Date: 2006-11-14
From: Bear's Den Hostel, Va

To: Bear's Den Hostel, Va
Miles today: 7.3

This is the kind of day that a person should live everyday. I'm laying in my bunk at Bear's Den Hostel at 10pm and I'm thinking back to the start of the day and it seems like soooooo long ago. It was a full day in which part of it was spent in the woods and part of it spent with some good friends....Queen Diva, Weathercarrot, Big John and, ummmm, uhhhh, oh yeah, even Chief. :-)))Queen Diva said she could take me to the trailhead about 10 or 11am, so when I woke up, I put on a pot of Starbuck's, then went upstairs and cooked some scrambled eggs for breakfast.I was busy answering email and getting my stuff ready for another short walk. I wanted to check out my leg one more time before I get dropped off tomorrow back in Maryland where I got hurt at.Chief was due in later today from NC and Weathercarrot was coming over from Blackburn Center. I was excited about seeing both of them when I got back from my walk later on.This was the first day since I fell that I was able to pick my left leg up to put on my shoe without pulling the leg up with my hand....guess that's a good thing. :-)))Queen Diva dropped me off at Ashby Gap at about 11:15am. I told her I would probably be at Rt 605 around 2:30pm.It was overcast out, but a very mild temperature again.I started my first climb and was happy to get away from the traffic at Ashby Gap. I was wearing my blaze orange to lessen my chances of getting shot...I've had enough happen this year. :-)))My leg felt pretty good. I was walking along slowly and looking for leaves falling from trees, but there weren't many and I ended up not catching any.I was finishing up the second half of the area of Trail called The Roller Coaster today.I walked by the side trail to Rod Hollow Shelter without stopping.I have been surprised at the amount of water flowing in the creeks and in some instances, right down the middle of the Trail.I would work up a little sweat on the uphills, then cool off again on the downhills. The downhills are still hurting my leg more than the uphills.I was figuring I would beat Queen Diva to the trailhead by 10 minutes or so, but as I came over the last rise, I saw her car already there.When I opened the door, she had a cold Coke and a small bag of popcorn waiting on me!! That was nice. :-)))We went back to Bear's Den and saw that Chief was already there waiting on us.I may give Chief a hard time, but he's a good friend and it's always fun to be around him. He'd be a better blue collar guy than Jeff Foxworthy and he has a better southern trailer park accent than Jeff too. ;-)))He proceded to give me gifts...Bon-Bons, stemmed raisins, peanut brittle....anything that was heavy and as I found out later, stuff he would never eat.He even brought boiled peanuts for Queen Diva. She's from Indiana and they don't do boiled peanuts in Indiana.Queen Diva went upstairs and I got Chief to drive me over to the Harper's Ferry Outfitters, so I could get my hiking pole fixed.I got there and ran into Garlic Man who brought out a box of Leki parts. He found the right one for my pole, then I bought a new bandana to replace my old one that I used as a tourniquet the other day.Chief picked out a shirt, then held up some nice flowered pink pajamas to see if they were long enough, but he got distracted and never went back to try them on. I've got pictures and will post them when I get to my laptop. He loves to shop more than any other guy I know. :-)))We stopped by the Wal-Mart and I resupplied for the next couple days.Chief even stuck some Spam steaks in my cart and told me that I had to try them.When we got back to Bear's Den, Weathercarrot was there. Great to see him again.Queen Diva had already made some fresh bread and was well on her way to pan frying some chicken.I peeled potatoes and she made some of her famous mashed potatoes.When dinner was ready, Queen Diva, Chief, Weathercarrot and me were all seated....waiting patiently for Queen Diva to say; "Dig in."She said grace, then we got busy!!Southern pan fried chicken, delicious green beans, fantastic mashed potatoes and gravy with giblets, homemade bread and great company...it just doesn't get any better than this!!!This was THE best meal I've had in a long time!! I've traveled over 1,000 miles before for good pan fried chicken...and Queen Diva did it perfectly. :-)))We all sat around and talked way past hiker's midnight.Big John came in from helping Dave. Chief had been trying to pawn his boiled peanuts off to Queen Diva ar hors d'oeuvres, but she wasn't buying it. Big John got a BIG smile on his face when Chief offered them to him...he's from the south. :-)))Weathercarrot had to head back to Blackburn Center. I said goodbye to him, but I should be walking by there on Friday, so I'll get to see him again before I'm out of this area.Queen Diva is making Chief and me breakfast before we leave in the morning.I'm planning on walking the next 55 miles in 4 days. I was going to try for 3 days, but my knee was killing me today after my walk and all that riding in the cars, so I'm going to take it easy on it.Goodnight to a perfect day!!