Date: 2005-05-14
From: Rt. 211, Thornton Gap (Damascus Trail Days)

To: Rt. 211, Thornton Gap (Damascus Trail Days)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

start: Rt. 211, Thornton Gap (Damascus Trail Days)finish: Rt. 211, Thornton Gap (Damascus Trail Days)miles: 0.0day: 68Woke early and went over to The Place to pee, so as not to offend any neighbors.  There was a small line, of course.  Once that detail was taken care of it was off to Cowboys for their Hiker Breakfast Special and a cup of tea.  Very good.  It was crowded so I shared a small table with a current hiker who I hadn't met named Loose Goose.  We had a good conversation, mostly about gear, and stuff that's happened to each of us on our hikes.I updated my Pocketmail, and I appear to be unable to download email again.  This is really becoming annoying.  And Pocketmail support is only M-F, 8-5.  So no email until Monday perhaps using the payphone at the the Elkwallow Wayside.I decided to walk down the main street to see who or what was happening yet, and saw Stumpknocker walking along with a guy named Jakebrake.  He didn't see me, so I hid behind a car and casually waited for him to pass near.  He glanced over and was pretty quick.  He pretended to show no recognition at all.  My good friend.  We walked and talked, strolling through the vendor area and then driving over to tent city to look for Goldilocks, Underpants, and the rest.  Found Goldilocks' tarp, but that was all.  Saw lots of familiar faces along the way - can't remember them all.  I went in to Mt. Rogers Outfitters to give Jeff a hard time, but he wasn't there.  Darn, that would've been fun.At one point we went to eat some BBQ chicken and we brought one back to the ALDHA tent for Mrs. Gorp.  Stumpy insisted that I hold the real dinner while he presented her with the bones of the one he'd just eaten.  Hah, but very risky having a thru-hiker hold your food.I met lots of Stumpy's friends, including Waterfall and Sheltowee, Zipdrive, Roadster, and Circuit Rider, LWOP, and many more.  It was great to talk with all these folks.  It was also great to meet Skeemer in person, and I said hi to Glen Van Peski, who I hadn't seen since the 2003 Gathering.  I had a nice chat with Flyin' Brian, and asked him to make sure his dad knows how much I appreciate his stove and tarp designs.  I saw Garcia, The Gray Haired Guy and Red Wolf, both who I had seen a lot in Gorham in 2003.  I met Queen Diva, who I'll be seeing at Bears Den Hostel in a few days.  Real nice lady.From this year's crop of hikers I finally met 4-Cheese who's in Harpers Ferry, and later in the evening I ran into Pace, who we all thought had got off the trail.  He had really just taken some time off and is now at Pearisburg.  This is very good news, tempered by the rumor that Billy (Sgt. Slaughter) has gotten off for good.  Darn, I thought he was gonna make it.  Saw Heald and caught up on the news with him.  He's finished hiking for the summer as he's heading up north to work.  I met Crash Test Dummy who just finished the whole ECT - Gaspe to Key West.  And so many other new and old friends.  What a great day.The weather was threatening and then chose to rain on our parade.  I had just finished getting my Lekis worked on at their support booth (wonderful treatment, the poles are like new) and dashed back to my tarp to leave the poles and grab my rain jacket.  The parade was already moving, so I just ran along in and beside it looking for my friends, dodging water bombs, and using opportunities to get other folks wet.After the parade Kodak mentioned that she was signed up for Hardcore Trail Maintenance, which occurs Sunday and Monday.  Goldilocks, Tea Break, 4-Cheese and I signed up as well, even though they were full, viewing it as a good trail experience and a chance to pay back a bit.  Later, though, we realized that we would lose two more days of hiking, not just the one that we'd thought, and Goldilocks, Tea Break and I decided to hike on instead.  There will be other years to do maintenance.  It remains to be seen what Kodak will do, as the three of us are already almost a day ahead of her, and this will make 3 days.  We'd all like to hike together some more and the realization is setting in (just now for me) that I'm very likely to get separated from some of my good friends.  This a hard and sure fact of the trail.  But for now, we're relying on our abilities to catch up, and the fact that we have hundreds of miles in which to do it.  I also wonder who we'll be hiking near when we get back on the trail, having been off 2 days.Later in the day I ate two big plates of spaghetti and cake, and then went to the free clinic to have by cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. checked.  I know, I shouldn't have eaten first, but I do have my priorities.  All levels were good, and the blood test will be mailed forward to Harpers Ferry.After this I decided to have a rest and went back to my tarp and caught up on my journal.  I went over to Baja Cafe later to get some tacos to go, but otherwise stayed in my quiet camp.  A good end to the day for me, even though I'm sure there's lots of wildness going on out at tent city.At one point another thunderstorm passed through and it blew so violently that half of my tarp collapsed as it rained down in sheets.  With a little frantic effort nothing got wet except me a little bit.A memorable Trail Days.