Date: 2006-04-16
From: Thunder Hill Shelter

To: US 501 (Glasgow)
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: light rain

Today I was headed for the town of Glasgow. That¢s where I left my SUV at Mom & Pops when I hitched the ride down to Daleville with David to get on the Trail. Yesterday I thought I would spread a little ¢Trail Magic¢ by offering to buy Pebbles and Fat Camp dinner if we were in town together. They decided to take me up on it.¢Trail Magic¢ is when a hiker is bestowed with some unexpected gift or service as he/she hikes the AT. It most often takes the form of food and beverages at road crossings or along the Trail. Quite often, former thru-hikers like me, will return to the trail just to perform a little ¢trail magic,¢ especially for those currently attempting a thru-hike.BTW, ADD#4 was when I constantly misspelled the word magic as ¢m-a-j-i-c¢ throughout my ¢03 journal. Why, you ask, would someone misspell such a simple word? Well, it¢s not an excuse but Cleveland has this popular radio station¢¦¢MAJIC 105¢ that advertises on billboards all over town. No excuse¢¦it just got fixed in my mind that magic was ¢majic.¢When I break camp the last thing I do is take down my tent. The exact minute it fell to the ground this morning it started to rain. In fact, I ran to the shelter with the ground pad in one hand.Yesterday, after I turned in, Moleman (the young man I met the first night out) and Jolly Green Giant (another fine young man) also spent the night in the shelter with Pebbles and Fat Camp. In the morning, we all waited for the shower to pass before hiking out. It started up again though and I hiked for an hour or so in the rain. I changed in and out of my rain pants a couple of times. I kept up pretty well with Jolly Green Giant and Moleman until the last couple of miles when I decided to go ahead and try to hitch into town, get my SUV and come back to pick everyone up to go to dinner.It was Sunday; the sun was hot and there wasn¢t much traffic. What there was wasn¢t interested in picking me up. Then three guys from town with some fishing rods and beer show up in the parking lot where the Trail comes out next to the highway. About this time the other hikers show up too. The guys from town are Scotty Reese, Hobo and Kenneth. Real down to earth locals who, right away, offer me a ride into Glasgow. We had a nice chat on the way to town and Scotty...¢Thanks again for going out of your way! I owe you one.¢I checked in to Mom & Pops¢¦unloading my stuff to make room for everyone else¢s¢ gear.The restaurant everyone wanted to eat at was ¢The Country Kitchen¢ I think¢¦ (Country something anyway) as it offers an expanded food/salad bar with reasonable entries. It turned out to be in Madison Hts where I stayed and ate in ¢03. Most of us had the chicken fried steak and it was goooood!After dinner we made a stop at Wal-Mart; I dropped everyone off at the trailhead and drove into Glasgow to spend the night at Mom & Pop¢s Motel. Now, for $42 you would think they would have indoor toilets. I grew up in the country and remember using out houses that at least afforded some privacy¢¦but planting the toilet out in the open where everyone could see you taking a crap right outside your room was¢¦well¢¦was kind of odd I thought. I waited until after dark to use it and then it wouldn¢t even flush right. At least I had cable TV.The town had a nice clean coin laundry where I did my wash. Later, I got a severe case of indigestion¢¦something went right through me but I was okay by morning.