Date: 2004-06-01
From: None

To: Stuck in a Trail Town for Another Day
Miles today: 0.25

It amazes me how difficult it can be to pull out of a town. I am sitting here in the library in Damascus, Virginia, composing this entry. It is almost 6:00 p.m. Why am I still in this town? How come I am not back on the trail as planned? I woke up early at the Methodist church hostel and began organizing my food and gear. I should have been able to leave shortly thereafter, but other details bogged me down. Here is a run down of the time consuming details I have been dealing with: I have purchased a beard trimmer for use further up the trail. It has been too hard trying to find barbers. I spent time trying to decide where to ship the ¢drift box¢ which contains the trimmer. This box typically contains other items like shampoo, extra sports drink powder, stationery, extra amounts of olive oil for calorie boosting, vitamin pills, dry markers for my photo ID board, and other items which would be impractical to carry all of the time in my backpack. I decided to ship the box to Pearisburg, VA, about 160 miles up the trail. I went through my clothes and selected a pair of gloves for shipping home, along with some maps no longer necessary. That package had to be readied. My hiking shoes are becoming trashed. I spent some time deciding where some replacement shoes could be shipped within a few days. I called a motel located a few days up the trail. The only phones available are pay phones. My ¢Pepsi can¢ alcohol stove disappeared in the hostel. I disassembled all of my gear to search for it, and it did not show up. At one point, I even resorted to rummaging through trash containers. Eventually, I found it in a cupboard in the kitchen. I had left in on a counter in the kitchen while cleaning my pot, plastic spoon and knife. The stove is stored in the pot.There were two trips to the post office. One trip was made to ship film and pick up my drift box. The other trip was made to ship the drift box up the trail.I visited an outfitter to obtain denatured alcohol for my stove, a new tent stake, and a new bandana. My blue bandana was lost at a hostel a few days ago.I hiked half of a mile on the Appalachian Trail. Yesterday, I had mistakenly entered the town along a stretch of grass which ran parallel to the trail but was not officially the trail. Today, I made up for the oversight.My sleeping bag is getting ratty, damp, and smelly. After composing this entry, I will visit the laundromat. The batteries died in my Pocketmail device which I use to record and send my journal entries (more on that process in a later entry). I replaced the batteries, but the device would not work. At a phone booth, I had to call a tech support person in Australia to fix the problem.At some point in the afternoon, it became obvious that the time to shoulder the backpack and leave town had expired. When I reached that decision, I noticed hikers JP, Knuckles, and Samurai relaxing outside another hostel in town. I told them about my reluctant decision to stay another day. They congratulated me. These guys enjoy their town visits.The church hostel has been taken over by a Boy Scout troop. I am sharing a room with a few of them and a leader. I have been told that some of them snore. Oh no!While checking emails, I have been dealing with lots of spam. The spammers have lately been using first names on the subject lines. It is hard for me to determine what messages are legit and which ones are spam. Two weeks ago in Hot Springs, North Carolina, I inadvertently deleted some legit messages from relatives, friends, and some people I had met earlier in the hike. I hope they send me fresh notes so I can reply to them.In retrospect, I spent too much time hanging out yesterday with Roy, that friendly man who was so generous to me with his time. If I had budgeted more time on logistics, I would be hiking today. But I have a sense that when this trip is over, I will cherish the offbeat moments, and the interactions with people like Roy. The logistical aspects, and the extra miles hiked on a given day, will fade in memory.