Date: 2010-05-16
From: Damascus

To: Damascus
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

So here we are again, tent city wake-up to very silly conversations about what people had done the night before, what they drank and where they ended up. Funny stuff you hear from inside the tent! A lot of people are packing up to head back on the trail. We head back to the truck to get more grits and breakfast. Skippy goes through the crazy bramble of stuff I brought him to switch out his winter gear for his summer stuff. I was very unorganized and this takes a while. We jump-start our truck-neighbor's truck during this. They are headed to Grayson Highlands to check it out. The man had hiked the trail already, I think, and the woman had never seen the Highlands. (Great idea, Skippy thinks to himself, maybe.) We end up roaming town again, later in the day at this point. Oh man, hard for me to remember! We hiked back through the gear tents to see if there were any great deals. Not much left. It started raining, and Skippy ran back and got me an umbrella. Great guy! We decide to wander through town again, and stop by the Baptist church. it's all empty, and we nap again on the picnic tables under the shelter, out of the rain. The showers are all closed up, and one guy that looked clean already was really disappointed that he couldn't get a free shower. Strange. A few other hikers come through. Seems to be a group of folks arriving in town that just hiked in, not for Trail Days, but just off the trail. Also some people looking for rides back to the trail. We think about getting something tasty at MoJoes. Turns out it's closed already. Most stuff is closing up early here on a Sunday afternoon. So, looks like there's no alternative but to get more ice cream! Blueberry cheesecake for me again! This time we don't pass out on the lawn, it's still rainy. Skippy tells me more stories of the trail, all the stuff he ate the 30 mile day. I can't believe he hiked all those miles! How amazing! I'm so impressed, and amazed, and proud to know Skippy and be involved in this journey of his! So great to see how he loves talking to folks and slowing down is life to pay attention to them. He's always been good at really listening to folks. I'm glad he's out there to be a great friend to them, and glad there's so many great folks out there to help him along the way, too! We walk back to the truck during a break in the rain showers. Run into a couple just coming off the trail, in search of ice cream. Boy, do we know where to send them! We drive by in the truck, and see them again. Pick them up and bring them to ice cream heaven, which happens to still be open. Turns out they are not thru-hiking, and their truck is back in town! (I guess they are through hiking, ha!) We drive then back to their car so they can drive to ice cream and not have to walk back. Oh well. We end up eating at Quincy's, a great hiker spot where there's lots of bikers and hikers eating pizza and burgers. Skippy had been here before, and it's fun to eat here also, picture what he had done before. I feel tired, for no good reason. We decide to stay here in Damascus another night, tent out at the hiker hostel. Full of people there, but some nice conversations on the porch. One grumpy guy questions why Skippy is walking through the hostel, not sure if he's a hiker or just casing the joint or some crazy thing. This puts a bad feeling on the evening, bummer! So many great folks, but the grumpy ones still have a large affect on the world around them. Remember to be open minded and pleasant to people, everyone out there! Because you do affect the world around you, and create a bubble of energy or something. Sometimes the grumpy bubbles take up more space than the happy ones. I guess it takes practice to selectively pay attention more to the happy ones than the grumpy ones. Hm. My lesson to learn from the AT. Thanks, AT! Anyway, we tent under the same tree Skippy had slept under for a while before. Still rainy. We drive to the grocery store, mostly for something to do out of the rain, and to get rid of Mr. Grumpy Pants feeling. Skippy slept on the Big Agnus sleeping air mattress that we won from the talent show! I hear it was amazing, but not worth the weight and the trouble of blowing it up and then packing it up later. I slept on 3 ridge rests. MMM! Though 3 is no better than 2. Good to know. So sad to know that tomorrow we must say goodbye...