Date: 2011-05-11
From: Old Orchard Shelter

To: Troutdale Baptist Church Hostel
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 51 - The lightning show started at 10:15pm and it was right over us. Terrific lightning followed immediately with thunder. It was lighting up the entire camp area. This cell went through followed by another one at 12:15am and still another at 3:15am. Luckily there were no strong winds with these storms and my tent held up well. There were several hikers in hammocks and I probably stayed drier than they did. I do not know how the hikers in the shelter fared. With this amount of rain in the air everything absorbs moisture. Even my pack inside my tent is damp, I will start putting it inside a garbage bag and see if that helps. Everything that absorbs moisture ends up adding ounces on top of my back. Also, I have to put on damp clothes starting the day, which is no big deal because I am normally sweating after an hour of hiking. I am uncertain where I want to camp tonight. There is a hostel at a Baptist Church in Troutdale, which I know nothing about other than it has a shower. Or I could hitch a ride into Marion and get a hotel room which I really do not want to do, or I can set up my wet gear somewhere and camp out. The one thing I did want to do was to get off the trail at Troutdale and go into town to eat. The day was fairly uneventful and I made good time. At 2:30pm, I came off the trail onto VA 16, 2.6 miles from Troutdale. There were 2 hikers already attempting to hitch a ride to Troutdale, so I walked down the road so that they would get the first ride. I had only taken my boots off when a car stopped and had room for all three of us; so again, little bits of good fortune continue to bless me. The 2 hikers wanted to go eat which was fine with me, so we were dropped off at Jerry's Kitchen. This is probably the only restaurant in a six mile radius so all the locals eat there and they cater to hikers. There were already 2 other hikers there so we joined them. I had a large BBQ sandwich, french fries, a salad, iced tea, and a Klondike bar. I asked about the Baptist hostel and was told it was just up the hill. I really wanted a shower so I walked the 500 yards and found a very neat, well maintained building. In it were 2 rooms with 4 bunks in each room. I met Moonwatcher who was already there and went down and had a nice, hot shower at the church. What a great outreach program for this church and very much appreciated by hikers, especially me! I took out all my gear and hung it up to dry on the clothes line and had a good conversation with Moonwatcher. He is from Bradenton, FL and does quite a bit of section hiking. While talking, another hiker showed up, Hopeful. I had not seen Hopeful since May 3 just south of Dennis Cove. The 3 of us talked for awhile and Hopeful was ready to eat, so we climbed into Moonwatcher's car and went back to Jerry's. Even though I had just eaten 3 hours earlier, I thought 3 chicken tenders, french fries, salad and a chocolate milk shake sounded like a good idea. I was ever so thankful to be inside when it started to rain again around 10:00pm. The tea from the afternoon kept me awake a little but at least I was dry. I did not cover that many miles today, only 10.0, but I had eaten two good meals, had showered, had dry clothes and was inside as it stormed. I have now covered 513.4 miles.