Date: 2004-06-05
From: Woodshole Hostel

To: Rendezvous Motel
Miles today: 10.0

Woodshole is a unique and amazing place. It's a 100 acre old farm, now operated as a hiker hostel by Tillie Wood. She and her husband Roy, ¢Splinter¢, moved here in the 1940's. They renovated this old log building into a hiker hostel and the other log building into their home. The sad thing is that while building the stairs to the bunkhouse in 1987, Splinter had an accident and died. Tillie has continued to run the hiker hostel all these years. She is well into here retirement years these days but you would never know it. She lives most of the year elsewhere but returns to run the hostel during the busy summer months. She charges hikers nothing to stay here but expects a little help around the yard in the morning. This time though, due to the weather she just told all of us to just have a safe and happy hike.The hostel had this great porch. There was a sort of breezeway with a ladder to the second floor where we all slept on mattresses on the floor. In the Breezeway there were plastic crates with clean blankets and towels.Another treat for us was that Tillie's granddaughter was staying with her this summer to help out. She was delightful. She came over that evening in the rain to explain where everything was and get us settled in. Then she hung out with us for a while talking and serenading us with her guitar. It was great. The place was decorated with drawings and paintings from her early childhood through to today. It was obvious she had a real love for this place and Tillie, her grandmother. She seemed to just fit. My guess is that she was in her early 20's and just trying to figure this life thing out. Best of luck on that one.Out the back of the breezeway was a little path to the privy. The place had electric lights and a refrigerator in a little kitchen area off to the right. There were snacks, soda and fuel for sale on the honor system. There was also a solar shower outside but with the lack of sun, no one was brave enough to give it a try. Ah, but imagine a sunny day here. There was also a library bookshelf and a map of the US on the wall with pins marking where visitors hale from. The mood and atmosphere were just right.One of the wonders of Woodshole is the breakfast Tillie prepares for the first 8 lucky hikers to sign up. There is only room for eight at the table in her house so that's the limit. The cost is only $3.50 and it is just a wonderful meal. The inside of her home is another treat. The sense of warmth and friendliness is beyond words. Tillie requires that all her guests sign in with both their trail name and real name so that if concerned family call looking she can tell them if and when someone was here. It's not uncommon for a hiker's family not to know a trail name.After breakfast on the morning of June 5th, we all gathered for a Polaroid photo on the steps of Tillie's house. This picture was then glued to the next page in the register and we all signed around it. Should have gotten a picture of that. Buick and I used Tillie's phone to make reservations at the Rendezvous Motel in Pearisburg. We both needed to resupply and do laundry. This way we could split to motel bill.There were 10 or 12 folks at Woodshole last night. I don't remember all their names. Buick was there of course, so was Sleepy The Arab. He was from Manchester, New Hampshire of all places. This was his second thru hike but he wasn't quite sure why. It sounded like he was having gumption issues. I wonder if he finished. It was well after dark when Slider, Stubby and Neon Leon arrived. They were the Amish guys we met back at Partnership Shelter. It was good to see them again.It was only a ten mile hike into Pearisburg from Woodshole. This is one of those towns that the trail goes right through. So it behooves a hiker to approach with an empty pack and resupply. One of the best things about stopping for the night here was getting a shower. After all that rain and mud it was truly welcome. The other was the Dairy Queen. The motel we stayed at was real close to the trail. There were others in the middle of town and a hostel on the other end of town but we didn't really want to carry our packs all over town and then carry them back out in the morning.Buick got to the road a few minutes ahead of me. He was kind of waiting for me and looking for the motel when some guy in a car stopped to offer him help. He didn't really want help but the guy wouldn't leave him alone. The guy would drive off, circle around andthen come right back. He was making Buick more than just a bit uncomfortable. This is at least how I remember Buick told the story. As soon as I emerged from the woods Buick beckoned to me and lead the way to the motel. That was one piece of useful info he had gotten out of this guy.At the motel, things got a little stranger for a little while. We went into the office. I gave the woman my name and said we had reservations. She disagreed. I said I had called just a few hours ago from Woodshole. She said she had reservations for some thru-hikers but for some reason thought they should be someone else. Finally she confessed that my phone call had awakened her (at 9am) and that she had forgotten to write anything down. Fortunately they still had a room. It wasn't as cheep as the Handbook had suggested and it wasn't any great shakes of a room, carpet would have been nice on the bare feet. But you know, we really didn't care.After moving into the motel, the first order of business was to head into town, packless of course to buy food and do other stuff. Lucky for us that took us right past the Dairy Queen. With Blizzards in hand we headed to the grocery store, some place for lunch, probably the Post Office and the library to check email. The library was all the way on the other side of town and quite a walk. It was off the side of a side street in a residential area. Finally we found it but it had closed 20 minutes ago or something silly like that. That was disappointing. We began our walk back in search of an ATM for Buick. He found one.We also ran into Slider, Stubby & Neon Leon or at least some subset of them and some other thru-hiker somewhere in town. We explained the plight of our library excursion and learned that the Plaza Motel, where they were staying, had Internet access. That was funny because the Handbook said that our motel had it which was wrong and that the Plaza Motel didn't have it. Hmmm, perhaps there was a mistake in the Wingfoot Handbook on this account. Buick and I looked at each other and figured what's the worst that could happen. They could tell us it's for their guests only.Even though it was up a hill Buick headed for the Plaza while I headed back to the pharmacy in search of something not found at the grocery store. It was probably a small bottle of contact solution, a tiny tube of tooth paste or something like that. Then I joined him at the Plaza. There were lots of rooms at this place and there was no way the guy at the counter could have any idea whether we were customers or not. We even had a good chat with him. It was great. There was just one machine. It was right next to the registration desk and it wasn't fast but who cared. It was time to write and email AT Update 5.On our way back to our own motel, grocery bags in hand, we of course had to pass the DQ again. It was hot. We or at least I had to have another Blizzard. Back at the motel it was time to get clean and to do laundry. We had so few things to wash that we combined our laundry. Buick went to find the motel laundry while I took a well needed shower. The motel owner guy gave Buick some laundry detergent. That was nice. Later I took care of the dryer while Buick showered. The motel folks also filled my fuel bottle. Somehow it had gotten late. This is always one of the pitfalls of being in town. It was way past trail bedtime which is usually about 30 minutes after sunset. It was a good town day though that began with 10 miles on the trail. Wow.