Date: 2008-05-06
From: Harper's Ferry, WV

To: Dahlgren Campground
Miles today: 17.9
Weather: scattered clouds

I woke up at 6:20a and listened to the sounds of Stovie bathing. When the clock struck 6:30a, however, we all decided to roll out to the continental breakfast. When we arrived there, I saw a girl who looked a lot like my college roommate¢s sister. I had to do a double take b/c I was almost sure it was her and stunned that I would see her here. Well, the food selection was pretty good, I at 3 yogurts, 1 bowl of Raisin Bran, 2 Doughnuts, 2 Cinnamon Rolls, and 2 biscuits with Jelly. When we got back to the room, Yeti was taking a shower and we noticed that he had taken 10 packs of oatmeal from the Breakfast buffet. To this, Stovie responded with, ¢He ain¢t too proud to steal!¢ I don¢t know why, but I thought that was hilarious!!! So, to pass the time until I could shower, we all decided to watch some MTV. When the song, Love in this Club by Young Jezee and Usher came on, Stovie thought it would be a good idea to dance like Usher during the video. Oh man, who knew Usher learned his moves from Stovie?!? After some time, it was my time to shower and man was it amazing¢¦I don¢t know why, but a shower feels good every once in awhile. As we left the room, Yeti and Toddy Bear went to check out while Stovie and I went to the Post Office to mail home some winter gear and some AT Memorabilia (Worn down trekking pole tips, my SNP/GSMNP permits, and filled in journal).While taking our packs off, so that we could enter the Post Office, we saw a middle-aged woman and an older woman who offered us some muffins. Well, apparently, the older lady is running for a public office (her name is McQuade) and we gave her a slogan: ¢Don¢t be Afraid, to vote McQuade¢¢¦I thought that was brilliant! Then, after asking if we were gonna vote in the elections, she learned that we were Thru-Hiking and began to ask us questions. The thing that interested them the most about us was how Stovie and I met. They were both intrigued that not only did Stovie and I randomly meet on the trail, but also the fact that we formed Team Deutschemark, composed of Fester, Yeti, Kanati, and Toddy Bear. After doing our little chore, we headed back to the ATC Headquarters to meet up with Toddy Bear and Yeti. While in the lounge, we looked at the pictures of hikers that had passed through and noticed that Chris and Lacey came had his pictured taken and changed his name to Christopher Robin. Deciding that time was of the essence, we decided to say good-bye to the Auburn Boys, who were going to leave soon. Man, I was really impressed with all the history that is present in Harper¢s Ferry. I mean, we saw the place where James Brown¢s Rebellion occurred, where Lewis and Clark resupplied, and the Headquarters of General Stonewall Jackson. As we were crossing the Potomac, the train was rolling right beside us, into a tunnel that was labeled ¢Harper¢s Ferry.¢ After getting off the bridge, we began to travel down the C & O Towpath, which was full of little turtles swimming in the water. When we got to Keep Tryst Road, we decided to walk over to our Resupply. Now, here comes a story¢¦we walked 1.1 miles to the Hillside Grocery and were pretty disappointed in their selection and shocked at how expensive everything was. I had to buy two bottles of PowerAde because the clerk told me that she can¢t use the credit card machine for purchases under $5¢s¢¦yup, that¢s right, PowerAde costs $2.50 a bottle, but none of the prices are listed. So, we decided to walk to Sandy Hook Road to check out the grocery store down there. So, after the 12 mile, downhill trek, we found the store to be closed. For some odd reason, I began laughing histerically because I thought this scenario was hilarious. I mean, think about it¢¦we walked 1.1 miles off the trail to a ridiculous resupply, then walked 12 downhill to discover the second resupply option was closed, and now, we have to walk back up to the store we originally left.Back at the Hillside store, we had to buy enough food to get us to Boonsboro, MD (which is composed of 1 breakfast/lunch/dinner). For my resupply, I bought 4 granola bars, 1 Snickers, and 2 Pop-Tarts, which came out to $11!!! At first, I was concerned that it wouldn¢t be more than $5, b/c normally these things are cheap and the clerk didn¢t have a price on any item in the store¢¦except for the $8.99 pornographic magazines¢¦yup, porn was the ONLY thing priced. While loading my foodbag up with my awesome resupply, Stovie came up the hill to tell us something pretty funny: Instead of taking his vitamin for the day, he accidently took one of his Vicadins because the pills look the same and he put both of them in the same bag. Also, because he took his vitamin, Stovie was high and said, ¢I feel so good guys¢¦I don¢t even feel the pain in my legs anymore.¢ As we walked back down to the trail, I wondered why my pack felt so heavy when I only had one days worth of resupply. So, I looked at my pack and noticed Stovie leaning on my pack. After catching him, he laughed and started singing a song about Toddy Bear¢s Salomon shoes: ¢Salomon, Salomon, Toddy Bear has Salomon Shoes, Salomon!¢ This made me laugh because Stovie had no idea as to what he was saying. After our 2 hour re-supply fiasco, we finally got back onto the trail and ran into Aaron and Laura sitting along the side of the trail eating some trailmix and contemplating their next re-up. We pressed on to the Ed Garvey Shelter, which has a really cool loft with a porch and many pictures of Ed Garvey, and then ran into the Auburn Boys sitting, and waiting on John. Apparently, Mini-Van told his dad to get a head start on them so that they wouldn¢t get behind schedule, but not knowing which way was North, John accidentally hiked 6 miles SoBo. So, the boys were both waiting for Wrongway to meet up with them. While chatting, Aaron and Laura rolled in for some water and to hang out a bit. After some time hanging out, The Auburn boys gave us some all some chocolate and then we pressed on. Within one hour, we made it to Gathland State Park and I began taking lots of pictures of all the cool Civil War stuff. One thing I really enjoyed was that I am stepping along the same trail/path that soldiers did in the 1860¢s during the Civil War¢¦how awesome is this!!! After passing the Rocky Run Shelter, we crossed a road that had many more signs about Civil War history. It seems that there is a guided tour that goes to all the civil war sites and explains the signs to you!!! Then, we pushed on to the Dahlgreen Campgrounds and met 5 weekenders there. Even though these campgrounds have free showers, we were too tired and clean to use them, especially since we rolled in at 6:45pm. As I am writing, Aaron and Laura are rolling by (it¢s 8:45pm) and heading to the bathroom. I really hope they decide to stay because I would like to ask them about their PCT journey and about how light their packs are. Wait, it seems as if they¢re gonna push on with some night hiking. OH! Today is the two month anniversary of Team Deutschemark¢s founding. Also, we decided to cowboy camp tonight to make packing up easier and because I really don¢t want to set up my tarp-poncho. Well, it¢s 9:25pm¢¦Night!!!