Date: 2003-06-01
From: Trimpi Shelter

To: VA 16 - Marion, VA
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: broken clouds

Erin says:Our food bags and packs are fully intact. No mice destruction. It was a great shelter stay I would have to say. I think I'd do it again. But, I think the key to a shelter stay is having the shelter to ourselves! It is great not to have to deal with other people snoring or getting up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.Craig and I also got up and out pretty early today. No tent to break down and our food bags were right in the shelter. Pretty nice. We also chose to skip the coffee since town would be upon us soon enough.The weather is nice - we saw sun! We both pulled out our radios for the 10.7 hike and each listened to NPR. What a treat! We got to hear the Car Guys do their show and then we listened to the Prarie Home Companion, which we both really enjoyed. Any NPR Sunday morning listeners out there who understand what we are talking about? Prarie Home Companion was nice because it is sort of a mix of songs and skits and comedy - like old school radio. It was thoroughly entertaining. And we got to hear silly songs sung like "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" which we got a kick out of. It has been great using our radios to help keep us moving. It helps me to keep my mind off of Achilles and foot pain.We got to Partnership Shelter - right near the road at 2pm. We must be the only hikers that didn't race the day before to get to Partnership Shelter. Because it is a tenth of a mile from a road that goes to a town, you can order pizza from the ranger station nearby and they deliver the pizza right to the shelter! It is a big draw for hikers. But we figured we'd be going into town anyway, so what's the huge deal? But man, the hiker log at Trimpi was filled with entries that pretty much said - "have to hike on, have to get to Parnership for pizza". oh, hikers.So Craig and I got a hitch from a nice guy into the town of Marion. Once we got dropped off though, we realized we still had about a mile walk to get to a motel and the food store. So we found the laundry along the way and stopped to get that task out of the way. It felt great to wash our clothes right away! One task down, now just resupply. We kept walking and got to Ingles - our grocery store of choice. We got all of our food that we would need and got some beers. In the parking lot we got to talking with a guy who asked us about our hike. He told us to hop in the back of his pickup and he dropped us off at the Econolodge down the road. Pretty sweet. It was actually Craig's genius to ask him where he was headed and could he just drop us off. Craig is getting really good at working it for us. The front desk clerk at Econolodge was really nice - she hooked us up with a bigger room so we could spread out our gear. She also gave me a pair of scissors. I didn't tell her of course what they were for... I gave myself a nice haircut right in our motel room. And I didn't make a mess. My hair has been very tangled. Now it is salon.Craig and I relaxed for a while and then headed over to the restaurant at the Best Western next door. They had a great steak tip special with veggies and baked potato and salad bar for like $6. It was great. And beer on tap at the bar! Craig and I ate our dinner and watched TV on the big screen completey mesmerized. The movie on TV was about the North Hollywood bank robbery that had happened when I was living in LA. In fact, the day that had happened my mom and sisters were visiting me! Weird to see it recreated in a drama, but Craig and I were still hooked anyway.It is of course later than I want it to be. And of course we've had a few beers and should really be asleep. We are headed right back out tomorrow.