Date: 2008-05-19
From: Trail Days!

To: Home in Fredericksburg for a Week or Two
Miles today: 0.0

It feels very odd to be back in the Real World once again. This is a World of schedules and data overload. The grass needs to be cut. Dishes and laundry are piled and just waiting to be washed (including mine). Cars are racing out of the development as people hurry off to work, school, and shopping...I'm planning to sleep for at least half of the day and then perhaps face some of these many chores that have been left for me. Kathmandu (our feral cat who lives in the garage when he so chooses) has obviously been sleeping under the hedges again, and despite a tick treatment a month or so ago, I could feel that there are at least several that I'll have to pull off of him later today.Thanks, Bette, for the Pony Picture (above). I almost lost this because I was certain it had been sent to my email and I needed the space on my phone for Trail Days pictures...I'd like to thank the GoLite folks for the replacement backpack they sent to Mount Rogers Outfitters in Damascus. FYI, they replaced my GoLite Trek Backpack (in good shape, generally, except for the top bucket pocket -- chewed-up on the trail once again because of the ultra-light material used up there). In its place, they issued me a GoLite Odyssey. It's a one-pound-heavier large capacity backpack with very similar features to those of my Trek.To be frank -- I'll really miss my Trek. It was a couple of years old and stinky from 500+ miles on the trail [this year...], but the main pack with its Dyneema Cloth (sp?) exterior could have completed this trail and others. The back pocket and side bottle pockets were also mesh. The Odyssey's are solid material and I'm not yet used to this change...The other big change to my Trail Gear includes a replacement 3-ply set of FroggToggs in gray sent also to Mount Rogers Outfitters to replace the 2-ply set of DriDucks that simply didn't hold up to the stresses of backpacking -- despite the many patches with packing tape and duct tape. I highly recommend that you stick with the name brands from companies with good reputations for customer service and then also let them know that you're hiking the Appalachian Trail for in-progress gear replacements and adjustments. When possible, it also helps to use an established outfitter as a local contact/ship-to point to ensure them you're not simply a person who's trying to cheat the company...Some of these very same companies were more than generous at Trail Days, providing top-of-the-line gear for drawings and prizes; repairing and replacing gear for thru-hikers; and allowing us to provide feedback to real people. Before I forget it: thanks to the Leki Tech's for service to my trekking poles (and the repeat instruction on the pole straps, which I never use correctly according to them) and to Princeton Tec for their exchange of my unserviceable headlamp for a factory rebuilt Eos Headlamp with a green lense. This is a great service that as far as I know is only performed at Trail Days for thru-hikers.UPDATE: I mowed two lawns [I normally share the mowing of our neighborhood Iraq War Widow's lawn with another neighbor -- it's the right thing to do] and cleaned up a couple of downed branches from a storm that happened while I was away... The large pile of dishes are done and much of the laundry has been tackled as well. I still don't belong here with so many of my friends headed northward away from Damascus...