Date: 2014-05-17
From: cornelius creek shelter

To: us 501 glasgow
Miles today: 19.9
Weather: scattered clouds

i slept better last night out of exhaustion i think. it was just as cold but not as wet, i think that helped too. as i was doing morning chores (filter water, cook, pack, privy) a fella came walking by with his dog and i couldnt help but notice the bag of sodas in his hand. i said good morning as he passed. he ended up leaving a bunch of soda in the stream as trail magic and a big ol bag of candy bars on the picnic table too!! breakfast candy is the way of the future im sure of it. a few miles into the hike i still had on my rain coat and pantlegs still zipped on which is highly unusual. it was still cold with a biting wind. about four miles in we came an open top mt with an FAA tower on top. the views were great but time spent there was short due to the weather. shortly after was the guillotine, two huge rocks with one smaller one wedged in between about ten feet up. the small rock was still about a thousand pounds so if it slipped as you went under you wouldnt have to worry about getting to a hospital. i scampered under it quick like a bunny to prevent my demise, i still have a long way to go. for the next while we would be up on a ridge with nice looks over the valleys and neighboring mtns. then a mostly downhill (except for the uphill bits) for the rest of the day making a fairly easy twenty mile day. at one point we came to a side trail leading to the devils marble field, my stomach turned, i avoided that at all cost. i couldnt even go take a look at it. there was a shelter two miles before our road crossing that would be the last break of the day. when we got there there were a couple other thru hikers i had not met and a couple of couples camping for the weekend. the thru hikers were moneymaker and penguin man. the couples had three young boys with them, i would guess around 6 years old give or take. well all the kids had knives with blades about six inches long. they were all going in different directions doing there own thing with little supervision. one carving on a tree. one peeling bark off a stick, and the other running about the hills with his knife tucked into the sheath on his belt loop. this could not possibly end without bloodshed could it? every once in a bit somebody would instruct one of the kids to cut away from themselves or not point the blade toward anyone but never to threaten the removal of the knife from the child. then one of the 'adult' males pulls out a knife with a blade of about 18" to impress the kids. they all wanted to play with that but thank god he wouldnt let them have it. we moved on before anything could happen wishing the kids would get thru the weekend of fun with all their fingers. just as we got to our road crossing we went across the longest foot use only bridge on the AT. a fine structure spanning the james river. it didnt say how long but its a long one, the james is a pretty big river. then to the road for an easy hitch into town. fifteen minutes later still getting an easy hitch into town a nice young guy the was camping by the river was heading into town for some supplies. he asked if we needed a ride and we gladly accepted. he was a really nice guy, impressed with our journey so far, and wanted to hear some of our stories as he took us to town. i told him anyplace with snacks like a gas station was fine because we were waiting for cindy to pick us up for the two zero days coming up. within a half hour she showed up in time to save me eating more junk food and adding to my food baby growing in my stomach. we got a room at the buena vista inn in buena vista. not so good. the room smelled of not so old and old cigarette smoke. on the bright side the shower which was no beauty queen poured out lavish amounts of hot water. thats all i cared about. what else would does a person need? i had good shelter, food, and my lady from home visiting. i have cake and i eat cake