Date: 2010-05-04
From: Double spring shelter

To: Damascus
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: clear sky

5/4Double springs shelter to Damascus18.5 milesToday was kind of a big day for me. I woke up hard. It was one of those mornings where I would have called in stupid to work.  I was nearly the last one awake and I didn't move fast once I finally got going. I wouldn't have called my status 'alert'. As I told Cody, I didn't have a smooth landing from sleep. At any rate I finally got moving. Round the first ridge I got a cell signal and called the Lazy Fox for a Wednesday night reservation but they had no openings. Dang!  I really wanted Miss Ginny's breakfast. The terrain was once again pretty easy, as I had expected. I started to think maybe I could do the 18.5 miles to town. Ludicrous, as my previous biggest day was 14.4. And it was only yesterday. But Cody brought it up on her own midmorning, and I told her I had been thinking the same thing. We decided to go for it. I said if I did 18 today I wanted to zero tomorrow and she was okay with that too. A zero!  How I wanted that. More than town food and laundry, I wanted a whole day off. I started walking with a will. I caught Cody at Abingdon Gap shelter for lunch. She had been super thoughtful and fetched enough water for us both. This was extra nice because the water source was waaay downhill. I told her I wasn't sure I had 10 more miles in me but I'd try to text her if I stopped before town, and asked her to text me with her location in town once she found a spot. I finished one audiobook and started another while walking this afternoon. I just go faster that way. My own thoughts don't get in the way. Left to myself I think about my feet, or my knees, or how tired I am. But let somebody else speak of something interesting and my aches fade away. Also ibuprofen helps. When I got to the last spring I had to decide if I was stopping at 16 miles or going the rest of the way.  It was a quick decision.  I still felt pretty decent. (Or rather, I felt decent again thanks to vitamin I.) I was going to go for it. I kept trying to walk fast, aiming for at least 2 mph. Bill Bryson spoke in my ears about Shakespeare. I kept eating, needing every ounce of energy I could squeeze out. (btw I am eating an astonishing amount. I use up my whole pouchful of snacks every morning and have to refill it. That's in addition to the lunchtime meal I've added to my routine. This has helped my energy levels but has the unfortunate side effect of increased output. I didn't think of that before hand but should have. Sometimes I am not so bright. )Almost all the way to town, maybe half a mile from it, I came upon a massive blowdown across a switchback.  It looked fresh and there was no obvious path around it. I took the only route I could determine - straight down the rocky hillside to the lower half of the switchback. Unfortunately on my first step the ground gave way. I tried to surf my way down but slipped to the side. My little landslide and I continued for a couple of feet. My pack unbalanced me such that I ended up upside down on the hill. I struggled to free myself so that I could sit upright and find a safe way down. Annoyingly, the whole time Bill droned on. If ever there were a time NOT to hear about Shakespeare, that was it. He got paused even before I unbuckled the pack. Gingerly, trying not to dislodge any more rocks, I made my way down. Back on solid ground I assessed the damage. Bleeding scrapes on my legs and arms, and a lot of ground in dirt. Not too bad! I rolled up one shorts leg so it wouldn't get bloody and set off again. Once in town I got out my phone. Thank goodness I had thrown caution to the winds earlier and left it on. I had two messages from Cody. One said "No AT&T service in town. Make calls from mountain. ". The other said that she had found a room for both of us.  And indeed I had no service.  But I had a place to stay so it was all good.My first stop was Quincy's. A cold cola and a little food were my first priority, before ditching the pack or showering.  I saw Webwalker, Just Blue Skies, and Dryclean there. They called me over and made me feel welcome. It is hard to describe how pleasant it is to walk into a strange place and have friends call you over. Suffice it to say that I was happy to see them too.Cody soon arrived as well. She felt pretty good after her long day. After she got a little food into her, she dragged me back to our room. According to her I reeked and needed a shower. Who knew? I couldn't tell. So Cody is off doing her laundry and I am now clean.  My own laundry will wait until the morning. Then it's resupply, a visit to the outfitter, and as little walking as I can manage for one blissful day.Btw, 18.5 miles feels almost exactly like 14.4 miles in every way that I can tell.