Date: 2015-05-23
From: trents store

To: smith mountain Lake
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

So glad I have not sent home my base layer and 22 degree bag yet. It was 34 degrees at 5 this morning, and I was laying on the cold ground because my air mattress was flat. So frustrating. No return email from Big Agnes yet. I stayed in my bag until around 6 then I bolted for the shower room. Bolted back to my tent for my forgotten soap and bandana, then back to the shower again. It was a pretty scummy shower/toilet room, dirty and not well maintained, but the water had good pressure and was steaming hot. I kept my prison crocs on to avoid a foot rotting bacteria from jumping on them. I took a nice long shower, mostly to stay warm. Then I went to the next room that housed a washer and dryer and threw my bandana in the dryer on hot. The dryer warmed up the room and I just stayed there until 7 when the store opened. I was supposed to visit my sis in law at the lake next week when I would be up by Roanoke, but she was going to be out of town at that time, so she was driving 2 hours to pick me up at Trent's store, and would be here around 11. In the store, I drank coffee and chatted with the locals until they opened the grill. Trent's is a very interesting store. They sell a little bit of almost everything. They have a decent resupply section, snacks, fishing poles, rifles, stuffed creatures in life like scenes- like a wolf about to attack a baby deer (aw!) , safes, maxi pads, bullets, and much much more! When the grill finally opened I ordered eggs and sausage. Another hiker ordered a cheeseburger and I said doh! Why didn't I think of that?It took about an hour for the food because only one person was running both the store and the grill, both of which were very busy. While waiting, I met a guy named Todd with that special blue tape on his arm that hikers sometimes use. He also had his right hand wrapped up in gauze. We talked and I learned that Todd was a machinist. He described in great detail the grizzly accident that ripped off his thumb and nearly the whole arm but for some great reflexes and good luck. He talked about his surgeries, life without a thumb on his dominant hand, and the hardships of not working. He said that initially he was really depressed when he looked down on that hand, knowing how much it would change his life. He has tried to rally though, and now he jokes about it a little and tells himself how lucky he was not to have lost his arm, or worse, been killed by the accident. He says that if a machinist can look down and count 10 fingers the day they retire, they have had a pretty good run. I know this because my uncle Ray was a machinist and lost two fingers. But he told me they were bitten off by walleyes. Todd left and Rex sat down. Rex was an older guy who had on a baseball cap that said MILK 1948. Rex told me that he had been a dairy farmer since 1948. He had the largest barns in the county. I told him that I owned an ice cream shop and how much the prices had increased over the last few years because of milk prices. He surprised me by telling me that the actual price paid to dairy farmers was less than half now than what it was 10 years ago. He invested a pretty penny in his barns and then the prices fell so low that now he struggles to keep his farm going. He explained that farmers in our country are barely breaking even. That makes me feel sad. I have seen farmers all along this journey working so hard. Rex lost a brother and two cousins in WW2 and talked about them so vividly, as though they just walked out the door yesterday. He was spared the war because he was the last surviving son.Terry picked me up at 11 and drove me to the lake- to the house where I spent my honeymoon, the house where I have passed a week with my children and husband out of every summer for the last 20 years. It felt like going home. We stopped at the volunteer fire station for some barbecue sandwiches with slaw on them- not on the side like Yankees eat them. Chicken cheese broccoli Amish pie was dinner and I slept in a comfy bed with down pillows. Pinch me- I must be dreaming.