Date: 2003-05-03
From: Damascus, VA

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

For the last week on the trail I had been having trouble with the bottoms of my feet and also my ankles. At about the 13 mile point of a day my feet would start to ache and would continue to hurt through the night until the next morning. The day before reaching Damascus, when bending forward I was getting an electric shock up my right leg that really concerned me. I decided to see a chiropractor when I got to town.Thursday night I Stayed at the Mongomery Homestead. Susie was a great hostess and her breakfast was the best! The Place was full of sick hikers and the Hikers Inn was just full.Friday night I moved into Suzanne's Hikers Inn. With me were: Switchback, Charity and Jack. Switchback and Charity told me all about an Iranian osteopath that was on the trail and how he had helped numerous hikers with their ailments. He had been named Healer. I decided to talk to him when he arrived on Saturday and see if he could help me.In the meantime, I wanted to go to Mt Rogers Outfitters to look at new packs. I love the Golite Speed, but was tired of carrying all the weight on my shoulders (with no padding) and lower back. I spent 3 hours at the outfitters with Jeff, one of the owners, being measured, trying on packs, then playing with gear. I walked out with an Osprey Ariel 60 that when fully loaded with my gear and 3.5 days of food (no water) weighed 20 lbs. I was a happy camper.I gathered my boxes from the P.O. One was missing and when I checked again on Saturday morning, it still hadn't arrived. I really enjoy going through my boxes; my bounce box, the box of food that comes from my brother John and his family, my summer bag and shoes, and a surprise box from my friend Karen in Boston. Karen's box held dried raspberries that absolutely melted in my mouth, dried veggies to add to Ramen, dried assorted fruits, and, my favorites, a huge package of homemade brownies with lots of walnuts. I have been sharing the brownies in the hostel for 2 days and they still are not gone.While on one of my walks to the outfitters, I noticed my name on a list of mail recipients and when I inquired about it, found my lost box! It was addressed to General Delivery, Damascus---but left at the outfitters. So any of you with missing boxes, be sure to check at both places.The box contained a gift from the LTCI Chick AT Hikers. What a wonderful surprise! I had been talking about all of the wildflowers that I'd been seeing and couldn't identify so they sent me Leonard Atkin's WILDFLOWERS OF THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL. It's a beautiful book with full page color photographs of every flower described. Thank you ladies, I'll treasure it!As Saturday progressed, so did the numbness in my leg. I no longer had to bend over to get the "tingles", now it happened all the time. I called a chiropractor in Abingdon and left a message. He wouldn't be in until Monday and it looked like I'd be spending 2 more days in Damascus. I couldn't risk walking out and having a big problem on the trail. I don't like to crawl in the mud.Saturday night Healer arrived and took a bed at Hikers Inn. Later in the evening when Switchback, Chris and Charity had left for the movies he asked me about my problem and adjusted not only my feet and legs, but my whole body. Several hours later he worked on my foot and leg again. The compression on the nerve was in my knee area. It felt much better when I went to bed Saturday night. I shared my raspberries with healer in appreciation and will make a donation to is cause: MS Focus. He is a MS sufferer himself.We'll see what tomorrow brings. I'd like to hike out with Shocked in the morning.