Date: 2005-06-02
From: South River Road

To: Big Meadows
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: overcast clouds

The weather finally caught us today. We got a little bit of a late start this morning, later than usual, because we knew that we only had to go a short distance. It was less than 5 miles to the Lewis Mountain Campgrounds. We knew that the store didn't open until 9 am, so we took our time moving out. Actually, OC1 and I didn't start walking until about 7:40. We left Easy Goer there to do his thing, he wanted to stretch.Just as we were leaving, it went from clear to a rapidly bad day. A cloud descended on us while we were there, it got really moist and windy, and within minutes of us starting to walk, the skies started to spit at us. OC1 said that it actually rained last night, or early this morning, but I never heard it and when I woke up my tent was completely dry. It must have right right away just from the wind. It was like that all the way to Lewis Mountain Campground, windy and spitting rain. We ended up walking into the store damp, but not soaking wet. I went right for the coffee and had a nice big cup. I started hitting the microwave and nuking cheeseburgers and a ham and egg bagel. I got one of those fantastic Hershey's milkshakes, the Cookies n Cream. It wasn't as good as the vanilla, but it wasn't that bad. We sat on the front porch of the store and watched the fog get denser and the rain fall harder. We didn't want to leave, but we put our raingear on and walked out into the rain at 10:30.The visibility was practically zero, 50 feet ahead you could see nothing. Even when it wasn't raining, you got soaking wet just walking through this fog. It was like suspended rain. We ended up splitting up at some point, I had to stop and take my gloves out because my hands were getting chilly. Of course, with the cloud drop, there was also a drop in temperature. OC1 and Easy Goer went ahead while I dug around for my gloves, so I never saw them again. I got to the Wayside at about 1:20 pm. I was sure they'd have been there, but, there were no packs and no OC1 and no Easy Goer. I made sure to tell them first thing this morning, to make sure and take the first Trail in to the Big Meadows Wayside. They missed that and walked all the way to the lodge. I didn't find this out until 2:30 when I asked the waitress, after my 4th cup of coffee, to call the lodge. I confirmed that they were there and I spoke to OC1 and explained to him how to get here. Albert elected not to come, I guess he wanted to shower. Vern walked down to where I was and ordered some food and did some shopping for his grandson. I changed my shirt and ordered a Reuben, it was a really good sandwich. I had some onion rings, too. The food at the Waysides in Shenandoah is alot better than it was in 2003. I remember it being expensive and not that good. This time it's still expensive but it's damned good food. I picked up some odds and ends, including some foam to do some repairs on the foam on my backpack. The foam that's in there absorbs water, and I made a good insulating bag for my platypus. I expect to be able to put ice in it and have ice water during the upcoming hot days; It's a real treat. OC1 and I walked back to the lodge, Albert took all of our clothes down to the laundry. While he was gone OC1 and I each took our showers and dressed in our raincoats and waited for our stuff to get back. By the time all that was done, it was almost 4 o'clock. The restaurant was opened, so we walked there and sat down together for dinner. I had a turkey dinner with cranberry sauce, sliced turkey, gravy and stuffing. It was good food. Easy Goer splurged and had the prime rib 12 ounce sandwich. Of course, the charge twice as much here as they would any place else. After dinner, we took a walk down to the bar, some of the wayside places make drinks with moonshine. Both the guys were interested in trying that out to see what it was like. When we got to the bar, there was a big circle of chairs with a bunch of hikers sitting around and yapping. I knew some of them, most of them I did not. Some of the new ones were No Worries and Rabbit. We sat with them for about an hour and a half drinking and talking. I had my share of Long Island Iced Teas, I think 3 of them. We went back to the room to sort some gear. I ran downstairs for a while to see if I could use the computer to download some journals. Of course that thing was slow as death. We are on the top of a mountain and of course, they don't have DSL access. I gave up on that. I have 35 days worth of journals now that I have not been able to upload. Hopefully Mark Z has DSL because we will be stopping in there in the next few days. Otherwise, I may have to wait until we get to Boiling Springs at Vern's. At 8 o'clock, OC1 and I went back to the bar because they said they were going to have Bluegrass music. It ended up being some guy with a banjo and a guitar that he could barely play. It was still fun. He told stories and played a number of Irish songs that I was familar with. I had another Long Island Iced Tea. We went to bed at 10 o'clock.