Date: 2003-05-31
From: Damascus, VA

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Well, I survived Trail Days and it was wonderful!! For those of you that are unfamiliar with the concept, TD is a town festival in Damascus, Va. that celebrates the Appalachain Trail. Damascus is a lovely, friendly town right on the AT, and for one week a year, the streets are crawling with a mixture of trail-worn hikers, well-dressed retirees, and friendly locals. It is really a sight to see!Rather than write a long, drawnout report of the weekend, I will just give you a list of the highlights!These were my favorite things!1. Seeing all of my hiker friends!! This was the absolute best part of the whole thing! Bumpkin, Hikerbikerbabe, Liteshoe, Hotdog,Wench, Booble, Parkway, Sidewinder, F-Stop, Healer.....the list goes on and on! They all looked so good and are trucking on towards Maine: I am so proud of them!2.Seeing all of the women from the WomenHikers list. Not only did I get to see old friends, Hummingbird, Swallowtail, Coosa, etc., but I met lots of new friends too! They were all so neat, but my favorites were the Ants (two women hiking together), and Hammock Hanger. These are women that I would love to hike with sometimes!3.Hearing Warren Doyle speak! He told some of his trail stories and I cannot tell you what a great story teller he is!If he were ever to publish his stuff, he would totally bury Bill Bryson! I learn something everytime I hear this guy speak and this time was no exception. He told several stories with the over-riding theme being "being comfortable in your own skin regardless of where you are". Oh, I want to be like that! My friend LiteShoe seems to be a lot like that, too. What a great thing....to know that you have something to bring to the table, regardless of where that table is! I am going to work on that!4. Having a hiker and his parents come up to me and give me a picture they took of us (me, Christine, and the Rawson girls) doing trail magic at Woody Gap! In fact, I was shocked at how many people came up to me and thanked us for the 3 days of magic we provided! It made me feel so good to know that those hikers were still going strong and that we were a little part of their AT experience!5. Last but not least, The Parade!!!You see, there is a big hiker parade and traditionally the towns people line the streets with piles of water balloons and water guns. The hikers arm themselves in a similiar manner and mayhem ensues!!!Well, Jerry (Papermaker) and Bumpkin pushed me in my wheelchair and we walked with the HikersRUs group. I got to help hold Solemans flag and that meant the world to me!As we made our way down the Main Street, water was flying! Each time someone aimed at me, I would say, "You wouldn't squirt a woman in a wheeelchair, would you!?". As they pulled the trigger, either Bumpkin or Jerry would throw themselves valientlybetween the offending missile and me! Could I ask for better friends?!?! :)   As you can see, TD was a huge success and I had a blast! I think the neatest thing was seeing my family enjoy the weekend! They are already well-known in hiker circles, and I think they knew as many people there as I did! Everyone agreed that i have the greatest parents and more than a few of the hikers agreed that I have the cutest brother! :) Also, I have to say that in case you don't know it already, hikers are the finest people you will come across! I drove into Damascus feeling out of place and insecure but my fellow hikers wouldn't let me stay that way for long. They encircled me and included me and made me know that I was exactly where I belonged. And for that, I say to them all....thank you, thank you, thank you!Love, Anna aka Mud Butt------------------------------Local access to PocketMail mobilee-mail now available in Europe, NorthAmerica & Australia http://www.pocketmail.com