Date: 2005-06-03
From: Dutch Haus Bed & Breakfast/Hostel

To: Rusty's Hard Time Hollow
Miles today: 19.5
Weather: light rain

All night last night, it continued to rain. We woke up for the 7:30 AM breakfast and walked to the house in the rain. Breakfast was great and of course any fresh coffee is infinately better on the trail. By 9:00 we were hiking and the rain had decreased to merely the inconvenience of having to walk through clouds. We were wet from the mist, but never soaked. The plan was to pull into the shelter and get out early tomorrow morning so we can get into Waynesboro, VA. We knew there was a hostel nearby, but it was 2.5 miles off the trail and didn't seem worth it to our tired legs. Well, we began to cook dinner and the fattest mouse that I've ever seen started doing acrobatic tricks within 2 feet of me on the beam of the shelter. Fat, brave, and fearless; a bad combination. As we finished cookin, LB, Patch, Teach, Dirty Harry & Raj arrived. They are on an all night quest to hike the 40 miles from the B & B to Waynesboro all in one shot. They joined us for dinner and geared up for some night hiking (it was dusk and they had 20 miles to go). We had to decide what to do ourselves. Persuaded by the chunky acrobat rodent, and the smelly shelter, we decided to go the off trail 2 1/2 miles to "Rusty's Hard Time Hollow". Rusty's is a place I regret missing on my first thru-hike. Everyone who goes loves it, but has a hard time describing it. After being here, I realize why and know that I won't do the place any justice. Rusty is a late middle age Amish man who has run the Hollow for 22 years (it's off the Blue Ridge Parkway). His property is beautiful and he decorates it thoroughly. Only last year did he actually get electricity. There are six springs, some are piped right into his buildings, another draws water for a fire heated hot tub, and another is pooled to keep soda and hot dogs cool. The shower is a rigged to use rain water. We'll sleep in the loft of a barn overlooking the goat pen. There's a chicken coop on the other side. One hiker told Rusty that he should have a Frisbee Golf course. So, Rusty went to the library to look up what Frisbee Golf was, and designed a little course for his hikers to use! There are signs everywhere you look, some humorous ("Vegetarians beware: utensils in this kitchen are saturated with animal juices", or in his van, "If I wanted your feet on my dash, I would have mounted your seat from my windshield"); others reflect his moral beliefs ("Kill your television", or "Absolutely no drugs on property"). Wallsand ceilings are covered with Polaroid pictures. In 22 years, Rusty has opened his home to more than 12,000 hikers and he has a picture of all of them on doors, inside the out house, wherever there is a flat surface without a sign. His calm demeanor immediately sets you at ease and we now know why some people take zero days here, and others take a zero week. Just now I'm realizing that there aren't any clocks, and that I don't care. The list of unique aspects of staying here also include Rusty's odor reducing strategy. He asks that men take a "whizz" on either his fire hydrant or a bulls eye set up in the backyard. I laugh, but then his yard doesn't stink either. Here tonight as well are Wiggi (it's his 3rd day) and a group of others we are meeting for the first time: Raw Hide, Bubble Toes, Doc Narly, XDaveX, Nick & Nomad. As we shared our fortunate run in with the mouse that convinced us to come here, Doc Narly laughed and shared how he watched the same mouse dance back and forth across the beam, back at the same shelter where he had intended to stay the night prior. When he saw that it was too pudgy to fit in its hole, he decided to pack up and head to Rusty's. We're all glad we came!