Date: 2015-04-10
From: Fox Creek

To: Partnership Shelter
Miles today: 21.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Although it didn't rain last night, I still slept very badly. It took me a long time to fall asleep, and then I stayed awake for an hour between 3-4am, and finally woke up at 6.30am. I sorted my blisters and packed up, and then joined Fresh Ground for breakfast about 7am.I had tea, 4 loaded pancakes (choc chips, banana, walnut, cinnamon), skillet, koolaid, mocha, and a banana. It was well worth the $5 donation. I didn't leave camp until 9am. The weather today was extremely frustrating. It started off sticky and humid, but overcast. About 10am, the skies opened with the first of the day's power showers. I managed to get my rain coat on, but my trousers were soaked in literally seconds. I went to the next shelter, which was fortunately not far, and pulled on my rain trousers. The rain did stop not too longer after, and continued intermittently throughout the day. I repeatedly put my coat on and off throughout the day. I would've kept it on, but it was just too hot. Fortunately it didn't rain too much after that, but drizzled a lot. I met Brightside, Dopey, the Rhode Island Express and Mowgli at the shelter for lunch. I just missed seeing a giant brown snake, which Mowgli tried to pick up with a stick, but it slithered off into the shelter. Brightside got photos. I definitely didn't want to stay in that shelter. I did make good use of the privy though. I am pleased to note the very high quality of the privies in Virginia.My lunch today was tortillas, but not with Nutella. At this resupply, I bought the Reece's peanut butter chocolate spread instead of Nutella since it was a little cheaper. I'll be going back to the Nutella next time. Not long after, I caught up with Mowgli who was busy pulling spring onions out of the ground. I later saw him crawling in the mud of the trail, taking photos of a caterpillar. His knowledge of nature is almost encyclopaedic.After lunch, I seemed to have some kind of sugar crash. I completely ran out of energy. It probably was not helped by the poor nights sleep. I really struggled to keep my eyes open. It was only 10 miles from lunch to the next shelter, but it took me an extra long time. I genuinely felt exhausted and like I was dragging myself along with every step. Eating more snacks and drinking more water didn't help. I slogged my way across about 8 miles before I finally had enough energy to go quickly to the shelter.I finally got to the shelter after 6pm. The shelter is really nice. It's huge and looks a lot like a log cabin- with a big loft space too. There is a real built privy and a shower. But the shower is not available yet, since it's probably still too cold. The best part about this shelter is that you can order Pizza Hut from the Rangers shelter nearby. We ordered 3 pizzas and some fizzy drinks. It was really, really great. The pizzas were all cheese stuffed crust and very greasy. Although my digestion probably doesn't like it so much, I definitely enjoyed it. This time I didn't eat an entire pizza to myself though. Tomorrow we're heading into Atkins to resupply, so there was no need for me to gorge myself yet. We have walked so fast that I won't need to do a full resupply tomorrow since I still have about half my food from Damascus. It's still 11 miles to get in to Atkins, with a steep looking climb in the middle. I have no idea how far we are going tomorrow in the end, but I hope my legs can take the long days. We might have to camp out somewhere, so I really hope that it's dry.