Date: 2009-05-27
From: Virginia Creeper Trail near Taylor's Valley, VA

To: Whitetop Laurel Creek, VA
Miles today: 8.0
Weather: light rain

Fermented BeansWhen we woke up this morning Graveyard and The Phlo were both very sick. About 4 days ago, anticipating we would be getting back on the trail that day and cooking dinner that evening, they had put some beans into a water bottle to soak for the day. They ended up leaving them to soak for 4 more days. Last night when they opened the bottle some kind of gas fizzed out and they realized the beans had fermented in the course of those four days. They decided to cook and eat the beans anyway, which in hindsight turned out to be a very bad mistake - one they both paid for during the middle of the night. So they told us to go on without them and they would meet up with us later at the Creeper Cafe, a place about 5 miles up on the Creeper Trail. Stone Skipper, Dizzy Bat, Einstein and I headed up the trail, looking forward to a decent lunch at the Creeper Cafe. We knew about the Creeper Cafe because Max had driven us by there the week before on the way to taking us back to Hampton. It wasn't exactly on the way, but it was near his house and he wanted to show us a nearby swimming hole. Of course The Phlo and I were in the back guessing at where we were going because we lacked the benefit of narration that Dizzy Bat and Graveyard were receiving up front. The Creeper Cafe sat as an oasis for both hikers and bikers about halfway down the Creeper Trail from Whitetop Mountain on the way to Damascus. It sat across a small bridge over the Little Laurel Creek and had a nice pavilion in the back and a deck overlooking the creek. They served homemade soup and sandwiches along with the typical cafe fare. They also had hand dipped ice cream and delicious desserts. Of course we sampled as much as we could. After lunch we sat out back under the pavilion and waited for The Phlo and Graveyard to show up. Liz had bought some felt coloring kits at the dollar store in Damascus, so we alternated between coloring, reading, napping and making small talk with the bikers coming through. We were also entertained by a CD of Appalachian music playing on the cafe sound system. At first it took us a while to realize the same song was playing n repeat over and over. But after an hour or so, the cafe staff must have figured it out and played the rest of the CD. We were much relieved. While we waited, we discussed using the cafe phone to call Max and see if he would like some more company. Stone Skipper especially wanted to go because she had heard so much about the experience from the rest of us and felt she missed out. Dizzy was worried we might wear out our welcome, and were were all worried about The Phlo and Graveyard missing us on the trail. We were worried about what Max might think if he asked about them and we told him we left them back on the trail sick. That wouldn't leave a good impression about how much we cared for our friends. So we continued to wait. Eventually the cafe closed in the late afternoon and after waiting 4-5 hours for the Phlo and Graveyard we decided to move on. We hiked another 5 miles up the trail just short of where the AT rejoined the Creeper, and pitched our tent by two very large cube shaped boulders on the banks of the Little Laurel. We held out hope that The Phlo and Graveyard would soon stumble upon us, so we built a fire, cooked dinner and waited a while after dark to see if we would notice their headlamps coming down the trail. They never came, and we went to sleep hoping our friends were OK and that we would see them tomorrow.