Date: 2019-05-17
From: Damascus, VA

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Today I blogged. I know people have been asking about my blog and I simply stopped because I was having a rough time with all the drama that¢s been going on and I was trying to enjoy my time with my friend. But I knew I needed to write it before I forgot what happened. I write my blog to share my experiences, but also to help myself remember it all years down the road. I¢m sure I¢ll look back on the drama as a wise old woman and think it¢s all silly. But for now, it¢s a bit consuming. Prometheus left the tent early to go to the park and see all the vendors. He¢s been pretty pumped about this weekend, as it¢s basically his goodbye party. He has a crazy outfit with short-shorts and rainbow socks and he¢s just having a blast. He should! I am totally in support of it all and I intend on going crazy for the parade tomorrow. But this morning I decided what I wanted to do more than anything was blog. I just needed to process through everything that¢s been going on. It took me four hours, so you¢re all welcome for the new entries. Haha. A lot happens on this trail! Prometheus came back to the tent and told me to stop sulking. I said I was blogging and he understood, but he knew I was dreading him leaving with Hot Sauce today to the hotel and he knew I was upset. I packed up my stuff out of his tent and he packed up his tent. Hot Sauce had moved out of mine. I can¢t believe I let her stay in there with all the crap she¢s done to me. I was way too nice to a bully. Waste of my niceness. Watch out world, if the assholes continue to take my niceness I¢m going to be a mean old grumpy Scrooge-woman, walking around pointing my finger and saying ¢you dumb kids!¢ Hot Sauce hates her own tent because it¢s a tiny one-person. I think I¢ve mentioned that. But she¢s wanted to stay in Prometheus¢ tent for that reason, and I stayed with him this time so I could have that time to chat or watch something. And there was only room for her tent or mine next to his, so I let her use mine as a nice gesture since she hates her¢s. Waste of niceness lol. But it paid off because my tent was all set up, so I just moved all my stuff into it. Prometheus and I left to go to town. I wanted to get my feet washed and massaged, a free service they were offering. They had doctors there too, but my feet are actually doing okay. My pinkies are eternally gross at this point, but otherwise my feet are good. The woman massaging them actually said the muscles felt good and there were no signs of Plantar Fasciitis or anything like that. Prometheus didn¢t want to wait in line, but Hot Sauce was also texting him about her car and putting his pack into it. Wonderful. I left with my nice new feet and walked down to the park. It was a little late by this point and most of the tents were starting to pack up for the day. It was pretty cool though. They had every big outdoors company there: Big Agnes, Gregory, Hyperlite, Zpacks, DarnTough, REI, MountainSmith, GraniteGear, etc. I have had no issues with my tent or pad, but Big Agnes was great so if I had had any issues, they would¢ve been awesome about it for sure. My pack is also not an issue, but its weight is, so I thought about replacing it. There¢s a sale at REI this weekend so if I find something I like here, I may ask my mom to get it and send it. There were food trucks and a big stage with bands playing. It was pretty cool! I saw Prometheus and he showed me around a bit. He was really sweet and saw me eyeing a Titanium cup that¢s super lightweight by the company Toaks. He bought it for me without me realizing, and it was so nice of him. He also surprised me with a new spoon, since mine is pretty gross and somehow turned green. He¢s the best and I was so thankful for his generosity. He left to meet Hot Sauce and go to the hotel.I was alone again. I saw Hiker Dan and Flowers though and joined them. I got a pizza from the food trucks and some ice cream too. Hiker Dan and Flowers were here to see the bands. A few old people were dancing. It was kind of an older, town vibe. The young hikers were not really here. I knew they were in Tent City. But it was nice to hang out for a bit. It was crowded and a dog jumped up and knocked someone¢s pizza right onto the ground. The dog owner paid for a new one, but it was unfortunate. I left the vendors with a bunch of random gear somehow in my hands. I bought a Trail Days T-shirt and had a bunch of free stickers and the cup and free socks. I dropped it off in my tent and felt pretty damn sad. Prometheus was gone from his spot and someone else had moved right in. And now I was alone here. I rallied though and got my bottle of wine and headed to Tent City. When I arrived, they were all sitting by the fire. But tonight the fire was tiki torches, which was pretty funny. It started out just a few of us. Thunder Buddy had a huge handle of bourbon and was pouring a ton for me. It was delicious. We were all joking around and Thunder Buddy and I were dared to try the weight of the camp chair; it held both of us. Haha. More people showed up and it was both my original crews! Red Wiggler, Tiger Bomb, Natty D, Hermione, Green Slouch, Wobbles, Tinder (now Manager), Rocket (who I don¢t know well but is really cool), Patches, Passport, Florida Man, Chug, Naners, FKZ, Honey Buns, and a few more. It was so much fun. Also I did run into Ringer earlier today and I missed him so much! He¢s not doing too well and his knee and hip are both screwed up. He¢s staying at the Broken Fiddle, but going home for a bit to recover. I think he¢ll come back. He¢s so awesome. I love that man. Sassafras is there with him and both were not there tonight, but are part of that tramily. We had such a blast tonight. I had a lot of bourbon. It was good haha. Red Wiggler showed up with a random bowl of pasta, so naturally I immediately needed to know the source of said pasta. And then found myself, several bourbons deep, wandering through the woods dragging Thunder Buddy along until I found a random set of lights and a woman standing with a big pot of pasta. I tell ya folks, the stuff you see in this place... I took the bowl of pasta from the random woman in the woods. Unclear if I was going to be eaten or cooked later, but I followed the pasta and I have no regrets. I had two helpings. Apparently I found out later I wandered into a cult, but they served me pasta so I don¢t really see an issue here. Will Diana return to CT or will she join random pasta cult in the woods? New trail family? Stay tuned. I wandered back to the group and things were beginning to die down. I decided to head home and said goodnight to everyone. I made it home safely; not much is happening in the main town of Damascus at 2am. It¢s a longggg walk from Tent City, but it was actually nice to come back to peace and quiet. The Broken Fiddle is kind of a ¢smoke a lot of weed and play the guitar all night¢ kind of vibe. Very laid back. I got into my tent and relaxed for the night. It was still sad not having Prometheus there, but I had an awesome night and I didn¢t need that silly hotel party anyway. I passed out quickly too, so I didn¢t need to stay up being sad. Little Debbie