Date: 2009-05-29
From: south of Wise Shelter

To: VA 601
Miles today: 15.0

I.II. WOD: Hikers Midnight - typically 8 or 9 pm when the sun goes down. We don't have cable TV, usually don't carry books, and then try to save battery power for mandatory uses. And after a hard day hiking, its an easy, early bedtime, e.g. hiker's midnight.III. Thursday was a super day. It rained briefly during the nite, just enough to keep everything wet. I started out hiking in the mud again, they got into the Grayson Highland State Park. The east was sunny and clear, the west was clouds and rain. It was a draw until noon, when rains took over. The highlands were very pretty, with the feral ponies all over the place. Probably saw a dozen herds of about a dozen ponies each. Many of the mares had recently dropped foals; i think i saw one only a few hours old. This part of the trail runs up to Mt Rogers, highest point in VA at 5729 ft. Also passed thru "Fatman Squeeze". I passed thru easily; but, it may have been somewhat of a challenge at the start of this hike. The ponies had overrun the Thomas Knob shelter and I didn't stay long.There were two long climbs, another mountain meadow and then it started to clear it a bit. At Buzzard Rock, I saw a very nice panorama, probably 50 miles or more. also, saw a ground nest, with 4 eggs. I hiked to a campsite near a VA road and had an rare treat of a clear view of the sky; although it was cloudy. I usually observe hikers midnight; but, decided to stay up and watch the sky a bit. I saw my first star and guessed it was Polaris, later confirmed when the Big Dipper made an appearance. The moon was a half-moon, and I noticed huge lightning bugs - big enough to be from Texas. I was disappointed not to see a satellite, when a small one passed by at 945 pm, west to east at about 75 degree elevation. Then to my surprise, the International Space Station (ISS) came blazing by 3 minutes later in similar arc. (The previous satellite was probably a Progress vehicle I'm guessing) The ISS was so bright it put at a 6 point "star burst" I blinked my eyes several times to confirm. So, here's a shout out to the Don Pedro crowd - you know who you are.POD: Lumpy. I met Lumpy at DSMC (a Department of Defense School) in 1981. We sat in alphabetical order. Since Lumpy¢s last name starts with Lue and my last name starts with Lun, he was always in front of me. The major assignement for DSMC was the ¢Pit Briefing.¢ We were in an amphitheater for 300 people and with video taping capability. Lumpy was practicing by giving his briefing to me and Sir G. It was awful and we told him so. He had a weekend to repair it before it was due. Minor problem, his St Kit was going to visit from out of town. So, Lumpy worked on his briefing all weekend and Sir G and I entertained St Kit. Another sad day at DSMC was when Lumpy was assigned to HQ AFSC in DC and I was sent back to Los Angeles. Since then, Lumpy and I have gone fishing, snow skiing and recently on photo outings. One of our ski trips resulted in Jason (Lumpy¢s son) and shi roommate moving to Utah and getting married.Take care my friend and Happy Birthday,TicPS There are new photos at 5/8/09 ¢Old Farm Equipment¢ to 5/8/09 ¢Tic on ledge with sky #2.¢