Date: 2013-05-18
From: Damascus, VA

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0

What a crazy weekend! So many things have happened and I've seen so many people that I haven't seen in weeks! It's just been insane.Friday morning I woke up early and went to breakfast with Buckeye, Atreyu(formally known as Destry, he finally got his trail name Thursday night as we were sitting around our camp fire) and Pryor. These boys are becoming a couple of my favorites out here on the trail, they simply crack me up! We went to breakfast and then headed to one of the churches where they do foot washes and massages! Let me just tell you it is great to have someone wash your feet, give you a clean new pair of socks, and the massage your feet as well... Just glorious! I also ran into Red Specs!! so excited to see him, we made plans to meet up later for lunch!! After the foot care I went to the medical tent to have my knee looked at... Nothing serious but it's been bothering me for a little while so I figured why not! They didn't really tell me much but I am going to try and find a brace for it just to be on the safe side. Once I was done there I headed back into town to the vendors and in search of the boys. Amazon headed out today, he is going to try and make some miles and then head home for a little while to take care of some personal stuff. Our wagon wheel has officially broken up but I know that we will all cross paths in the future because the trail has a strange way of just doing that!!I met up with Red Specs and we soon met up with Nighten Gale and went and had ice cream. It was great to chat with him once again! Afterwards Nighten Gale and I gathered up all our stuff and head to the Mountain Laurel Inn, this would be our new home for the remainder of the weekend. I was a little sad to be leaving tent city but as the rain had returned it was nice knowing that we would be inside with a roof over our heads!The rest of the day was spent hanging out in our room and then returning to tent city for a bonfire, drum circle, and banjo jam session. All in all a really great day!This morning (Saturday) started off with the owner of the Inn, Jim, serenading us at breakfast! He was awesome and so sweet! It was a great way to start our day! After that Nighten Gale headed out to do laundry and Neema and I hit the dollar store where I found many Cinderella things to add to my parade outfit! Every Saturday of Trail Days they do a hiker parade where thru hikers past and present walk through town in whatever crazy outfits they can find and get hosed by water guns and whatever other water shooting devices people can find! So after the dollar store Neema and I headed out to join the rest of the crazies at the parade start line. The beginning of the parade was great, I ended up walking next to so many of my friends that I had and were currently hiking with! I ran into Saint Croix and Walmart who I hadn't seen in forever and then walked along side Neema, Buckeye,Pryor, and Atreyu... It was great and happy for a little while and then things turned surreal... As we were walking a car drove into the middle of the parade. One minute you are happy and laughing and the next you hear thumps and people yelling to stop and get out of the way and you turn to look and figure out what's going on and there is the front of a car less then five feet from where you're standing, it's surreal and takes a minute to register that something is not right. And then all of a sudden you see a girl getting run over and hikers pushing and lifting the car off of her and then the chaos that follows of cops and emergency personnel responding to something that you're not really sure just actually happened right in front of you... It is hands down one of the scariest things I've seen. We were so close to it and for a few minutes you didn't know if everyone in our group was safe. Everyone was eventually located and my group was all safe. We don't really know all of the details but we do know that the guy driving had some sort of medical condition and it wasn't intentional. 3 people were taken to area hospitals via life flight and a bunch more taken via ambulances. What should have been a happy day turned tragic jet like that and the entire mood of the town as well. Everywhere you went people were talking about it and trying to piece together what happened and none of us really know for sure.After the accident I spent a good deal of time in the police station with Red Specs, he had the whole thing on video, and as I hiked with him for so long I can understand and act as translator for him. Once we got the video copied to the police I headed into tent city to find all of my friends and try and have a somewhat normal rest of the afternoon. I also ran into Bon Air and Jolly Rancher before the parade and was able to hang with them for a few before saying good bye to them as well. They will be leaving on Monday. It's been a long strange day and I am physically and mentally exhausted. Tomorrow starts a new adventure for me as I take a couple days to give back to the trail by doing maintenance work with a group called Hard Core... More on that tomorrow!