Date: 2006-04-22
From: Rockfish Gap

To: Zero Day Waynesboro
Miles today: 0.0

I think it was when I turned on the television and they said it was going to rain until Sunday sometime that I decided today would be a zero day. I wasn¢t too sure what I was going to do with the time except for eating out at restaurants and maybe a trip to the library. Food is the main thing I enjoy about Trail towns. I had not yet ran into any of the other hikers who I¢ve been hanging out with the past week or so (Moleman, Fat Camp, Pebbles, Jolly Green Giant, The Dingleberries, and last but not least Guns & Jesus) and I didn¢t know they were also staying here at the Quality Inn last night until I went down to the free continental breakfast. There was Jolly Green Giant eating everything he could get his hands on.This turned out to be one of the best ¢cold¢ breakfast buffets on the Trail. In addition to the donuts, cereal, juice, coffee, etc., they had a crock pot full of REAL sausage gravy to go with fresh biscuits. The tray of hard boiled eggs was also very popular, and had to be replaced a couple of times. I think I ate enough Yoplait yogurt cups alone to pay for my room. They had waffles for the toaster and a microwave to warm up anything you wanted.I think it was Fat Camp who first folded and said he and Pebbles would be staying another night. Jolly Green Giant jumped on and it snowballed from there. I didn¢t help things when I offered a little Trail maGic¢¦to shuttle them all around town (post office, library and Krogers) and treat them to lunch and a movie.Guns was having some kind of trouble getting his pictures developed and needed a ride to Wal-Mart way out on the edge of town. He and the Dingleberries also wanted to visit the outfitter and Krogers. So, we did the running around in the morning and I took them all to the Chinese buffet for lunch¢¦the one I ate at when I shuttled the SUV here last week. I think Fat Camp ate the most¢¦and Fat Camp is not fat. In fact, every one of them is skinny and needed to spend a week in town doing nothing but eating.I took Moleman, Pebbles and Jolly Green Giant to the next town over to see, ¢Thank You For Smoking.¢ We enjoyed it. It was not as ¢LOL¢ funny as I anticipated, but the story and acting was good¢¦and it was pretty funny.In the evening I took everyone to dinner at the steakhouse down the road from the Inn. These are good kids and I was glad to do something for them. I think they almost felt a little embarrassed.   I was the only one who ordered the big T-bone. I told them they could have whatever they wanted.Speaking of character, if any of you have loved ones thru-hiking the AT you should be proud. To do what they are doing takes someone with certain qualities. I¢m not sure I can get more specific other than to say you aren¢t going to find a bunch of lazy ¢the world owes me everything¢ types backpacking 2200 miles¢¦even if it is somewhat social and can be a lot of fun. It¢s not that easy¢¦most drop out before Damascus.   You¢ve seen me get tired and whiney. These kids don¢t have to be here¢¦there are a lot of other things they could be doing to ¢get their kicks.¢The only place we hadn¢t hit so far was Weasie¢s Kitchen¢¦famous for it¢s unlimited hiker pancake special. The record eaten in one seating is something like 24. So, some of us are going to try and eat there in the morning before hitting the Trail. I¢d like to be on the AT hiking by eight.