Date: 2012-05-28
From: Holiday Motor Lodge in Pearisburg

To: Woods Hole Hostel
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up to Baxter barking. Barking so loud. So, so loud. It was early and PMo was gone. Anna and I were fighting the morning's attempt to wake us up. I compromised and ordered some gear to replace my heavy stuff while staying in bed. Baxter remained fixated on the door awaiting PMo's hopeful return. Every little noise from outside produced a howling from inside of him. The sun was streaming in through the drapes now and I knew it was only a matter of time. PMo came back and let me know that Curt was coming to pick up Baxter. Curt and PMo live in central Illinois. This is a long drive. I have never had the chance to meet Curt and was excited at the opportunity but knew he was going to be exhausted by the time he arrived. He had driven through the night and was getting pretty close. We ate breakfast at Friends and Family. The booth we sat at was not big enough to hold all of our food. There was easily 15 plates on the table for the four of us. Hiker appetites are ridiculous. We resupplied at Food Lion and sang the jingle(Food Liiiii-on, Food Lion) down the aisles while Curt slept a few winks. We then all drove out to Woods Hole Hostel to spend the afternoon and night. It was pretty quiet that day and I found some time to catch up on journals way up on the hillside under the shade of a big willow. It is really difficult to allocate the time to journal when there are so many people and distractions around. One of the reasons I picked this trail was because it was the most social. However, it seems like the two interests are in conflict slightly. I spent the afternoon talking to the Professor (#2), Flapjack, CV, Mud, Calli, Sandy from PA, and Blue Sky. I was excited to see Blue Sky. I hadn't seen him for many miles. Michael showed me his music studio right before dinner and we were in trouble for holding up the ring of thanks. I broke the silence and was thankful for family. There was salad, strawberries, stir-fry, homemade peanut sauce, extra Mexican lasagna and sour cream. I joined the clean-up crew and was thankful for the chance to make up for my performance at breakfast a day ago. Nevel had that kitchen down to a science. Everything had a place and her system was easy to understand. A lot goes into a meal like that. A lot goes into planting the food that needs to grow for a meal like that too. I felt like Michael might be getting the short end of the social equity stick since so many people thank Nevel for her short-term daily efforts but miss the long-term stuff that Michael takes care of. Together it works well as long as they know they are valued. Amish-made blackberry ice cream for desert was delicious. I spent some time talking to Firefox, Sicilian Gypsy, and Mana. I joined Sonshine and Nevel for some meditation in the evening and it was quite a struggle to remain physically still and mentally calm while being attacked by mosquitos. I didn't realize but I didn't even have it all that tough. Sonshine had one of the farm cats sit in his lap in addition to the mosquitos. I learned a lot from the exercise and know I am stronger for the experience. I talked with Sonshine for an hour afterward; a interesting guy with a great heart. I hope our paths cross again up the trail somewhere. I found my way to my hammock quite easily. Despite a bunch of open camping land, someone had set up a hammock on one of the trees I was using (bad form) and another person had set up a tent right next to me and placed some bright holiday lights on their rainfly blazing up the night. Perhaps they mistook me for someone they knew. I figured I would make two new friends in the morning.