Date: 2019-04-06
From: Va 42

To: Home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

The pilgrimage of finding goodness began as soon as we left Rockfish Gap. First, the runner who stopped to take our photo, then Mary and her friend. The next day, John, who went above and beyond to be kind and a great trail angel when Too Soon¢s knee was painful from the fall the day before. Next, Kris, from Royal Oaks, and his beautiful German Shepherd, Remi, brightened our journey. When I torqued my back at the Priest shelter, Patrick was our trail angel. From the back pain to the notorious tooth debacle, still trying to get miles, Oma became our next source of inspiration. Reaching the James River, we met Donna, the caretaker and shuttler for Stanimals hostel in Glasgow. Her attention to detail makes the hostel a great success, and her caring of people makes everyone better.On our way to Cornelius Creek shelter after a good night in our new tent at Marble Springs campsite, we met Blake and his dog, Sampson. Blake offered to use his pump filter to fill our bottles after seeing me scooping water from the spring. He also loves the birds, and we tried to recognize one who was really performing.After spending the night at Cornelius Creek shelter, we got to Jennings Creek as it started to rain. Jada popped out of the woods right behind us and offered to let us sit in her car while she waited on her hiking partner, Temo. They took us where we wanted to go for the night.By then, realization set in that the tooth required intervention as the antibiotic wasn¢t fixing it. So the morning was tasked with finding a dentist. Dr. Burke called me back, worked me into his schedule, sorted out the problem, and gave me my options. He sacrificed his lunch time to do the extraction. Not only very skilled, but kind and gracious, making the patients in that community very fortunate.Homer had taken us to the dentist, and for the next week would become an awesome friend and shuttler. As a former thru hiker, trail maintainer, and experienced resource of the AT, we had a great time with him. We also got to spend time with Therese, Homer¢s wife. She has the same credentials and attributes as Homer.So with Homer¢s help, we slackpacked the miles from Jennings Creek to Trout Creek. Post extraction of the tooth did not yield relief for some time, and sticking close to help was good.Then we said goodbye to Homer and left Trout Creek with full packs. We climbed Brush mountain and were treated to wonderful tread way and magnificent views. The weather was perfect and should have been a wonderful day. However, my back ached all day and just felt odd. We got to the Niday shelter, and I went for water at the stream. I realized my back was tightening again and shooting pain with each bend I made. I got my sleeping bag and Neoair into the tent and I knew I was in trouble.In 2014 I injured my back while cleaning windows. I backed into a banister, and it felt like someone whacked me with a ball bat. Exercise and all the other techniques got it back to good most of the time, but a wrong move now and then caused a recurrence of the problem. I thought I had diligently strengthened to increase the odds of carrying the pack and many miles were ok.The night proved to be ridiculous. The only way out in the morning was to hydrate, Advil, and hike forward. We got to Va 42, walked up the road to a house as we had no cell service, and were greeted by Tonya. She let us use her phone to call Homer, stayed on her porch with us entertaining us with stories about the area and her family, and gave us water. She was inspiring with her happy genuine attitude.Homer had a long drive to get us, but as usual, knew the right things to say. The next morning, Therese took us to get a rental and get home. The drive home was not from the direction we had dreamed of, but gratitude for all that we had encountered for 172 miles made things acceptable. The AT is a wonderful treasure, and although we haven¢t finished it, I love the memories each trip yields. Thanks to everyone for everything.