Date: 2022-04-23
From: Stealth campsite 

To: Daleville 
Miles today: 6.2
Weather: clear sky

We woke at 5am (another warm night!), excited to go into town for a shower, clean laundry, and a bed that isn¢t on the ground!As we were dressing I heard crashing coming from the back of the tent. I knew the trail was in front of the tent so I couldn¢t imagine what was coming from the other direction. But it did sound human. David looked out and said hello to a hunter passing by. Whew!We finished what we had left for breakfasts. The bugs were already out in force - gnats and flies! Annoying!We finally left at 7:15 with the plan to be in town by 10:30-ish. The climb kept going up, which surprised us because it should have been going down. We did pass by some giant rocks (another monolith but nowhere near as impressive as Dragon¢s Tooth!). We also met the most interesting pair of hikers! Feathers and her little goat, Little Leaf! Little Leaf was so adorable! He liked to hike behind her (she had a little rope lead on him) so he was wearing this vest covered in sharp studs. At first I thought he looked very goth but Feathers explained that it was called a coyote vest. It wasn¢t uncommon for coyotes and even dogs to attack him so the vest covered in spikes deterred them.Got to Daleville about 10:45. Just before the trailhead I stopped and changed into my camp shirt so I didn¢t smell too bad. We didn¢t have to walk far, about .4 of a mile to get to a small shopping center with numerous food places, an outfitter, and a Kroger. We stopped and got coffee (I got a chai tea latte) and a muffin and sat outside the shop and relaxed. We saw GGnome, Runaway, and Cool Whip and they came over and sat with us. They were leaving that day. After a while we decided to get lunch and chose The Three Li¢l Pigs BBQ restaurant.  We had the special of a burrito stuffed with pulled pork, bacon, and coleslaw.  It came with a side and I got brunswick stew and CoffeeBean got baked beans. IT WAS FABULOUS!! Hikers also got a banana pudding for dessert for free. We walked away there as 2 li¢l pigs for sure. As we were waiting for our food, we saw a hiker walk into the shopping center carrying a huge log. Every head in the restaurant turned and I heard numerous people say ¢Is that guy carrying a log??¢After lunch we went over to Kroger to resupply. It was out of many of the things we were looking for. When we came out of the store, there was the guy with the log! We stopped and talked to him and found out his name is, wait for it, Logman. He carries the 20 lb log (someone named the log Larry) everywhere with him and he had a QR code on the log where you could donate money. Every penny he raises goes to veterans groups. He stated several times that he does not keep one penny. He was fascinating to talk to and I can¢t wait to check out his site when we get home. He said that he has hiked all 15 of the 4000 ft peaks in New Hampshire and Connecticut and all the Adirondack Mountains. We wished him luck and said goodbye and headed to the Super 8 Hotel down the road. So glad we had called 2 days before and reserved a room because a big sign on the door said ¢SOLD OUT¢. We got to our room, stripped, and CoffeeBean put on his rain pants and took our stuff to the laundry room. There was only one washer and one dryer so we had to wait in line but it all worked out. Mackenzie is working as a travel nurse in Roanoke so when she got off at 7:15pm she drove the 20 minutes over to our hotel and visited with us for a little over an hour. It was great to see her and hear about her day. We hiked 6.2 miles into Daleville, a nero day (near zero).