Date: 2019-06-05
From: Campbell Shelter- Pig Farm Campsite

To: Daleville - Super 8
Miles today: 15.4

Some days I sleep better than others. I slept Alright last night. I had eaten two dinners and I decided to eat twice the breakfast. The hike today was going to be about 15 miles because I pulled up short last night. I really wanted to do 9 into Daleville, get shoes, maybe a shower, and keep moving. But I¢m doing the 15 miles. I got on trail at 715, normal time. Many hikers were already gone and others were packing up. It seemed everyone was trying to get to town as fast as possible because the forecast is calling for rain. There were some cliffs with views and I got some good pictures. I lost my water bottle on the cliffs. My carbiner wasn¢t closing properly and it must have fallen off when I set my bag down. That¢s the second water bottle I¢ve lost on this trip. One of the views was back to McAfee Knob. It always amazes me when you look across the horizon and see something that looks so distant, and you are like: I was there 4 hours ago. It seemed as though it took me a long time to get to the first shelter. I met and chatted with Choo Choo. She had been at Campbell shelter last night and was trying to get to Daleville. She has foot issues and is on her 5th pair of shoes. Her feet start hurting at 10 miles and she had 15 miles to do today. I don¢t know if she made it to town. I set out from the shelter, still 9 miles to town. There was light rain off and on. The 9 miles seemed to take forever. Usually heading into town you have a steady slight downhill and sometimes there¢s steep downhill mixed in. The trip into Daleville was not downhill. It was, but it seemed there was more uphill mixed into to slight downhill. I had many slip and near falls, and a few slip and minor falls. Ugh, I need new shoes. I had thought to my self about two weeks ago, these shoes have no life left in them, no bounce. Then the slipping started. I¢ll be looking for new shoes at about 450 miles next time. At some point I decided I was going to break down and get a hotel room in Daleville. Another hiker had offered to let me shower in his room, and possibly split a room. He backed down on his offer. Then he offered for me to possibly split with another hiker, and he rescinded his offer too. I have the means to get my own room. Many of the hikers are on budgets and split rooms to save money, I was basically going to split to help them out. Also, I had a female hiker who I think was hinting she needed someone to split a room with. But, I was not going to say, hey, I¢ll spit one with you. I am not at that point yet. Also, I really like my privacy. That¢s my rejuvenation time. Right before town I crossed some railroad tracks and there were little toads jumping all around, dozens of them the size of dimes. A quarter mile later I crossed a stream on a foot bridge and there was a deer standing in the stream drinking. I got to town about 3. I checked in to the hotel and washed my feet and put on fresh socks. I threw my current socks away. I walked to the outfitters and bought new shoes and socks. I then went to the grocery and bought pink sea salt bath soak and a 6 pack. Walking back to the room in my new shoes was refreshing. My legs felt great. I was preparing the bath and something stunk, I couldn¢t figure it out at first, it was my old socks in the garbage. I had to move the garbage can out of the bathroom. I took a long hot bath with the sea salt, and caught up with people like my nephew and my mom.  I went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. I did laundry and chatted with Postman. He is walking SOBO, so many NOBOs have him deliver messages to friends that are behind them that Postman will see. I got to bed early. I forgot to mention yesterday I had my first blood producing injury. I was walking to get water and drinking water with my head tilted back. A stump jumped out of the grass/weeds and bit my shin. I washed it in the stream and put a bandaid on it. Wildlife update: Toads, squirrels, and deer.