Date: 2008-05-01
From: Front Royal VA

To: Dicks Dome Shelter VA
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: light rain

Day 74 ¢ Thursday May 1 ¢ Dicks Dome Shelter VA ¢ Miles Today: 14.6 Total Miles: 972.7Brakeman woke up before 6:00 and quietly got out of bed so that he could get ready for the first sitting of his breakfast. Grasshopper joined him a little bit later. We both enjoyed 2 sittings of breakfast. Brakeman did an excellent job eating lots! He had 4 donuts, 4 small cinnamon buns, 2 bowls of cereal, 2 yogurts, a couple waffles and a couple cups of coffee! Way to go Brakeman! We¢re going to get those pounds back on you one way or another. As mentioned earlier, our food bag, although it is only for 3+ days, is totally full. We have a full gallon bag of extra food that we will dip into each night to hopefully add some weight to both of us. Speaking of weight, Grasshopper is discouraged. She says her thighs still look like they've got a little extra fat and she's not quite sure why all this hiking is not eating that fat up. Hopefully, she says, the thighs will be the next spot where fat will be taken from! Our shuttle guy from the motel, Bill, was ready for us a little bit before 8:30, as arranged. Nice man who looks a bit like a mountain man. We forgot to get his picture, as we try to for each Trail Angel. Bummer. He was also the kind sole who took us back to Food Lion yesterday when we neglected to purchase our dinners for the trail.We were on the trail before 9:00. We're thoroughly enjoying being out of the motel, which seemed to make us tired and lethargic. Could it have been all the food we ate? We walked along the road for a bit before the trail finally turned into the woods. Had a gorgeous morning. It sprinkled for about an hour. We had full rain gear for part of the morning, but the temperatures were cool enough where it wasn't a problem. We sat along one of the backcountry roads for our lunch and were amazed at the amount of cars that went by. We're not quite sure what was down that road but there must have been over a half dozen cars that passed us. Some drivers looked like well-to-do individuals and some looked like mountain men. An odd mixture.This afternoon's forest was absolutely gorgeous, probably the most gorgeous scenery we have seen since we started the trip. We rate it the most gorgeous due to the amount of wildflowers. The trillium was in every direction we looked, as far as we could see. A picture would just not do it justice. Just absolutely gorgeous. In addition to the trillium, another plant has started to grow in abundance. It unfortunately is called poison ivy. Every time we wonder off the trail to perhaps sit on a log or rock or for a nature call, we thoroughly scan the area for the pesky ivy. We also have to pay attention to where we place our hiking sticks on breaks. We don¢t want to lay them in a patch of poison ivy! Getting an allergic reaction to poison ivy would be one huge mess that we wouldn't want to deal with! The trail was very easy, just the right number of rocks and roots to keep us alert. The bottoms of Grasshopper¢s feet are quite tender, as a result of the long days in Shenandoah and the process of breaking in new shoes, so it was nice to have a smoother trail today.It was about 15 miles to our site - Dick's Dome Shelter. The reason it's called a dome shelter is that it's actually in the shape of a dome. Not sure why. Think about it. What's the best way to pack humans into a shelter? Yes, that is correct - a rectangle - not a dome. But it¢s unique, so we like it!The tenting spots were located a fair distance from the shelter - about 50 yards up a woods road. As we were cooking dinner near our tent site, we heard someone holler, "Hey, guys" from down below. We looked in the direction of the voice and saw Chris running up the woods road towards us! We have not seen him in over a week. We lost touch with him before Shenandoah ¢ at Brown Mountain Creek Shelter on April 20th. He's the 23 year old from Toledo; a happy-go-lucky kid with tons of energy that we¢d kill for. He was so excited to finally run into us again. He thought he had lost us before we had the chance to exchange (real) names and email addresses. It was great to see him again and catch up on what he has been doing. He took a zero day at Brown Mountain Creek Shelter to rest his leg. He had been battling shin splints but is doing much better now. He also spent some time in Shenandoah visiting his folks and girlfriend, who had driven down from Toledo. It was supposed to be a 9-hour drive. Apparently, his parents are not real versed at reading maps; it took them over 11 hours! Sounds like he had a good weekend in Shenandoah.Also here at camp is another thru-hiker who we are meeting for the first time - Cowboy Killer or CK for short. Not quite sure how he got the name. He started March 6 so he's going along at quite a good clip. He's a civil engineer major at Georgia Tech and has just 3 semesters left and is hoping to finish the trail before needing to get back to school in August. He seems to be well on pace for finishing in plenty of time. We sat around the fire with him this evening. It's always nice to have a fire when somebody else is making it and keeping it going. Believe it or not, it's well past hiker's midnight. It's 9:00 and 60 degrees in the tent. It was a little chilly sitting outside at the fire. We're getting ready to crash. The alarm on the watch is no longer set for 5:00 a.m. Yahoo!! It's now set for 6:15 so we can do a 7:00 or 7:15 start and hopefully have a great day. It sounds like the forecast is calling for the possibility of rain for the next 3 days, but let's hope tomorrow will bring a fairly comfortable day without too much rain. Goodnight from 2 tired campers who are ready to crash.