Date: 2015-05-04
From: Elkwallow Wayside

To: Front Royal
Miles today: 19.1
Weather: clear sky

It took me a long time to get to sleep last night with the constant fear of bears and rangers, but I slept relatively well (for these days). I woke up early, about 5.30am, but still didn't start hiking until 7am. From there, I really pushed hard because I was worried that I would be late getting into town. It was another extremely hot day, and I had to keep wiping away sweat and bugs that seemed to get trapped in my sweat. Thankfully, the trail was mostly tame again, without seriously steep climbs. However, my feet aren't cooperating again. Not only are my blisters still causing pain, but now there are various hot spots that are very tender and painful to walk on, especially when I'm going downhill. This is annoying, as it slows me down and hurts.I met Smasher and Deerdog as they were taking a break beside a spring. I was surprised just to see them, and to learn that I had already done 12 miles by 11. From there, it was only about 8 miles, so I slowed my pace a little, though I still reached the road to Front Royal by 1.30pm. I met up with Smasher again, and we got a hitch together to the Parkside Motel. Second Guess was already there, waiting in the room for us. The room was small but clean. It was a bit unusual, with a three person bunkbed. I claimed the top single bed, though it was very wobbly. Second Guess explained that the room was discounted by $10 and I soon figured out why. The shower was an extremely ancient one, and the head was so low that it sprayed about my nose height. It was of course, unmovable. It was also extremely loud and seemed to scream in agony at the slightest hint of water pressure. After the usual immediate sedentary state that occurs upon reaching a hotel room, we headed off to resupply and get dinner. We stopped at a fast food place where I had a Philly Cheesesteak and a rootbeer float with frozen custard (instead of icecream). I tried to do something different this time, with some different snacks and lunches. I got some interesting tuna flavours (Mexican style and Thai style), as well as some pepperoni for lunch. After that, we walked back to the room in the baking sun and flopped again around the room to enjoy our various foods (mine was cereal, of course). About 5.30, we went to the cinema to watch the latest Avengers movie. Front Royal does at least have some decent entertainment (a 3 screen cinema and a bowling alley), and is one of the few towns I have been in so far that actually has pavements. It surprises me how many places where hikers and pedestrians alike are expected to just walk on the roadside. At the cinema, I had a literal bucket of popcorn. I ate almost all of it. If I hadn't had dinner and cereal earlier, I would have finished it half way through the movie. The film was good, and it was nice to sit and enjoy it, though it was also difficult to stay seated in that position comfortably for long. I had to keep moving my legs around or else they quickly went dead. Tomorrow I don't know how far I am going to go yet. There are quite a few shelters immediately out of town, so I have a range of distances to choose from. I don't plan to get to Harpers Ferry until Friday, so I'm going to take things a bit easy until then (which means less 25 mile days). In the meanwhile, I hope Brightside is going to finally catch up with me. The weather is also expected to be decent all week apart from tomorrow, so I think maybe the colder weather is finally behind me (until the Whites).