Date: 2018-09-12
From: Davis Hollow campsite

To: Stealth camping 
Miles today: 19.7

Another rainy day. Bleh. Actually met a NoBo today named Torch! He seemed about my age and like a cool dude. I was so confused when I saw him though. I figured he was just section hiking, but nope. Said he was hoping to get all the way to New Hampshire this year!! I disagreed, but didn¢t have the heart to tell him. Lol What was funny though was that one of the first things he asked me was if I could sell him some weed! Haha! Not only do I look like a stoner apparently, but now a dealer?! Lol What. Dipped into Atkins, VA this morning for a ¢quick¢ resupply. I hate hitting towns early in the morning because I end up spending way too much time there and then still have a ton of miles to hike for the day. Crazy thing though, I stopped in a local diner for breakfast and saw Undertow there! Undertow is an older guy I met in Maine doing an inverted-type flipflop. Instead of hiking south from Harpers Ferry after Maine like I did, he went all the way down to Georgia and is hiking north to Harpers Ferry. So I knew there was a small chance we¢d cross paths at some point, but it was VERY unlikely. So getting to have breakfast this morning with him was a neat surprise. After breakfast, I had to hitch a mile further into town to reach the post office and Dollar G. I¢ve hitched hundreds of times so far along the trail, trying to get in and out of towns and such. I¢ve literally made it over 1,600 miles with ZERO issues, but today was THE day I guess. I had the creepiest hitch EVER. It was this old, grizzly looking guy in his 60s probably. They usually always are, so I wasn¢t super concerned with how he looked. But OMG, as he was dropping me off at the post office, he looks over at me and asks, ¢Do you like to mess around??¢... AHH! BLEHHHH!!! I never opened a car door so fast. But my pack was in the back seat! So as I was pulling my gear out of the back, he repeats the question as if I didn¢t hear him the first time! BLEHH! I slammed the door and shuffled away. My skin was CRAWLING. I felt like I needed a shower! Gross, gross, gross. I know so many of y¢all are probably thinking ¢ Omg you need to be more careful you could have died blah blah blah.¢ Lol I know, I know. Considering how far I had made it with no issues, I kinda let my guard down. BUT I do always have a pocket knife on the waistband of my shorts whenever I¢m hitching and there¢s not a doubt in my mind that if he had laid a hand on me I would have gutted his esophagus right out of his throat without hesitation. Lol Guaranteed. On a lighter note, I talked to my Dad today. Our conversation though just kinda stirred up a lot of anxiety about after-trail life. Like the idea of going back to Texas and doing virtually anything there just makes me wanna cry. I feel like when I across that Georgia state line and realize I only have 78 miles left, I¢m gonna have the meltdown of a lifetime. The truth is I don¢t want to get off trail. If I was so miserable I would have quit a long time ago. My worst day out here is still better than my best day in Texas. At least a hard day on trail teaches me shit and makes me a stronger person. A hard day at Jamba Juice in Austin, TX resulted in a lot of piety stress and anxiety that gained me nothing in life. Lol I have no idea how I¢m gonna walk away from this trail. The best solution I have at the moment is that I NEED to get a trail job. Like working at a hostel, national park, ridge-running, something! It¢s a really different, yet really simple kind of life out here and I¢d do anything to make it last as long as possible.