Date: 2005-06-12
To: Blackrock Shelter
Miles today: 0.0

6-12-05 Wellll..This is my first entry typed on the rather confusing and super tech-y, UN "wilderness experience" suporting UN "handwritten corrospondence" encouraging pocketmail.... This will be interesting for sure.. I'm sitting up against my backpack in the rear of Blackrock shelter..(868.5 miles in)   Usually the position I am in is reserved for naps so I am not surprisingly realllly drowsy and my "W" .details are going to be somewhat vague... which....wouldn't make them details at all...whatever.Ahem.. Gypsy the looploop and I decided after staring at a elevation profile for two micro seconds (-which looked like the tooth profile of Monstro the whale.. To hike the Blue Ridge Parkway in to town from Rusty's Hardtime Hollow.. (an incredable trail hostel)..-A MUST stay for passing by hikers, bikers, wierdos and .. just anyone who likes unique, redneck humour saturated signs plastered everywhere along with books, dirt, and farmstuff...Rusty was great! His place was great!.. Even without showers and loundry..but who needs those things????? ... Gypsy and I took off on the road at the pace of an Amish hymn with creeky and stiff feet and packs weighing a wonderful "coming into town" weight. Lately I have been having problems with my back going numb for some odd reason.. sssSoo the flat grade and light pack felt GREAT!.. Road walking however is not as wonderful as "real world" pedestrians imagine it would be for us comparing it to how we hoof it up over nosebleed altitudes !on a rocky footpath that birds designed each day.. It really gets super monotinous and somewhat awkward if there is alot of traffic on that road.... The parkway was absolutly beautiful tho..(I am tempted to come down and drive all 4?? miles of it one year soon before I forget how cool it was). We were having a lovely time waving at everyone and counting the folkes that did NOT wave back...bah humbug...keeping both hands on the wheel like that..boring!.. The number was 3 out of hundreds... We must have looked wavable that day which didn't make too much sense since we looked sort of scary..even for thru hikers..At mile 20 (2 from destination) we picked up a hitch from a gal driving by.. Pheonix rising... Awesome hiker who is off the trail but doing trail magic for a while...    We were dropped off at the YMCA and we met up with Poet and learned of the new hostel at the Lutheran church down the road... It turned out to be an awesome place to stay for us..complete with showers..oo la la!.. a kitchen stocked with church potluck leftovers.. DUDE oo la la...and a 56" widescreen with a bunch of 007 movies and a blockbuster card dangling from the shelf..WOW!!!!!!!!...lutherans..who knew???.. Bassline, Serenity, Teach, Leaveitbehind, Clearwater, Dandylion,...uh..Stilts, Apple pie... and various other hikers ended up watching Monty python and muppet movies all night...oh brother..but we had a ball!   Waynesboro is a huge rectangle.. It didn't take me long to figure THAT out...How come??????? well it took me 7 years to figure out how to navigate my selvsies around simple little Traverse city..a somewhat nobrainer of a town......but it took two hours to figure out abstract trail towns??????? I have a theory about that, here it it.... It is something !we all do..on rare occasion for some.. to an extreme for..certain others.. Its called walking..I know I know...where and how did I come up with THAT?.. On one end was the hostel and library...and the AYCE chinese...-yes the good things in life!On the other end was the Quality inn and the laundry mat... aka..hiker hangout and hiker hangout..hmm.. so our zero was no zero at all, I firmly believe that I put in an easy ten miles+ going from one end of that crazy town to the other... Which required me to pass by a sort of sketchy carnival that was going on.. made me really feel oddball out,.. especially when I ate 2 brown sugar elephant ears gleefully thanking God for calories... I highly doubt many other people do that since I received some odd stares... Oh that was awesome!!Wellll..on that happy memory of elephant ears,... I'm going to take a nap..(which is a great way to get to maine for sure)..   Peace, Love, and technology...always and forever.The gypsy sis... and fool of a TOUK..