Date: 2003-05-17
From: Damascus, VA.

To: Damascus, VA.
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Morning...Not so many people. Who knew? It's the day of the big hiker parade and water-bomb fight! More gravy & biscuits at Cowboys, then to city park to see exhibitors wares, new tents, new shoes, new poles. I want it all. I take my pack apart so that the guy with the sewing machine can restitch the shoulder harness and waistbelt. My poles, too, go in for free rebuilding, new tips and buckets. Free!! I get the sewing machine guy to stitch up my torn pant pocket that I had ripped out on a branch. I didn't need my stove rebuilt, but the Whisperlite folks were doing a booming business. Same for the Pur Water filter (but it's not Pur anymore) It's Kathadin Water filter now and all this service was for free!! Stump shows up with the "no-class of '01" hiker banner. Me 'n Grampie volunteer to carry the standard. We see Gimp & Gump, Grumpy and Miss Daisy, Hawaiian and Survivor.   Jo Jo Smiley is scheduled to do a talk on her IAT thru hike in '02. I meet the trail legend "Baltimore Jack" (my namesake). He's well educated, well spoken, and knows absolutely everyone! Bono, Bonzo and the Flying Scotsman wander thru. John Killum from Bear's Den is there. I'm in heaven...I love it! Sometime that afternoon, I wave down a guy in a blue pickup who is selling firewood thru the campground. I buy the whole load and recruit volunteers to carry logs across to what will be the nites drum circle. Miss Janet is there, of course, and gets soaked in the parade. It doesn't matter because overcast skys start to rain again. Everyone is soaked. We're gonna need a good fire to dry off by...if it ever stops raining. I meet the editors from Trail Journals.com and am flattered that they recognize my trail name, Texas Jack. I sign some more banners. We get our pictures taken with Stump later. We go for more beer & ice with Three Packs. Life is good! The Vasque Boot Vendor chases me away because I won't stop talking about how shoddy the Vasque hiking boots hold up and how they don't have anything resembling Customer Service. Montrail and New Balance are both excellent tho, in my opinion of course. The outfitters from Harper's Ferry are there to stand behind their products, of course, and I hope that they do well, as they seem to have a good selection of quality hiking supplies and gear in a town that needs this service. Good luck to them and I wish them the best. They got my money and it was $$ well spent. Nuff said. Night fell, and so did the rain. Miss Janet was taking in the wet-huddled masses, at least till the rain let up. By then, I was tending the fire and we had a doozy! Folks were coming from everywhere to dry off. I took credit for the blaze and then there were so many people that you couldn't even get close to it. By then the rain had stopped and the drummers had started their tempos. The later it got, the tireder I got, until everything caught up to me and I made a shaky trip to my own tent, and with the drums in the distance, I fell off to sleep, tired but contented. I don't like to, but I had "too much Tequila" that nite. Everyone had a wonderful time around the fire. Thank you again Lord, for days and nites like this one. It's the stuff memories are made of.