Date: 2007-05-24
From: Partnership Shelter

To: Atkins, VA
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: light rain

May 24, AtkinsSleeping through the night at Partnership last night was a chore in itself. Sprocket had us all up every now and again talking and yelling in his sleep. He spoke very clearly about women - "what is it with women!?", he asked. And then there was lots of yelling and cursing.I got up around 7 a.m., a little later than normal, and started moving. The shelter looked trashed - people were strewn about the camping area sleeping and there were remnants of pizza and beer everywhere. Not to worry though, Sanford of '06 (so named because he collects all trash he finds on the trail) assured us he'd clean it all up.Melk and I started walking north at 8:30 a.m. and we had a couple of good climbs to start the day. The hiking lately has not provided many great views - just lots of rocks. I fell twice today, both pretty bad. I scraped my legs up and had about a dozen other near-falls. The hiking was hilly but not too difficult. For a small portion of the day, we were treated to rhododendron tunnels and the rhododendron were in bloom so it was beautiful. A few of us stopped at Chatfield Shelter for lunch and then proceeded on our merry way to Atkins. On the way, we walked through many fields, near an old schoolhouse, and past some railroad tracks. The tracks were being cleaned and the rocks were being graded by a machine named "Old Dusty". I stopped and had a moment with the conductor until the noise was too much to bear. Less than 30 minutes later, I was in Atkins.I was greeted by JB, Bigby, Sprocket and Melk sitting outside of the gas station feasting on ice cream and cold drinks. I hopped right in on the action with some iced tea and an ice cream sandwich. We sat there for a while and, sadly, were pretty entertained with the goings-on at the gas station. But we managed to leave and check into the Relax Inn.About and hour later, our laundry had been done and we were eating at the Barn Restaurant. I had two BBQ pork sandwiches, cornbread, and cole slaw. We went back about two hours later for dinner.Several of us were gathered outside the motel talking this evening and some woman came out of her room suggesting that we woke her up but it was okay and she's just share some beer with us. We offered her a seat and then Cuyahoga got up and the woman became offended for some unknown reason. She headed back to her room, came out 15 minutes later to talk to the management and then went to bed. Management scolded us. Out of nowhere, her car alarm went off. She came out and yelled at us saying she had to work in the morning and to leave her car alone. We assured her we had nothing to do with it and she went back to her room. Five minutes later, she started blaring GNR's Paradise City and sat outside drinking a beer. We were all so confused that we called it a night. Go figure. At least she picked a good song.- Sound of cars on the interstate through the window. Post Trail Thoughts:This was the first time I shared a motel room with anyone but Certain and it was a little funny to me. Certain and I always divided the room in half to explode all of our gear. When I started doing that, Melk was just like "whatever, it doesn't matter. We can both put our stuff everywhere". Pretty funny how different people do things differently. I also remember Melk's resupply from her parents there - everything was nicely labeled. So cute. We plotted out the next few days on the trail together - so I think that's where we sealed our fate for the rest of the hike! And we had dinner with Young Eagle that night...it was all foreshadowing, I tell you.Sitting outside the Relax Inn that night was quite fun with the whole group. We had a great group there - JB, Bigby, Ronin (I think), Cobweb and Mayo, Cuyahoga, and maybe a few I don't remember now.