Date: 2008-05-24
From: Daleville, Va.

To: Waynesboro, Va.
Miles today: 133.8
Weather: clear sky

I am finally in Waynesboro, Virginia. Sorry I could not do a journal earlier. Verizon is not available up in the mountains. Tomorrow I start hiking in the Shenandoah National Park. It is supposed to be a little easier hiking. I had some really hard climbs this week. I finally get up with the race horses and I get lame leg. On Sunday if I had been a real horse they would have to have put me down. Every step was very painfull. I had never had shin splints before. I am not one to take a lot of pills but on Monday I realized in order to keep hiking I needed to dull the pain. 15 ibuprophin later it was tolerable but still hurt. As I was limping into a shelter on Tuesday afternoon a hiker I'll call Cheech asked what was wrong. I had met him earlier on the trail then he was gone. Seems he had a medical emergency and left the trail for a few days. He had some Dr. prescribed pain killers and gave me five of them. One pill helped a lot. Later that night I was at Bryant Ridge Shelter. This was a really nice shelter with an upper level. Cheech and 3 other hikers arrived and took up residence in the upper deck while myself and another hiker were on the lower level. I was in my sleeping bag when Cheech opened his medicine bag again. Only this time it was in a different form. The pungent aroma of Canibus filled the air. I am not a smoker but I know the difference between tobacco smoke and the wild wacky weed. Oh yes! the aroma of Mary Jane drifting down from the upper deck. Soon they were laughing like little kids at everything they said. They were trying to shush each other so the apostle downstairs would not know what was going on. I just smiled to myself and thought what would happen if I had just one hit on that doobie. My shin splints would turn into splin shints in a hurry. That would be trail magic that would turn this into a magic trail. By wednesday my stomach hurt from all the pills. On Thursday I was just about out of pills when I came across a young couple camping by a remote area about a mile from the shelter I was going to. I usually try to linger around people in hopes of trail magic. I ended up with spending a half hour eating fruit, tortilla chips, German wheat bread, and a beverage for what Aled me. He asked if I needed anything else and I told him pain killers. He gave me 8 Aleves. That was the best trail magic yet. On Friday I only took 2 pills and today only 1. It feels so good to have both legs back. The last two days I have been hiking with Shiloh a 55 year old man whose wlfe passed away last year. He also has a trail journal you may want to read. Last night we camped on top of Humpback Mt. overlooking the Shenandoah Valley. It was a beautifull view and after dark we sat on the rocks and watched all the lights in the valley. I am doing laundry as I am typing this journal. Since I finally have good cell service I will do several entries this weekend. I will try to explain some of the things I see and what God is teaching this stubborn hiker. A couple of housekeeping chores yet. For all you worried about my sleeping bag situation, don't worry. I have another synthetic one waiting at home when it warms up a little bit. I am somewhat dissapointed in my Florida connection who promised to replace my down bag. She went from offering a replacement to a 23 dollar Wall Mart. Why not just give me an old blanket you have laying around. Also while I am gone my Son Rodrick is taking care of all my bills and looking after all my stuff. I take care of my mother in laws house in Walnut Creek. I had renters that moved out after three years. If any of you folks in the Berlin, Walnut Creek area know of anyone looking for a house to rent you can call Rodrick at Hummel Ins. in Berlin. The house is a ranch in Mud Valley. It would be a nice situation for someone. The rent is reasonable and the landlord is away hiking somewhere. Keep praying for my safety and for all other hikers. For what it is worth shin splints are an inflammation of the tendons around the lower calf area. It's from exercising too much. Funny, I don't even have time to exercise.