Date: 2014-06-18
From: Kent, Connecticut

To: Bulls Bridge Rd. for Trail Magic 
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Day 98: Wednesday, 18 June 2014Today is the much anticipated Trail Magic Day with Guy on a Buffalo. Buffalo got with Aunt of Buffalo to figure out the destination. We then had a Continental Breakfast in the lobby and headed out.We went through Bulls Bridge, a covered bridge, and got to a T-intersection that looked fairly wide, at about 10am, where the AT comes out of the woods from the south and crosses Bulls Bridge Road. There's a short road walk on, what looks like a 'country lane' heading north. We were just about set up for business when Lightening Bolt, then Facts showed up. Very soon after Survivor Man and Machine came out of the woods, with Coconut ant Spice Kit not far behind. (Click on Photo and read caption for who's who. Also see photos of "Dinner Crew".)"BUFFALO! ""IS THAT YOU BUFFALO?""BUFFALO! What are you doing here?"Buffalo was so excited to see everyone. He had thought that with almost 5 zero days, surely he wouldn't know anyone coming through. He knew everyone in this "Breakfast Club" except for Lightening Bolt and Machine, although he'd heard of Machine. They all chatted about what they'd gone through - the Lemon Squeezer, the climb out of Lehigh Gap, Lyme's Disease, then someone mentioned that Smudge and Boomer weren't too far behind. If you Buffalo Groupies remember, Smudge and Boomer came out of the woods while FAHthur and I waited for Buffalo in Daleville, VA on Day 49, April 30th.Well, THAT would be very cool to see someone we met that far back. The "Breakfast Club" chatted and ate for about an hour, telling stories and reconnecting. The last of them left at around 11:30am.We cleaned up from that group, assessed our inventory, and talked about our first wave of Trail Magic - fun to see them trickle out of the woods and gravitate to food and drink! Oh, so what did we have? Barb and I made an apple oatmeal cake, a huge jug of lemonade and ginger/lemon drink, a walnut roll, a savory pepper and carmelized onion roll, and a birthday cake for me. (I was going to celebrate my birthday on the trail, had I stayed on, so here was my chance to still have a trail birthday! See Photos for a picture of my birthday cake I made.) We also had a watermelon and bags of yummy chips.Barb brought out the small grill she JUST put together over the weekend, and we had wraps with grilled Field Roast sausage, steamed veggies, and couscous-chickpea-avocado salad! That would have been available as Trail Magic for the Lucky Lunch Crew, but there were none. We ate lunch by ourselves. Oh, well. We did have an older gentleman, who came out for a little hike, join us for a while with a piece of apple oatmeal cake. He parked his car in front of Barb's, and when he got out, he asked us what we were doing. "Who sponsers or pays for all this?""We do!""Really? Why?""Because it's fun!"We told him about Buffalo on the PCT last year and doing Trail Magic, and how we are all connected to Buffalo and wanting to support him and other hikers on the trail. He was interested and interesting, a nice mid-day conversation.Buffalo and I took a hike up the trail, but Blue Blazed off the AT (A Blue Blaze is a non-AT connecting trail). Buffalo said that it looped around and came out up the road a ways. Well, we saw water and headed down the ROCKY trail to the river's edge. These rocks were those large, smooth, in-ground boulders that I can still walk upright on! It was OK! We dangled our feet in the cool water while watching a guy jump off the rock cliff on the other side of the river.We sun-dried our feet and headed back to the car to find Barb and Tina sitting on the other side of the road, in the shade. It WAS getting rather hot in the sun. We talked about what to do, and if we stay, how to get shade back over the car area. We ended up moving a few things and Barb backed up the car maybe 2 car lengths, and everything was shaded. We moved the Trail Magic back in place, although we had put away the 4 plastic chairs and just had 3 folding canvas chairs out.It was about 3pm and no one had showed up as yet. What to do? Although Tina thought it might rain, we decided that we could pack up fairly quickly if needed, so we waited, back in the shade, thankfully.Well, around 4pm, Prom Queen, Shy Bear, and Trail Wife came out to the road. They recognized Buffalo and, of course, stayed for Trail Magic."Whose birthday is it?" One of them asked."It's mine. I had actually started hiking with Buffalo and was planning on celebrating my birthday, probably around the half way point."Prom queen said, "We met you at NOC. You were getting your permit. We didn't talk much but I remember you from there."Buffalo exclaimed, "That's right, I remember you now. Wow, how cool is that! I'm just amazed that I know practically everyone who came by today. I thought for sure that everyone I knew would have passed me after almost 5 zero days. This has been great!"Shy Bear chimed in, "Everything got so spread out. Ever since Harpers Ferry. Harpers Ferry just changes everything."The three of them got up to leave as Smudge and his brother showed up! "Buffalo! What are YOU doing here?"Well, it's Trail Magic in more ways than one - food for the hikers and reconnected friends for Buffalo! Then Boomer showed up. Smudge and Brother stuck around for a while longer, but then headed down the road in search of the trail. Boomer sat on the road, eating and talking with Buffalo. He had a hard time leaving the food, but he did leave to get to the next shelter! After Boomer left, I asked Buffalo if he got his name because of his voice! YUP! It just booms out!We packed up and got back to the motel around 6:30pm. Buffalo took a "nap" and it was pretty much lights out for the rest of the evening! It was a very fun Trail Magic day, with a dozen thru-hikers and a few day hikers passing by. And an occasional tour bus coming up Bulls Bridge Road and realizing it can't go any further - there was a beam over the road to prevent large vehicles from going over the one-lane covered bridge. The buses had to turn around at the T-intersection where we were!I also learned that doing this Trail Magic was Tina ' s idea. A shout out THANK YOU! to Tina for being the inspiration. It did NOT take any coaxing on Barb's part to go along with the idea, however!Thanks for staying with Buffalo through this second-person journal. (He asked if I might do the same for the CDT, Continental Divide Trail, which will also provide more Travels of FAHthur and The Mum, as we help with resupply and a little Trail Magic.)Happy Trails,The Mum and....