Date: 2004-06-03
From: Glasgow

To: Little Irish Creek Campsite
Miles today: 14.9

Greetings! It¢s 11:45 p.m. and I just arrived at camp at 11 p.m. Today was awesome! For everything that was hectic yesterday¢¦today was calm and productive. There is a fire burning in front of me and ¢Little Irish Creek¢ running to my left. Beartracks is setting up camp as well¢¦and the full moon is emerging¢¦WOW! I¢m going to sleep now because I¢m tired from night-hiking, but I¢ll pick up and describe my excellent day tomorrow. Until then¢¦My day started at 7:30 a.m. as I awoke in a hotel room I has possessed little desire to stay in. The fact is that no one gave me a hitch out of town the night before¢¦so I was stuck. When I awoke I felt more rested than I had in a long time. I decided to try to contact people on the phone once more since I was in a town with a phone. First, however, I went to have breakfast at my favorite Glasgow hangout: The Food Mart. A biscuit and a coke later (only $2.00) I was ready to deal with ¢business¢. My first call was to MVA who is threatening to suspend my tags because I owe them $150. My tags are already suspended¢¦(I did it before leaving)¢¦one problem solved. As a note, the lady on the phone had me confused with a retarded puppy and our conversation ended as I just hung up on her. Next I called Lowes. Apparently they ¢forgot¢ to apply the ¢no interest or payment¢ special on the $850 purchase I made. This explains why I owe money (that¢s been accruing) on a charge I did not know existed. Still I found out the problem and will fix it when I am home near my local store. Finally, I called the Student Loan People. I told her I was not working and the lady said I could get an ¢Economic Hardship Deferment¢. SWEET! I needed to download the form on-line and the library opened at 1:00. Three problems covered, but time to kill. Since I had time, I called my credit company and my bank to get exact balances, then I called my mom. Mom told me that my friend working on the house is taking 5 days next week to finish¢¦I really hope this is true. I talked with Mom about stresses at home and I told her about the double rainbow I saw yesterday. I feel close to her and I promised I would keep everything in prayer. Then I sat down to make a ¢worst case scenario¢ budget. From what I figure, I may have as little as $400 left but I also have about $400 worth of gear to sell on E-Bay. So I made a simple 800 dollar plan: I have hiked 770 miles, leaving 1500 to go. In addition, I will stop 3 days in Maryland. My answer: Set aside $50 for Maryland and allocate the other $750 by miles covered. In other words, for every 2 miles I walk I earn 1 dollar of my own money back. So, if I cover 76 miles to Waynesboro, I have $38 to spend, etc. While I hope to not need such planning, I want to be out here. I know if it is God¢s will, it is going to work out. By 12:30 Franco N Benny hit town. I love these two because we always run into one another. I sat with them for a cheap lunch of grilled cheese and water¢¦yum! At 1 p.m. I dismissed myself to the library to download the form I needed. By 2 p.m. I completed the form and sent both it and a Father¢s Day Card from the Post Office. At 2:30 I finally stood prepared to hitch back to the trail. This time, after a short prayer, I was successful. A Rent-a-Center Van pulled over and gave me a ride. (This is very against policy, so the driver will remain nameless). Another hiker, Delta, was in the passenger seat and the driver was a nice 28 year old guy. As he talked, he revealed he was saving up to go back to Bible College. We all exchanged backgrounds, but conversation was cut short as we hit the trail. We said goodbye to our kind driver and headed out. The first 1.7 were a gradual up. I walked with Delta and he told me how he quit alcohol 3 years ago. Delta is one of those guys who hikes over 20 miles a day, but it was great to hear his perspective and discuss my recent thoughts on alcohol, God, and other stuff. It was 3:30 as we hit the first shelter for a break. After our break, Delta hiked ahead. Our next 8.8 miles were nearly all up¢¦¢ugh¢ I thought. Instead of fret I decided to sing and pray. As I prayed I gave God everything. Sometimes I would drift, but I struggled to truly focus¢¦and I did. I simply felt secure as I talked with Him and I knew I was not alone. When I paused I realized I had hiked 3 miles and up 2,000 feet and I had barely noticed. I pushed on singing and praying for friends. I passed beautiful valley views and huge rocks and before I knew it I had summated Bluff Mountain, some 3,300 feet up. With 9 miles complete and 1.5 to go I decided I would night-hike under the moon and I prayed that there would be someone at the shelter who wanted to join me. I arrived at the shelter at 7:30 and 12 seconds later saw and convinced BearTracks to hike with me. First I sat down for a fine meal: Ramen. The shelter, which is supposedly haunted, is in front of a pond. I cooked and ate dinner to the sound of frogs mating¢¦ahhh. Delta and another 20-plusser Achilles were there. Another Southbound hiker was going to sleep. We all discussed the trail and relaxed until BearTracks and I left at 9:15 with dark upon us. Our 4.4 night miles were easy and we talked the whole time. We talked as much to warn animals of our presence as we did for conversation. We discussed visiting DC and BearTracks told me his is coming off at Harper¢s Ferry for money reasons :-(. All was well for over 2 miles then I slipped and mentioned ¢snakes¢. One minute later BearTracks tripped on a root he thought was a snake and jumped 50 feet in the air (a page out of my book). I rolled laughing but within a mile I stepped on a branch that popped up and hit my leg; I went running like a fool at top speed. In the end we both just laughed and by 11 p.m. we were at ¢Little Irish Creek¢ to camp. We lit a fire and soon went to bed. I was blessed to have BearTracks to walk with, just as I was blessed all day. Hopefully the blessing will continue as we hike 21.6 miles :-).God Bless, BEATBOX   ttt