Date: 2012-05-03
From: Virginia 625

To: I-81 at exit 54
Miles today: 18.6

Today was a very long difficult drive to get to the start point. On the way, there was a very big black bull in the middle of the road.,,see his picture and many other new ones in the photo section. There was no farm visible in the area so we didn't know what he was doing out on the road but we thought maybe he just learned that he could be turned into hamburger and was running away from home! Farther down the road was the first time we drove on a Forest Service road. We asked two different people where the AT crossed and neither were helpful...we found it finally on our own. Just as SOS was ready to hike (after I reminded him to get his hat and poles), JP and DOS appeared and welcomed the treats Trail Mama had for them. They also helped SOS get going in the right direction since he was starting in the wrong direction! (That would have been a disaster as he would have ended up far from where I was expecting him to be.) Then I had to drive 8 miles the other way on the forest service road to get back to semi-civilization (translate that into a road that wasn't dirt). I played "dodge the potholes" all the way down this unimproved road!(The state does not maintain these roads) I thought surely something on the car was going to break down with all the shaking and bumping it was doing because between the big potholes and the big rocks which were imbedded in the road, it was rough going. With NO cell reception and NO other humans anywhere to be seen, it was a little nerve wracking...so I just sang many verses of "God will take care of you" and kept on driving!...and sure enough, God did take care of me! I stopped with 10 or so miles to go (it was 34 miles back to our new hotel in Atkins, VA) at the Hungry Mother State Park. They have a very nice visitors center. On to Marion where I met up with Sandy, the other Roger's wife. We went together to have lunch. (It took me until 12:06 to get back from the start point!!!!)Then it was back to check into the Comfort Inn in Atkins. As I was walking down the hall to my room, a hiker stopped me and said,"you are Trail Mama aren't you? We talked a bit and then a little later he called to ask if I would drive a hiker to the post office. So I did, of course. Sandy and I went to the Settler's Museum which was a very interesting living history museum with buildings from the 1800's of one of the first families to live in the area. While at the house, Sipsy hiked in so he joined in our self guided tour and then we all went back to our hotel rooms. An unexpected pleasure today was getting to talk to 3 of my 4 cousins on my Dad's side of the family...Sharyl from Ohio, Colleen from New Jersey, and Rhonda from North Dakota. They were all at a hospital on the campus of Ohio State University with their Mother who had surgery yesterday. Prayers for my Aunt Joan would be appreciated. Meanwhile SOS was having a long hard day of hiking but the good news was that the dark clouds and threatening storm passed us by without raining on him! He didn't finish until after 8:00. I picked him up and he ate at Subway which is right by the hotel. Back to the room to work out details for tomorrow and then to sleep! SIGN this guest book if you are reading...and I know you are...:-)SOS here.Yes WW Wise, I am really becoming directionally challenged. I do not know if I would have caught it myself. I did have trouble one other time today following the white blazes. I was hiking through a pasture when a 2,000 lb. black angus begin to eye me. I was not very comfortable especially since I was wearing my usual bright orange shirt. I became very uncomfortable and my attention was on what was the steer going to do and was not focused on where the next white blaze was. I found myself following what I thought was the path but actually was a path created by the lifestock. I had to backtrack. Thank God, I was able to pick up the trail before I encountered the offended steer.Today I hiked against the grain and by that I mean instead of starting from the point I finished yesterday - I started at a point further North and hiked back South to the point I finished yesterday. What is great about hiking against the grain is that you meet many of your fellow hikers you know since they are continuing to hike North. Hikers that I crossed paths with today that I already knew were Stepping Out and Taggin Along, Santa and Gnome, Krispy Kreme, Wallie and Brownie with their dog Diesel, Dirty Girl, Rayel (a purist), Sipsy, and Glogg.Why do hikers have trail names, you may be wondering. A trail name normally is given by someone else. The name typically is given by another person and it is not chosen by the hiker. For example when I ask Krispy Kreme how he got his name; he replied when you pickup a donut off the ground and eat it, you obviously love donuts - thus he became Krispy Kreme.Trail Mama and I are 25%+ done, as of today. I say we, because, as you can see, Trail Mama is definitely part of the hiking community. We are doing this together as she shuttles me twice a day. At the beginnig of the day she takes me to the starting point and at tne end of the day picks me up at the finishing point.I, also, crossed paths with Watermelon at the end of the day. Watermelon was the hiker who was lost in Grayson Highlands State Park in the middle of a hail and rain storm. The last time we saw him was when we dropped him off at Massey's Pass in heavy fog with directions on how to get to the AT. Trail Mama begin to worry about him and wondered if he made it to the next shelter. We kept inquiring from fellow hikers aa to whether they had seen him. We got no positive response and so we continued to worry. When I did see him today, I took his picture, so I could show Trail Mama. Obviously Trail Mama has been given an appropriate trail name by Buck. In fact when she was with Sandy who knows her trail name and Sandy saw hikers in the motel where we were staying, she said to Judy/Trail Mama there's your kids down there.Looks like I will be hiking 20+ miles tomorrow. Hope I do not encounter any more territorial steers.