Date: 2010-10-31
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

God I love me some Daleville. They got a Pizza hut, a Dominos, a barbecue place, a Wendys, a McDonalds, a buffet and a BP Gas station. We talked ourselves into staying another day; as if thats hard to do. We are all a little tired after the last week, and all the rain. A couple of the guys have packages coming that arent getting here until this afternoon, and its Saturday. Saturday and a group of boys means college football. Score.I met some people along the way that are worth mentioning. I met Marie at a shelter 7 miles after climbign the priest. She was a weekend hiker from the baltimore area. She is an artist by trade, she is a climber and has done missionary work in Peru with her church. She was great company, and it was nice to share the night with a girl for a change. I have a feeling there will be a thru-hike in her future, I could sense it.Now we haven't had much female presence on the the trail at all. There are no girls in our group, and as far as we know, none that are relatively close. We have wondered if our group would be the same if there were girls with us. Not that I have anything against girls, but it just adds another dynamic if you will. I give mad props to all the girls on this trail, I can't imagine dealing with all the normal beatings of the trail with the addition of all those girly things that girls have to contend with. There is a phenomenon on the trail called "Pink blazing". It is when a guy starts planning his hike around a relationship with another hiker, or the hopes of one. Out of all the girls we saw coming Northbound, there were very few that were single. Many relationships form on the trail, and by the time they were up to Maine, it seemed all the girls were spoken for. There are alot of relationships that don't seem typical as well....a 22 year old girl with a 47 year old guy, a knockout beauty with a grizzly hippie man. Companionship is a plus, but I always wander where these relationships lead to after you lose the common bond of the "trail". Nonetheless, almost all of us have girls back home, so there wouldnt be any pink blazing even if there were girls.Lowry gave me a ride into Glascow for resupply. He was an older Gentleman, probably in his 70's. He moved here from the Fairfax area after he retired, and splits his time equally between the trail and the golf course. He had actually just started his hike for the day when he saw me hitch hiking near a parking area. He cancelled his hike to give me a ride into town. Interesting guy was lowry. A retired lawyer from both the civilian sector and 27 years in the Marines as both an Infantry officer and a lawyer. he said "I was a trial lawyer, if I saw you walking down the street the wrong way I'd sue ya". He's thrilled to death to live here, claiming to have a view of both the AT and the golf course from his house. Its the stuff that dreams are made of. We were concerned about trying to get a hitch back to the trail from Glascow, but our fears were alleviated after a trip to the library. There was a guy on the computer there who struck up a conversation with us, recognizing us as hikers. I never caught his name, but he was new to the area having moved from out west. He spent most of his adult years teaching school on an Indan Reservation out west, and moved back recently after a divorce. He gave us directions to his house and told us to come over when we were ready to go back to the trail. This was quite a blessing, as it was not going to be an easy hitch out of town.I met a guy named Abraham on the blue ridge parkway. He just appeared to be sightseeing in his Mercedes, but was dressed professionally as if he had left work early. He was just thrilled to meet a thru hiker, and told me I was living the dream he had in his 40's. He didnt't see older than his 40's so he must have good genes. He was either middle eastern or asian descent but I could not be sure. He inquired if I had a blog, and I gave him this sight. The whole exchange lasted only a minute or two, but it was interesting. So I bought the new pack yesterday! This is a huge move, and I'm nervous about it. Too late now though, my old pack is already on its way home in a UPS truck. The pack is called a Gregory Balotro 70. My old pack weighed 2 pounds, this one ways six!! I gained 4 pounds just in pack weight. However, the extra weight has alot to do with a very sturdy suspension system and a 70 liter capacity. The girl in the store called it the "Cadilac" of packs. It cost $290, but was on sale for $200 since an updated version is coming out. I loaded it up and it seems awfullu comfy. I didn't exactly do it on a whim, I had been thinking about it for quite some time. I was constantly having to adjust my old pack once I started pushing the weight threshold for an ultralight pack, and noticed I had been getting a sore back. I went to the store and narrowed it down to two packs. I then came back to the hotel and researched both packs online for about an hour before making the decision. I hope it pays off.Writing....my brother pointed out that I inappropriately use the words "than" and "then". He explained the difference, but I forgot. I also habitually spell at least 10 to 15 words wrong. "Probally" is apparently not spelled that way. Not because I'm rush typing which is usually the case, but because I don't know how to spell them. I know what a noun and a verb are, but I'd be hard pressed to define an adverb, adjective or pronoun. I write things the way I think them, or the way that I see them. I don't commonly use big words or lavish descriptive terminolgy. i don't know many big words, and if I don't think in terms of lavish descriptions I don't write them. Sometimes a sunset is just a sunset. Some of you have said I ought to write a book. Now this would be interesting. Luckily I do know how to spell 'book", or else it would just never work out. I wouldn't even know where to begin. There are some books about the trail out there. The most famous is "A walk in the woods" by Bill Bryson. I cannot begin to tell you how many times this book is brough up in conversation, and usually by section hikers. I am quick to point out that S.O.B. is the one that got me into all of this and he never even hiked the whole trail. He only hiked 400 miles or so before giving it up in excahncge for section hikes to complete his book. I believe he hiked 7-800 miles in total, which is still considerably more than the average American will ever do. In all seriousness I must give Bill Bryson his due credit. His book is what first captivated me, and there are an awful lot of thru-hikes being completed because of his book. When the question "why are you hiking the trail" arises as it often does, "A Walk in the Woods" is a common answer. Kudos to Bryson for inspiring so many, and there were parts of his book that were hilarious. There is another book called "AWOL on the Appalachian Trail" by dave Miller. This is by a thru hiker, but is a much more bland version of hiking in my opinion. David Miller has capilized on his hike by creating an AT guide book that many of us use. Well its time for some college football!! I'm certain there will be pizza involved and this makes my heart very happy.