Date: 2005-05-13
To: Trail Days
Miles today: 0.0

My First Trail Days!! I had so much fun words can hardly describe it. I met so many people I had only corresponded with over the internet, it made my head spin. Let me start from the beginning.Rain Man and I left out of Nashville about 3:30 am on Friday and got to Damascus around 11 am eastern time. The campground was already packed and we spent the first hour looking for a decent campsite. We found one shielded by trees and close enough to the river to hear it lull us to sleep. As luck would have it, people tenting close by were friends of Rain Man's. Many of them had thru-hiked with his daughter, GrassPicker, last year. DragonSlayer was there, looking great after her car accident. Not five minutes after finding these folks, I run into Mr. Fusion, who I hiked with over spring break. SaxyLady was on her way and would probably be arriving later in the afternoon. What luck to have set up camp so close to friends!Across the road from us some folks had set up tents right smack dab in the middle of poison ivy. YIKES!!One of the first people I ran into was Oakie. It was so good to see him again. He had a prime campsite, right in the path of most people walking around. He held court most of the time when he was 'home'. Seems everyone knows Oakie. I hear he's quite the trail angel. Rain Man and I decided to go into town so we caught the free (that's right, free) shuttle into town. Cute little trolley car, like something you'd see in San Fransico. We found the Whiteblaze stand and I met Sgt. Rock, Attroll and FishinFred there. Across the street at Mt. Rogers outfitters, Model-T was autographing his book, "Walking on the Happy Side of Misery." Model-T has hiked the AT three times, the last time he was 79 years old. Amazing man. He says he'll do it again when he's 83 so he can be the oldest to thru-hike. I think the record stands at 82 years young right now. It was somewhere around here that I ran into Oakie and we decided to go to the park to check out all the booths. I didn't see Rain Man again for some time, but I'm sure he kept himself busy.Down in the park, all the vendors had set up tents and there was quite a selection of gear, food and clothing. There was a huge gazebo where the talent show was held. We paid way too much for dinner and spent a good amount of time just wandering around. We walked back to the campground and that's when I had my first experience with a drum circle.Now, I had heard about the drum circle at trail days before, some loving it, some hating it. I imagined a bunch of people gathered around a fire keeping a drum beat going. Something nice and cool. What I saw was some primal human dance that could have easily taken place thousands of years ago. There was a fire, a huge 6-8 foot flame, and the drummers would start out with a slow beat, while people danced in a circle around the flame. As the drummers got louder and faster, so did the dancers, whoopin and hollerin and stompin their feet. It was truly a master's thesis in the making.We headed back to Oakie's campfire and that's when the rain came. Did I tell you it rained allllll weekend. My umbrella was a constant companion. Fortunately, my van was close by and we ducked in there till the deluge stopped.Once over, I headed back to my tent and fell fast asleep. Stay tuned for Saturday's adventures.....