Date: 2006-04-04
From: VA 625

To: VA 42
Miles today: 0.0

Tuesday, April 4, 2006Cold morning, below 32, there is ice on the cars. Hot breakfast at the Dairy Queen. Short hike today. Late start. Off to Rte 42 to set Amoeba¢s car and check out the possibility of camping away from the Olystery pavilion. Yes, there¢s a hidden spot not too far from the AT for Memere and Gray Feathers to pitch their tent. Amoeba will sleep in the Element. They drive back to 625 to set the Cruiser. About 2 miles in on 625 (Poor Valley Rd), Gray Feathers says the car, which her husband put 4 brand new tires on just before this trip, is pulling to the right. She gets out to check. The right front tire is totally flat, down to the rim. She pulls over to the side of the road. They secure the car and start to walk back towards Rte 42. They¢ll try to hitch back to Amoeba¢s car, go to Marion or another town to get a replacement tire and see if AAA will come out and put it on. Along the way there's a fiercely sharp pointed rock embedded in the roadway. Memere kicks it out and over to the side. Any tire going over that point would have been impaled. They walk about 1.2 miles along 625 when a white pickup truck with an older couple in it passes them. Down the road it turns around. The couple, Art and Jonan, offer to help. Can Amoeba ride in the back of the pickup to the Olystery Pavillion? Art says that first they'll stop at Myra and Randy's, because he¢s certain that Randy can help. Memere, Gray Feathers and Amoeba don¢t want to impose on anyone, but Art insists. He goes in and talks to Randy.Randy comes out with Art. He is only too glad to go with Gray Feathers and Memere back to the Cruiser with a big air tank, while Art and Jonan take Amoeba the 5 miles back her car.Thank you, trail angels Art and Jonan!Just as they pull in to the trailhead parking area, a southbound hiker from Asheville NC is running out from the woods towards his parked Subaru. He¢s been short section-hiking on the AT with 2 friends. About a mile in from 625, one friend fell and he¢s either badly sprained or broken his ankle. Is the road to the 625 trailhead passable? Art says yes and gives him directions. Jonan gives him directions to the nearest emergency room, which is in Wytheville.Art, Jonan and Amoeba offer to follow him, but the hiker thinks he has everything under control.Amoeba returns to Myra and Randy's to wait for Memere and Gray Feathers and Randy with Myra, Randy¢s wife.A good-hearted person who contributes her time, energy and talent to help others, Myra runs ¢Just For Fun Quilters¢. She teaches quilting free of charge. Both her quilt house, where she has a fabric room, 2 sewing rooms and a cutting/design room, and her residence house, are full of artistic touches.Gray Feathers, Memere and Randy return.Back at the residence house, Myra prepares a stone soup! The idea that was floated at Blackburn Trail Center. She puts dry soup mix, chicken broth, a can of veg-all, a can of corn, a can of green beans, a can of kidney beans into a pot. Amoeba has cabbage, onion and red pepper in her cooler. Memere chops these and they are added. Myra cooks some white meat chicken and adds this. Voila! tasty stone soup! Accompanied by thick thick slices of Randy-made bread, slathered with fresh butter.While Gray Feathers and Randy go to Blackburn to locate a matching tire, Memere and Amoeba stay behind to help Myra clean the quilt house for tonight¢s class. There will be 10 students. Memere and Amoeba spend the afternoon reorganizing the fabric room, arranging fabric by size and color. Myra always serves brownies to the students. Time to go back to the residence house to make these. Randy and Gray Feathers return with a new tire on the Cruiser.You three have to stay for supper, say Myra and Randy, it's lasagne.During supper, Randy tells stories about Roni from Israel, who, back in February, walked out from the AT along 625 nearly frozen. Randy helped Roni thaw out. In my opinion, Roni did not have enough gear to keep himself warm, Randy says.Myra, Randy, Art and Jonan, unbelievable trail magic. How can we repay you?