Date: 2013-05-12
From: VA. 621

To: VA 620
Miles today: 7.4

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! And to all mothers everywhere.I am starting out today at VA 621. Kathy picked up some more water and snacks yesterday to hand out to hikers. Her first hiker is ¢Buddha Jim¢ but he said he didn't need anything and kept going. I was making sure I had everything I needed in my new light-weight backpack before heading out and ¢K Fox¢ comes hiking down into the parking area and Kathy is ready to hand out some goodies. So I put on my pack and my neck starts to hurt, so I go on an up-hill test hike, out and back. There's no way I can use this pack. I think I have too much weight for it to carry properly, so I switch out to my old pack, which is almost four pounds heavier but carries the load better. I put it on and no neck pain so I'm finally ready to go - and then Lori pulls in! Lori is one of my Trail Angels from back in April and I was hoping to run into her and Ann today. They are going to cook up some lasagna in Dutch ovens for the hikers today. It's a little past noon and I need to get going. The plan is to only do about seven miles. So yesterday I did a slack pack to test out my legs and today will be a test hike with a full pack to see how I do. I say good bye to Kathy and Lori and off I go. About a mile and a half up the trail I meet ¢Tribe¢ a section hiker and he's going south. He said he's meeting some friends from Florida later on. We exchanged pictures and go on our way. It's a nice day to hike, sunny and a bit breezy and a little nippy. I manage to make it to the Audie Murphy Monument. His plane crashed near here. If you don¢t know who he is, you should google his name. Not only was he the most decorated soldier during World War II, but he was also a movie star. While I was here at the monument, ¢Cobweb¢ shows up. He said he is trying to finish his hike and all he had left was hiking from NY to GA, I wished him well. He told me I had a nice and easy hike down to VA State Road 620. About a mile from it, I was listening to my mp3 player with only one ear bud in when all of a sudden, something was behind me making noise, kind of like a bull makes with his front hoof, just before it charges at you. I let out a big yell, turned around thinking Yogi Bear was there, but it was ¢Crow¢, not the bird, but a hiker I met in Georgia. He scared at least five years off my life! He said he was making noise so that I could hear that he was coming up from behind, not to scare me. Well it didn't work! He said he's been off the trail because of his knees and had to wait five days on a mail drop. Once my heart got back into a normal beat, I told him Kathy was down at the road and she's got some snacks and I also let him go on in front of me! I finally made it down to the road and Kathy and Crow were there talking. I asked her if he told her what happen and they both started laughing. Crow said he was going to the next shelter and Kathy told me she found a place to eat called The Homeplace, if we could get there by 6pm. It¢s a family style, all-you-can-eat restaurant, like Shirley's near Watauga Lake (or like Shatley Springs for you North Carolinians!) We got on the list and were happy to wait on a table on this crowded Mother's Day. We see several hikers there eating good home-style food, but not anyone I know. This will be my last good home-cooked meal for a while. Pain report: No pain in my neck and back. My feet ache, as usual, and my thighs ache down towards my knees a little and that's about it. So far, so good.