Date: 2017-04-13
From: Partnership Shelter, VA

To: I-81, Atkins, VA
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: light rain

4/13/17 I-81, Atkins, VAMiles hiked: 544.4, Miles to go: 1645.4I had a restless night in the shelter. Partnership Shelter prohibited tent camping, so 13 of us slept in the shelter. With everyone rustling around and snoring and bright moonlight shining into the shelter, I just didn't sleep well. I got up at 6:00 AM and read my book at the picnic table until people started stirring in the shelter. 1st Sgt and I ate a quick breakfast and headed out. We had to cover 12.0 miles to the Barn Restaurant, where we were going to be picked up by Enterprise at 4:00 pm. Covering the mileage in that time wouldn't be difficult; however, we wanted to leave some wiggle room. Plus, we wanted to have time to eat lunch at The Barn before they picked us up. It was another beautiful, sunny day. We had to generally climb for 5 miles up to 4200 ft, then descend the rest of the hike to where the AT crosses under I-81. The treadway turned out to be pretty rocky; but, generally it was an easy hike. We stopped in at the Chatfield Shelter for a quick privy break. It was a fairly small shelter without any good tenting spots; but, it had a nice privy. About eight miles into the hike we started to see signs of civilization, with pretty fields and farmhouses. We arrived at the Virginia Settler's Museum. One of he buildings at the museum is the historic one room Lindamood School, which was built in 1894. There was a female hiker coming out of the school who looked really familiar; but, I couldn't place where I knew her from. I asked her her trailname and she it was Princess. Aha! Now I knew her! Her husband is named Rocketman. I had previously followed their hike on TrailJournals. They were out doing some hiking in the area. What a small world!There was a sign telling thru hikers to stop into the school and partake of trail magic supplied by the local United Methodist church. The schoolhouse was really cool; but, the trail magic was incredible! Iced sodas, chips, fruit, snacks, and a whole range of toiletries. It was the best trail magic we've had yet. Another 2.8 miles of hiking through fields, woods, and meadows brought us to Rt 11. It was amazing to see that, with the drop in altitude and the increase in temperature, Spring had suddenly sprung. There were wild flowers, blooming trees and buzzing insects. It was both amazing and beautiful. Our first stop was the Relax Inn, where 1st Sgt had a resupply box waiting. What a dump! It made the Budget Inn in Franklin look like a Hilton. I would not recommend this place to anyone. We next went to The Barn restaurant, where we had the one pound Hiker Burger. It was huge and delicious. I would recommend this place!After lunch, we were picked up by Enterprise and got a rental car. We then drove to my mom's house in Charleston, WV. We had a fun evening relating stories of the trail to my mom and my sister Becky. Marguerite arrived around 8:00 pm and joined the fun. Tomorrow, 1st Sgt will return the rental car and resume his northward journey. Marguerite and I will return to Morgantown and pack up the house for our move to Knoxville, TN. I will be off-trail for 2-3 weeks, but will keep track of 1st Sgt's progress and rejoin him when the house is settled in Knoxville. In the meantime, I will try to post every couple days just to keep the blog going. If you have any questions about the hike up to this point, drop me a note to my guestbook page and I will try to answer them in my posts over the next couple of weeks. Although I expect I will get a bit antsy off-trail, I think the break will do me good.