Date: 2009-06-10
From: Bland/US 52

To: VA 606
Miles today: 18.6

Jeremy drove the 40 minutes north to Bland in the early morning before he started with work. Again, I¢m very thankful for everything that he and Robin did for me. He dropped me off at the trailhead, but I had to walk back to my original place of origin on the trail in order to hike ¢honestly¢ and hit every white blaze. I was very tired, as I had stayed up quite late the evening before trying to update my Trail Journals blog. Therefore, once I did return to the trailhead, I pulled out my sleeping pad and plopped my weary body down, with my head resting on the bag itself. I had also been waiting for Scavenger, who was due to arrive at the same location (go figure?!?) at nearly the same time. Once I rested up for a short while, I decided to begin hiking in the woods and figured that the Scavster would catch up soon enough. I hiked a few miles in before I saw Chef and some of her friends. They were hiking southbound, as one of the girls in their party had fallen down an embankment while trying to get some water and had dislocated her shoulder. She seemed to be in quite a bit of pain. Chef told me that she became sick and had to stay at Kincora Hostel in Tennessee for nearly two weeks. She was very adamant about not skipping white blazes, but apparently, she changed her mind and skipped a section of the trail. She said that she would now concentrate more on enjoying herself than actually hiking every white blaze. As I was hiking up on a ridge again, water was very difficult to find. I wasn¢t aware that there would be a 12-mile stretch without any re-supply of water and I had to hike the last 9 miles without a single drop. Obviously, my throat had become quite parched. When I arrived at the second shelter of the day, I immediately through down my pack, ran down the steep embankment and found that the water source had nearly run dry. Where the hell is all of the water in Virginia? I was fortunate enough to fill up my bottle, purify it with my iodine crystals and down it to my heart¢s content. Sure enough, Scavenger came right around the corner of the shelter and we had a warm embrace. It was good seeing my bud again. We were able to catch up all about our respective trips - mine with Robin and Jeremy and his back in Nashville, TN with his family and girlfriend, Lillian. From there, we hiked several miles until we were caught in a COMPLETE downpour. It had rained so hard that the trail turned into a stream and, at one point, I actually lost my footing and slipped on the upper rim of the trail, as I was descending. It was a very audible THUD and my legs and arms became saturated in mud and water. Oh well¢¦again, it comes with the territory. Before reaching VA 606, we had to cross a suspension bridge that was similar to the one that I would cross when visiting the La Selva Biological Field Station in Costa Rica through work. It was, however, on a much smaller scale. It was only 12 mile to the country store, but as we had good luck with hitchhiking, we decided to give it a shot again. Within a minute or two, a young man named Justin came through to pick us up. He said that he was out to clear his head on a country drive. Initially, I didn¢t ask him any questions and we thanked him for the ride. Inside the country store, Scavenger and I went for breakfast for our dinner and we picked up some wonderful Vitamin D milk and Raisin Bran, which we started to eat outside the store. We were told that camping at the store would cost $6, so we were determined to find another spot to sleep for the night. Serendipity struck again, however. Justin pulled on up in his jeep and asked if we needed a ride anywhere else. We initially declined, but he offered to take us all the way to Pearisburg. Scavenger and I discussed our plan and we were thinking about taking the hitch to Pearisburg and then hitching back the following morning and doing a long 25-mile slack pack day on the way back. It worked out into our plans and we took the hitch. The reason why Justin was out clearing his head was because he was stuck in a precarious situation of deciding whether to go to college or to head into the military. Like many Americans, Justin would have to rack up nearly $40,000 in debt to attend the college of his choice or to ¢sacrifice¢ four years and join the Army in order to have his education paid for. I offered some pointers about my own experience and also what strategies or resources he might be able to use in order to acquire more financial aid to pay for his schooling. When he dropped us off at the Holy Church Family Hostel in Pearisburg, we thanked him for the ride and wished him well on his own journey. At the hostel, we were able to meet some new folks, but also reunite with some old friends, including Dangle and Collins. They are a very comical pair and it was great to see them. We exchanged stories from the trail and they told me all about their latest binge of beer drinking at the Rendezvous Hotel, where they made a ¢beer snake¢, using duct tape and empty beer cans. Dangle is a fan of Chinese buffets and, as he has thrown up once from eating too much, well he was destined to do it again. This time, he ate so much Chinese food that he actually threw up inside the restaurant and then proceeded to eat even more food. That evening, their friend from Lancaster, PA was just about to come down to pick them up and take them back home so that they could visit their family for a few days. Since I¢ll be taking off for the upcoming wedding, I might be able to reconnect with them rather soon. It will be nice to have a good night¢s sleep tonight. I certainly need it!