Date: 2012-11-27
From: Lost Mountain Shelter 

To: Damascus 
Miles today: 15.7
Weather: light rain

(In which I resupply in Damascus and stay at Crazy Lary's) -Currently sitting in Crazy Lary's kitchen-I got going early this morning so I'd have as much time in town as possible. No matter how organized you are, there never seems to be enough time for town chores.Made it to Damascus at noon after a drizzly, cold hike and went straight for the coffee shop. Food, a hot beverage and Internet all in one blow. As I made my way downtown I passed a house glowing with Christmas lights with Chrismas trees out front for $25. If you haven't bought a Christmas tree lately, this is a VERY good deal. As I passed the porch a fella sitting on it waved me over and I met Crazy Lary. He told me he hasn't sold many trees because somebody down the street has been selling em' for $15. $15!? We both had a hard time believing that they can be making any money. After a few minutes Lary asked me where I was staying in town and then he told me I was welcome to stay in the spare room with another hiker if I liked. When he motioned to the other fella at the end of the porch I realized I knew him from somewhere. I remembered where I met him before he figured it out - it was in Maine the day I left Monson. That night I stayed in a shelter with two other guys - Ryder and another hiker whos name had something to do with fishing. Ryder, who was hiking north at the time, remembered our last meeing as soon as I mentioned the other guy whos name had something to do with fishing... that's how he seemed to recall it too. He has been doing sections of the trail for the last few years but I didn't prod his plans past that. I'm still bumping into hikers I met hundreds of miles earlier. Incredible.Most of the day was spent scrambling to make it to stores, the post office and the library before they closed. This is one of the few town stops that I didn't make a list for, and it showed. I forgot to get post cards, I forgot to add things to my bounce box, I ran out of time at the library and I walked around entirely too much because of it. I did manage to get the last week's worth of journal entries e-mailed out though, and I have a plan for the next few days to Kincora and beyond. I've learned my lesson... always make a town resupply plan. During my scrambling about town I ran into a familiar face - Dante. He had come across some day hikers on Sunday who wanted to slack pack him into Damascus. So rather than zero at Kincora hostel (two day's past Damascus) like his original plan was, he decided to zero in Damascus after the slack pack. On our way over to the library he told me that on Saturday night it dropped down to 7 degrees (F) at Thomas Knob shelter...brrrrrr. He's rethinking his gear for the Smokeys...After they booted me out of the Library I walked back to Lary's and he welcomed me in. He set up an air mattress, gave me a clean towel for the shower and gave me leftover beans and kilbasa. I had never heard of Crazy Lary, but after listening to some of his stories of how he ended up in Damascus I feel like I should have. I'm glad to be here - it's one of those random trail treats that are entirely unpredictable.Today's post is brought to you by Crazy Lary, because he's a helluva guy. Buy a Christmas tree from him.