Date: 2005-04-24
From: gravel springs hut

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

APRIL, 24, SUN. DAY 18   staying at city. motel in front royal, va. got a ride in from paul and kathy. going to laundomat. grass is green, wisteria is blooming. nice sun. wish the sun would shine. got a sun. paper to read while doing laundry. hate to come in to town cause then is hard to go back out. am rolling right along on the trail and should slow down. but just not built that way. got a type a personality i guess. went to outfitter and they were out of alcohol. so he says go to kmart and buy a can, take what i need and he would pay me for the alc. and i could have mine free. good deal. went to groc store and resupplied. called mary. things are ok there. talked to mom. sending some stuff home. cell ph. charger, shorts, sleeping bag. every little bit of weight i can lose helps. mary says she can't sleep. that bothers me but i have to finish this thing. went to old cafe for breakfast. good old boys there. locals. had a good time listening to them gossip. and good food also. but was high priced probably cause they are so close to wash. d.c.   just sitting here watching golf on tv. this aft.    there are some mexicans next door and they are playing their boom box too damn loud. very annoying, but probably no worse than enduring the snoring in the shelters. its just that when you spend money for a room you expect some peace and quiet. but thats what i get for being so damn tight and getting a cheap ass motel. complained to manager 4 different times. should have just called the cops. anyway couldn't get any sleep. finally about 3 a.m. they decided to shut it off. i cant hardly stand to come into town any more. takes two days to get back in the groove again. sent my 20 deg. sleep bag home . hope i made the right decision. APRIL 25, DAY 18 MON.   staying in dick's dome shelter.      when i left that raggedy assed motel this morn. they had turned that damn boom box on again. so i turned my tv to country music station and turned the volume as high as it would go. then left to go back out on the trail. i hate to say this but if i would have had a gun i think i would have shot that boom box to smithereens.    "oh by the way it was cold yesterday morn. when i left the gravel springs shelter. and last night at the shelter i had to get up twice and pee. hate to get out of that bag to do it. if i am alone in the shelter or camped out in my tent i take a pee bottle in my tent and use that. usually carry a gatorade bottle along.had to get up once at 3:30 and then again at 5. thats what happens when you get old.got started at 7 a.m. was a few snow flurries in the air."            got new inserts for my boots. it is 10 a.m. trying to catch a ride back to the trail. got a ride with sheryl and her daughter millicent. say they pick up hikers frequently. met some volunteers . high school kids from wakefield cutting weeds etc. thanked them for helping out. stopped at the jim and molly denton shelter for a break. it is the fanciest shelter i have seen on the trail. has a shower set up. patio, cooking pavilion. met scrubs from sonora, ca. flipflopper. going from harpers ferry to springer, then fly to maine and hike back to harpers ferry. seems to be a lot of hikers doing that same thing. met lady hiker mapquest from philly. she is headed for glasgow.      good hiking today. met walker today who had hiked from springer last year. knew a lot of the hikers that i had hiked with. is good to be back on the trail again spring is here, leaves on trees and flowers blooming. dick's dome shelter is very small. only room for about 4. ther are 6 canadians here at camp site. on of them is in shelter with me and the others are tenting. dave is in shelter, others are ma and pa from n. brunswick and have hiked the trail before. they want to do it again sometime. they are 54 yrs. old. also a man named ray, and verna who has hiked all over the world. had hiked up to machu pichu in peru. she is a microbiologist from ottawa, can. we had a campfire and good visit.APRIL 26, TUESDAY DAY 19   staying at bears den hostel. it is a stone mansion out in the middle of nowhere. beautiful place. made 19 tough miles today thru the roller coaster. 10 miles of straight up and straight down.   stopped in sam moore shelter for a break. almost stayed but decided to go on to bears den. met sobo called pedestrian from sunnyvale ca. out for as long as he can stand it and then go back home.like me i guess. arrived at bears den at 4:30 p.m. and i am beat. pack was heavy and shoulders are hurting. caretaker here is named lori, and she invited me for dinner. also dave is caretaker here for the hiking season. he is going to do a llama and backpacking thing in utah next summer and invited me to go along is 80 years old and from wis. he was splitting wood when i came in and lori was mowing the grass. lori's trail name is queen diva. i remember her from the time i was hiking up in vermont and came to a roadside. saw a lady there cooking sweetcorn and other goodies. she invited me for dinner. and others also . she was doing trail angel stuff. says she has done a lot of that. any way we had chicken parmesan spaghetti, angelfood cake with strawberries. then after a while i bought a pint of icecream and ate it all. getting hiker appetite.