Date: 2008-05-06
From: Partnership Shelter

To: US 11/VA 683 Atkins
Miles today: 11.6

Many beautiful scenes today, but first, how did the resupply attempt work out? Well, we packed up the tents and went over to the visitor center at 8am to inquire about shuttle possibilities. The kind person at the desk gave us a name to try, and I was able to reach Peggy at the Sugargrove Diner. She couldn't come herself, but after some thinking decided she could call her brother to see if he might be available. He was, and within minutes we were cruising down the road in Buddy's red 08 Pontiac. We negotiated a modest fee and he took us to the diner (at my request, not realizing the diner was in one town and the food store in another) for a great breakfast and then many miles back the other way to a big grocery store for a fast and complete resupply. We were back at the shelter by 11am, re-packing our groceries to fit the backpacks. It turns out that Peggy at the Sugargrove Diner has helped many hikers, and also has lodgings available - if you need food, shuttle or lodging in that area try giving her a call (677-3351). Thanks, Peggy and Buddy!After several long days, we were aiming for a short one, but discovered that several hikers were heading for the motel in Rural Retreat, 11-plus trail miles away. The lure of a hot shower, laundry and bed was powerful, so there we went.There are various combinations of services one needs on the trail, and up til now we would get most of them all in one stop - get trail food, sleep in a bed, take a shower, do laundry, have a restaurant meal, take a day off from hikng. Today we did just the get-trail-food part, and still were due for showers and laundry. (Partnership shelter has a shower but it was reported to be cold, and it isn't hot enough for that to be fun, yet.) And we didn't really need a day off yet. But showers and laundry were overdue.So this motel right on the trail and a long half-day away was the perfect answer.The trail was straight up out of the shelter, and covered with small to medium sharp rocks the first several miles. We were not happy. But by mid afternoon we came in to Chatfield shelter for a rest and snacks, and met Back There and Toejam, a couple who have been reading our journals and are out on a week-long section hike of the AT. We had a great time talking with them, and it gave us just the lift we needed.Then the trail got smoother and began to wind through the most gorgeous fields and farms, hilly, green, sweetly-scented and dazzlingly beautiful after dry rocky paths and steep hot hills.The trail comes right out onto the road in front of the motel, and we promptly got a room, started the laundry and took showers. Aaahhh!! Not a fancy place, but adequate to these needs. It's clear to me now why they say that once you get to Virginia it is a mental game - you are physically conditioned and can do the hiking well enough, but also the initial thrill is waning, and motivation to get up and do it every day has to come from new places. (not just from noting "My, my, here I am out on the Appalachian Trail, actually DOING this..." etc.) If you read Auntie Mame's journal you will see her thinking on this. It's where our differences come out, since I am interested in protecting the possibility of a thru-hike (completing the AT in one year), and she is not interested in that.I will try to talk more about this later - others contemplating hiking with a partner might be interested in these differences and how we deal with them.