Date: 2003-06-03
From: VA 683/US 11/I-81

To: USFS 222
Miles today: 18.3

Erin says:Today started out pretty crappy. I lost the top to my travel coffee mug. I know, I know, it shouldn't be a big deal. But I was really attached to that mug. It must have come off at some point yesterday during our hike when I dropped my bag down on the ground - I keep it lashed to the outside of my pack. I loved that mug cause it was sturdy, well-insulated, didn't absorb food or coffee odors. I drink coffee out of it in the AM and eat out of it when we have hot meals. And now it is gone. My sparkly silver "swapit.com" mug that Bri got for free at Fitchburg State College is lidless. And that renders it useless really - I have to have a lid to be able to hike and drink coffee at the same time.So I had to get a new travel mug and it isn't nearly as good. It reads: "A State for All Seasons - Virginia". Now I know you are thinking - but it is just a travel mug, what's the big deal? But our options to find a mug were basically either the Exxon or the Texaco at the Interstate crossing. And the only mug available was one of those slender ones that fits in a car mug holder. Well, those suck. I wanted one of the kind that college kids us that is study and has just a slit in the lid, not one of those fancy slide-open twist things that always end up breaking.There, I'm done venting. Today was just one of those days. Craig had a plan for us to hike 21.5 miles, but we only got to do 18 because we got held up by mug issues and then more rain. I took a long break at the first shelter because it was pounding rain. I vented my frustrations in the shelter log (much like I've done here) and then I felt better. Virginia is way rockier terrain than I expected. When it is raining out, the rocks are really slippery and I have trouble. I've been slipping and falling a lot lately and it hurts. Plus you end up muddy and wet. Plus, there are locusts here. The 17 year locust apparently - they come once every 17 years. So there are dead locusts, live locusts, and bug carcasses from their molting EVERYWHERE. I mean all over the ground, tree leaves, at the shelters - you name it. And they are big and ugly insects. Our hike this morning took us through many fields with really tall wheatgrass (?). And with the rain the grass was really wet and got its little wheat tops all over us. The trail was barely visible in the tall grass. Someone needs to come cut it back! So I was feeling really grody wondering what else was lurking in the grass (ticks?). We have also had to cross numerous stiles today that separate private property and forest land. It is tough for me to get up and down them because the rungs are spaced pretty far apart. Add locusts and carcasses on the rungs, and well - I've been pretty grossed out all day. I'm having trouble with bugs. Craig told me I'm officially "acting like a girl" cause I'd pretty much had it tonight with all the bugs in our campsite. Spiders on the tent, huge moths dive-bombing my headlamp, some sort of biting fly attacking my legs... Sometimes I just need a break from all the bugs out here. I still like butterflies though. And there are boys out there who are freaked out by spiders! I just get such huge welts all over my body from bug bites that I am convinced that a spider hanging out outside the wall of my side of the tent is merely trying to find a way into the tent to eat me. I'm dealing. Plus Craig is so humane that he NEVER kills the spider or bug in question, he just grabs it and deposits it elsewhere. Oh, how I wish I could be that way. On the positive side, the rain has subsided for now. I made us quesadillas for dinner tonight - they were yummy - we've never used the frying pan lid of our pot before! A nice change from the noodle fare.