Date: 2004-05-31
From: Abingdon Gap Shelter

To: Roy
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: light rain

At 2:00 a.m. thunder and lightening was approaching, so I got out of the hammock and took my sleeping bag into the shelter where Zip Off and Kato were sleeping. Shortly thereafter, the area was inundated by torrential rains with thunder, lightening and high winds. The rain created a noisy racket as it clobbered the metallic roof of the shelter. Kato sat up and watched the downpour. His face and profile appeared as a dramatic silhouette whenever the lightening strikes lit up the outside with bluish-white bursts of light.In the morning when I got up, the thunder storm had passed and the rain was tapering off. I grimaced and put on my pair of cold wet socks and hiking shoes. It would be pointless to wear my only pair of dry socks because they would become soaked from contact with the mud, puddles, and wet bushes along the trail in the aftermath of the storm. At 10:50, I came across a collection of stones which had been placed across the trail; it represented the border of Tennessee and Virginia. Thru hiker Messy Garage and Arthur, a weekend hiker I have become acquainted with, came along and we snapped photos of each other.I hiked into Damascus with Arthur and headed for an ATM machine. I knew where it was located because this was the town which I had visited during the Trail Days Festival. Arthur headed on to a hostel, where he intended to shower and drive back to his home in Raleigh, North Carolina. I asked a local man on the street if there was a supermarket in town. He said there was one a short drive away and generously offered to drive me there and back. We introduced ourselves. His name is Roy, a 64 year old man with a grey beard, a black cowboy hat, a black shirt, neatly pressed blue jeans, and black, pointed leather boots.He drove me in his pickup truck to the supermarket where I purchased food to last the next four days of hiking. After resupplying, I offered to take him out to lunch, which he agreed to.He drove me to a bar which serves food. We settled into a corner booth and ordered lunch. Another patron fed some coins into a CD player and country music began playing. Roy told me that he was divorced nine years ago following infidelity by his ex-wife. Several years after his divorce, he met her at a function. She had become exceedingly overweight. Roy described his reaction upon seeing her in that condition. He cupped his hands into a prayerful mode, looked up at the ceiling, and said "Thank you, Lord!" to describe his relief at being free from her.His favorite pastime is dancing at country music dance clubs.¢If I am dancing or fishing, I am in my glory," he said. He told me that his prowess on the dance floor enables him to meet and date single women. Sometimes it leads to longer relationships, but he does not like being tied down. He said that a recent relationship ended when his lady friend pestered him to mow her lawn.He told her, "I don't smoke grass and I don't cut grass."We left the bar and he drove me over to his place¢an RV trailer in a campground¢where he showed me photos of his relatives and some of the women he had loved following his divorce. One of the photos put a lump in his throat. It was a formal portrait of an elegant and attractive middle aged woman."I should have married that gal. It¢s one of my regrets," he said with an expression of regret. He told me that they met at a dance club, and then dated for a while. Eventually, she gave him her address and he drove over to visit her. Her home was expensive with columns in front. She told him that she was a millionaire, but did not tell him at first lest he become intimidated.While sipping on a beer outside his trailer, Roy told me that he loved that woman, but eventually ended the relationship because he was still "wounded" from his divorce and the timing was not right."It makes my heart flutter thinking of her," he said.Changing the subject, I asked Roy if there was a barber in town who could trim back my beard; it had been growing too thick. He told me that he would let me use his battery operated trimmer. He handed me the trimmer and a mirror. I stood outside his trailer and trimmed my beard. Then I clumsily attempted to trim the hair behind my neck. Seeing this, Roy took the trimmer and gave me a shave behind the neck. What a nice man! Before saying goodbye to him, I got out my camera and took a portrait of him holding a tiny photo of that woman he once loved and lost.This evening I washed my clothes at a laundry, dried out my shoes and hammock, ate at a restaurant with several hikers, then spent some time socializing with some hikers at a rented room where the parents of Knuckles were staying.Now, I am composing this entry in a room inside a hostel owned by the Methodist Church. The conditions are Spartan, like bunks without mattresses, but the cost for one night is only four dollars. Tomorrow, I will wash my sleeping bag, re-organize my gear, and probably hit the trail in the early afternoon, weather permitting.