next to me. They are another young couple who I really like. Crasher is from Connecticut and Rocky is from the Philadelphia area. They are so full of life and interesting people. They met in 2011 on the Pacific Crest Trail. Recently they worked in Antarctica and they flew from there to Atlanta to start the AT - talk about a drastic change! They make great camp mates as they are easy going and respectful of others. Tomorrow will be a nero day as I'm only going to hike 4.2 miles to where I will meet my friends Anne and Brian from Asheville. I will spend the rest of Saturday and Sunday morning with them. The peepers are out tonight and singing me a lullaby as I drift off to sleep . . .