Date: 2005-05-28
From: Daleville, VA

To: Daleville, VA
Miles today: 1.5
Weather: light rain

If you're observant, you might have picked up on the fact that this is our 3rd night in a hotel! The saga of the shoes, the weariness of the bones, the opportunity to share rooms and spend time with others... all have made it possible to stay 2 full days off in Daleville. Let's see if I can give some snapshot descriptions of the past two days. This is Hopeful writing. *Red Wing's feet are feeling more hopeful! Plan A was to get the Merrell gift certificate he won and leave town with new shoes. So, we got a ride to the Outfitter in Roanoke and he tried on shoes that he liked. But, the certificate only allows for online purchase, so he placed an order and had them sent to Waynesboro(7 or so hiking days ahead). This begged the question, could he bear another week with the shoes that are causing all the trouble? Yes, he would. We decided that and were ready to leave this morning. Then, on the way out, our senses got the better of us and we headed instead to WalMart for a pair of tennis shoes that would more comfortably last the week. We walked out with a $15.88 pair of shoes that so far feel great. *Getting around requires creativity! Trips to WalMart, or the Roanoke library to use the internet mean humbly asking for rides. The hospitality of the people in trail towns continues to impress us. We might ask someone outside of a gas station or McDonalds if they are heading in the direction that we need to go, and more often than not we have a ride within minutes. Thanks to those who have helped us out! *Days off are busy! We desperately need to do laundry. Thankfully the hotel this time had machines so we didn't need to walk far. We need to pick up our resupply box that Red Wing's sister Amy faithfully mails to us. We send a few items home that we no longer need. We need to add items to the supply box, so we go grocery shopping. We also buy a few items to curb our appetites while in town. Some of the in-town foods we almost always buy are cheese & crackers, yogurt & pretzels, peanut M'n'M's, bananas, oranges and Coke. This saves us from eating out for every meal. *Loading up on good food is key! You'll find hikers searching town for pints of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. We walked along a highway and under a freeway to get to the All You Can Eat buffet at Shoney's Thursday night, along with 7 other hikers. The waitress had trouble clearing the empty plates fast enough! We tend to take a toll on the continental breakfast supplies at the hotels where we stay too. *Hotel and hostel stays are times for reunions! As people take a day or two off, groups of hikers converge in town. We're quite certain that hotels near the trail keep rooms apart for hikers, since when you get any amount of hikers in the same room with all their gear (there were four of us the first night, two of us the second, and 3 of us the third), the stench is impressive! The lawns or balcony railings were covered with tents and sleeping bags airing out in the sun. Room doors are often open as friends come and go. And, eventually we do all get a chance to take a shower and the smell isn't as bad! *Resting the feet and sleeping soundly are a highlight! We close the curtains so the sunlight can't wake us up like it does while we are in the woods. We try not to walk a huge amount, although today was unusual. The trail here goes between two parts of town, and we decided to walk the inbetween part on this day off (1 1/2 mile), so that we could be a little ahead of schedule when we start again tomorrow. The walk was great to do without packs on, and we needed to get out and "blow the stink off" anyway (to put to use one of my favorite "Wheatonisms"!). *Star Wars impacts the hiking community too! A number of hikers gave up some rest for the sake of seeing the new Star Wars movie. There was a frenzied search for rides, and we didn't quite secure a spot. We figure we'll try to see it on another break farther north. *Journaling, reading, backrubs, CNN, the weather channel, phone calls, writing postcards, updating our website, giving and receiving back rubs, taking naps... all these are also good things about days off. I still have a few items on that list to attend to, so I'm going to close now!