Date: 2013-05-17
From: Campsite, Kelly Knob

To: Sinking Creek / Trail Days in Damascus
Miles today: 3.6
Weather: broken clouds

Well, it had certainly been an interesting day! I awoke early anticipating, and somewhat nervous, about the day to come. In a little over a mile I arrived at the shelter where I spoke to some section hikers, Dreamer, Newton from North Yarmouth Maine, and Timex who is interested in hitch hiking with me. From there to VA Rt 42 was a pleasant hike of less then 3 miles. This is where my hitch hiking adventure is to begin. Timex had not caught up to me but our agreement was that I would stay there and hitch (as opposed to walking down the road) and if I was still there when he arrived we'd hitch together. The third vehicle to pass me was Rudy in his pickup truck. Rudy was out running errands and he said if I didn't mind going along he would give me a ride. We went to a little grocery store, the hardware store, and topped it off with breakfast. Rudy also gave me a a homemade banana nut muffin. In exchange for the ride I bought his breakfast and a fried cherry pie. Rudy is retired and a local good ol'boy who has traveled a lot. I really enjoyed hanging out with him. He dropped me off on Rt 460. I thought I would get a ride quickly since its a 4 lane road with more traffic but it turned out to be way more difficult. I was out there for well over an hour without a ride. I got bored and restless so I started walking up the road. In front of a gas station some young guys asked me where I was going and offered a ride part way if I didn't mind riding in the back of a pickup. I eagerly accepted! It was refreshing as my shirt was still wet from the rain and sweat so the ride dried out my clothes and blew some if the stink off . . . well, some of itThey dropped me off on Rt 100 which was the road doing into Dublin where I will meet my ride to Damascus. The very next vehicle was John who stopped to pick me up. John is a hiker and lives about 4 miles from Woods Hole Hostel. John was going to Christiansburg but detoured and gave me a ride to McDonalds in Dublin. THANK YOU John!Since it was noon I ate at McDonalds, recharged my phone, and dried out my shoes and soaks. My ride wasn't coming until much later in the day so I decided to try to get a ride to Damascus. One of the people at McDonalds gave me a big piece of cardboard and I went next door to the convenience store to get a marker. I was surprised to run into Timex there!We decided to hitch together and were in McDonalds making my sign, "Trail Days" and his sign "Damascus" when in walked a brother/sister couple from Austria. Their names are Hakuna Matata (take it easy) and Stinky Feet. We all went to the entrance ramp to I-81 and held up our signs. Within 15 minutes we were all loaded into a minivan and headed south. We were picked up by a young woman who has going to meet her boyfriend. She took us all the way to the Damascus exit and dropped us off, where else but McDonalds. We all bought McFlurries. In the parking lot as we were leaving Bill pulled up and asked us if we needed a ride. He gave us a ride right into Damascus. After 4 roads, 4 rides, and 7 hours of hitch hiking I've finally arrived at my destination. Trail Days is the largest gathering of AT hikers and attracts between 20,000 and 30,000 people. I mainly came to see the vendors but there are all kinds of events going on.