Date: 2003-08-01
From: Front Royal, VA

To: Jim and Molly Denton Shelter
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: light rain

Date: 8.1.03Starting Location: Front Royal, Va.Destination: Jim and Molly Denton ShelterMileage: 5.2Did you ever have a day that was just so nice that you didn't want ittoend? Well, that is the kind of day I had! We woke up and headed over totheCounty Seat Pub and Eatery for breakfast. This is the same place we hadlunch yesterday, and if you are ever in Front Royal, Va. you gotta gohere!Small and intimate with absolutely fabulous food...you will be sorry ifyoumiss it! The owners are just as nice as they can be, and did I mentionthatthe food is incredible? Tomato, fresh mozerella, and melt-in-your-mouthavocado piled on warm sourdough bread and drizzeled with lemongrassgrapeseed oil.....topped off with a lemon-ginger scone, need I say more?!:)Anyway, I love to see a small business take so much care in providing anexcellent product, so I wanted to tell ya'll about it!In case you are wondering why we are wondering around town when weshouldbe out hiking, you should know that Bumpkin has a Rotary club to speak toatnoon, so we are killing a little time. We grabbed a cab back to the moteland just happened to go by the house that I decided to buy yesterday! Yep,in my dreams, I am moving to Front Royal! :) Now, this house isn't forsale, but I don't let get in the way of my dreams! As we drove by, Iremarked that it was my house, and the cab driver said that he thinks itactually is for sale!! He also gives me his card and says that if I everdowant to move there, to call him cause he knows all the best places forsale!You gotta love having a local connection! Well, I already have a housethatI love in Georgia, but a girl's gotta dream! :)After the Rotary meeting, which was lively and interesting, we headedback out to the trail. After two days of canoeing, it felt really good tobe walking again. Due to the late start, we only had a short 5 mile hiketothe shelter.It was raining slightly and the humidity was oppresive. Thanks tounbelievable record-breaking rain in the area, all of the millions ofrockscovering the trail were slick with moss. It appeared as if we were hikingthrough a rain forest, and since the falling drops of water were hittingtheleaves and plants, the forest was in constant motion. Despite thehumidity,the day was alive, along with every single inch of the trail.We arrived at the shelter to find a veritable Taj Mahal of shelters! Itwas spacious, with a huge porch and a long reclining bench. Even thoughwewere planning on tenting, we were excited to have such a great place tohangout and cook! We were soon joined by Tom, who himself thru-hiked in '01,Joan and John, two hikers from Florida who turned out to be completelydelightful, Frank, a native Virginian with hysterical hiking stories toshare, and Mike, a day-hiking Mandolin player who just happened to bringhisinstrument! We were quite a bunch! Tom was first to arrive at the shelterafter us, and he soon offered to run down to the store, (a half-hour walkfrom the shelter), for treats. Putting in my order for a diet coke, I satback and started cooking dinner. Mike was next to arrive, and quicklypulledout his mandolin. As he was quietly tuning up, Joan, aka Blue Trail, andJohn were next to arrive, and soon the shelter was bustling with activity.As we were all cooking, Joan looked over at me and asked if my name wasAnna. It turns out that my journal is one of the ones she has beenfollowing this summer. As we started comparing hikers that we knew, andlamenting the loss of the worlds greatest restaurant, The Bubble Room, weimmediately became friends. Joan was easy to like because she is friendlyand outgoing, but when she shared the story of their hiking trip with me,Iknew that I had met someone special! It turns out that after trainingextensively, in Florida, she came up to hike some of the AT with herfriendJohn. After being battered by the mountains for several days, theyretreated. It was hard....much harder than she expected. Oh man, I knewexactly what she meant! :) So, they made plans to cut the hiking shortanddo other things. However, that night, she woke up and couldn't go back tosleep. She said that she just didn't feel good about herself. So, shewokeup John and said that they had to !go back out there are do the hiking that they had come for. And theydid!Now, doesn't that sound like a neat person to you?! I have so much respectfor a person that will set a goal and work towards it, even when it getsreally, really hard. Joan is that kind of person!As we sat around eating our dinners, Mike played a long list ofold-timesongs on his Mandolin. He took requests, and we all tapped our feet intimeto the music. It was idyllic. He was wonderful, and he added so much toourevening!During a lull in the entertainment, Bumpkin stood up to make anannouncement. Hiding her hands behind her back, she gallantly declaredthatin celebration of her hiking partner hitting 500 miles, she had brought atreat. That is me!!!Yep!! I hit 500 miles!!! Can you believe it!? With a flourish, she heldouta tin of smoked oysters. Ohhhhhh myyyyyyyy! I would never buy these causeofthe weight, but she knew I had been eyeing them, and she decided theywouldmake the perfect surprise for my milestone. Isn't she simply wonderful?!:)I remember the day I called my mom and said that I had hiked 50 miles. Iwas amazed then cause I couldn't believe I had gone that far! But 500miles?! This is the proudest I have been of myself in a long time...maybeever!So....we sat back listening to the Mandolin, sharing soft conversationand smoked oysters as the evening drew on. Mike finally had to pack upandhead back down the trail, so we bade him goodbye and thanked him for themagic. As we lay in our separate tents, Joan, Bumpkin and I had to sharesome final hysterical laughter before we could calm down and begin to gotosleep. Now, I am laying here watching the lightening bugs try to fighttheirway into my tent. Can you see how none of us wanted the day to end.......:)Love, Anna aka Mud Buttwww.trailjournals.com------------------------------Local access to PocketMail mobilee-mail now available in Europe, NorthAmerica & Australia http://www.pocketmail.com