Date: 2010-05-09
From: Pickle Branch Shelter

To: VA624/Catawba, VA/The Homeplace
Miles today: 6.7

Oh my word! What an absolutely luxurious day! I've heard for years how amazing The Homeplace is; it completely lived up to my expectations!We got up pretty early this morning, and I was on the trail by 7:30. We knew that The Homeplace was going to be insane on Mother's Day, so we wanted to get there as early as possible. We had 12 1/2 miles to the road crossing for Catawba, so we figured we'd be there by 2.Our morning hike took us to the famed Dragon's Tooth and over crazy, rocky ridges to get there. Dragon's Tooth is basically a huge rock formation, with two separate parts jutting upwards. It was quite majestic. Climbing down from there on the north side was really challenging, as we had to climb over and down rock faces, sometimes even using metal ladder holds fastened into the rock. By the time we got down to normal trail again, we were both already tired and hungry for yummy food.When we got to the first road crossing of the day, I knew this meant we only had six miles to go. We hit it just perfectly to meet Big Fork, Little Spoon, and Shakes as they walked back from Catawba Grocery, 0.4 miles away. When we told them that we were headed to The Homeplace, they quickly informed us that we could walk 0.3 miles and get to VA311, the road that The Homeplace is on, and easily get a hitch. Our decision was made in seconds. We called it a day! We walked on down, got an easy hitch, and were at this magical place moments later. So, what is The Homeplace? It is this famous, amazing, incredible home of deliciousness. It's been open since 1982 in an old farmhouse surrounded by idyllic pastures and green hills. They serve family style all-you-can-eat Southern cooking. We had melt-in-your-mouth fried chicken, roast beef, country ham, pintos, green beans (perfectly seasoned!), mashed potatoes and gravy, and some of the most incredible biscuits I've ever had. The biscuits were as light as air and were right up there with the ones at the Duckett House in Hot Springs. They were served with incredible apple butter that made a mean ham biscuit. Coupled with thirst-quenching sweet tea and lemonade and topped off with peach cobbler and ice cream, the meal was a hiker's dream! I'm actually not sure that I'm really awake! The place was packed, so we rolled in around 11:30 and put our names on the list. The wait was a little under 2 hours. We cleaned up a bit in the bathroom and then lazed in the sun. For the vast majority of the day, I've done nothing but eat and laze around. It has been glorious! The kind folks at The Homeplace graciously let us sleep in one of their gazebos for the night. I'm learning as I sit here journaling (it's about 9:30) that it's bright and fairly noisy, but we're cozy. It will allow us to pick up Braids' maildrop at the post office in the morning (couldn't do it today since today's Sunday) and then get back on the trail. The folks here are so nice that when Braids tried to buy a jug of sweet tea for us this evening, they said they didn't sell it separately, but sent her out with a full pitcher of it for free. What a great day! Also, our ride to Trail Days is all squared away. Huge thanks to both The Tank and Grommet for their willingness to help us!Last, but certainly not least, Happy Mother's Day to my spunky, strong, devoted, brilliant, and loving mother, as well as to all you other mothers out there! Postscript, May 9, 2011: I'm hungry just reading this! One of my favorite trail days...