Date: 2007-05-17
From: Abingdon Shelter, TN

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: clear sky

Last nite could not have been much worse. I mentioned part of my sleeping baggot wet. It was half of the draft collar, so I used the bag like normal, butfolded the top down, because I didn't want that wetness on me and my downjacket.Well, it got pretty cold. I ended up using several hand warmers and I sleptwith my head inside my Micropuff vest to keep my neck warm. I did not use myccf pad though, and was absolutely SHOCKED at the temp this morning. 41 degreesin my hammock, 36 outside!! I don't think I would have been cold had I beenable to wrap my bag around me like normal.Now add to all of this about 20 people tenting nearby, all of the farts,belches, SNORING (I could NOT believe the snoring) and one day- hiker's freakincell phone that had a battery going dead, so it would beep loudly every 5minutes. Needless to say, I got very little sleep last nite, which put me in avery foul mood this morning. I also had totally soaked everything to figure outhow to pack up, and everything was filthy from the dirt and mud. God, if thiswere not a town day, I probably would have thrown all my gear over the hill andsaid screw it.Got up @ 6:00 a.m., and decided against putting my soaked cold hiking clothes onfrom yesterday. I have a pair of shorts (the "underwear" Persistent accused meof wearing to the Chinese buffet in Erwin LOL), my orange rain pants, longsleeved shirt, knit cap, and micropuff vest. I looked so cool today! LOLI wrapped all my wet clothes in my rain jacket and stuffed it in my soaked pack.So I've made a decision about the importance of keeping stuff dry.a. Silnylon pack covers do nothing for keeping things dry. I think myparticular pack cover is just too thin and it soaks thrub. Trash compactor bags although they work, are too easily puncturedc. I am going to purchase a Sea-to-Summit dry sack for my sleeping bag, and I'mgetting a big one to use as my inner pack liner. Really thinking about notusing a pack cover at all. Everything gets wet with it anyways.So today was a HUGE day. We made it into Virginia!! The stateline was about6.2 miles away, and I moved at my normal slow pace. I felt like the lack ofsleep really affected my body's ability to heal itself last nite. My foot wasfeeling pretty achy from yesterday's long hike. I've decided to go see a doctor in Damascus, and if I'm told to take a week off,I will. I'm pretty bummed to find out my friend Buckles is off the trail due toinjuries, as is Blissful. It's obvious that injuries are probably the biggesthike-ending cause, and I know these 2 people were every bit as dedicated anddetermined to thru-hike as I am. I suppose worst case scenario is I take the time to heal, come back and and ifI'm running out of time, hop further up, continue north and then come back andfinish the section I skipped. It's not my ideal situation, but I think I needto be open to other "ways" of doing this and not get hung up on semantics. We'll see what happens though. I'm 100% for sure I am not going to be told I"can't" hike anymore, but I'm almost as sure that if I'm putting Maine as thepriority over my body's health, it could turn into something much more seriousand possibly end my hike or just make everyday a miserable pain-filled day, andwhat's the point if you aren't enjoying this?So, at 11:06 a.m., I hiked into Virginia! Persistent was there waiting on me,as were two trail angels who thru-hiked last year. They gave me cookies andmade me a triple-decker peanut butter and jelly sandwich!! (wait till you seethe pics of this one)Then it was off to Damascus, a 3.8 mile hike away. It was a cool day, but thesun was out, so it warmed up eventually. The terrain going into Damascus isprobably the most level we'll ever encounter. Pretty nice way to enter the 4thstate!We both got to civilization and just plopped down on the grass trying to figureout where to go. Jelly Bean (our trail angel from Stechoa Gap) showed up and had been out for a quick hike herself. We decided to do town chores first, then try to figure out how to get toAbingdon, a town 15 miles away, where the Super 8 is. Tents were going up, gearpeople were setting up too, in preparation for Trail Days.I ran into Ed Speers, maker of the awesome Speer Hammocks and super nice guy. Iwent up to him, and he actually remembered my name from attending his hangoutlast Fall in Hot Springs, NC!After socializing with tons of people while walking down main street, we finallyfound the laundry. Both of us needed to wash everything, so we had to do 2loads (I later discovered I forgot to wash my sleeping clthes...DOH!). Meanwhile, I walked down to the PO and got my next set of maps and guidebooksection my mom mailed out.On my way back, I was walking down the sidewalk, and this guy sitting on a benchwith his friends, randomly handed me an ice-cream bar! (I'm thinking I musthave had that lustful look in my eyes when I saw them eating them, and he feltsorry for me LOL).When I got back to the laundry, C-Shots awesome mom, Diana, was there! Sheasked how I was doing, and how my foot was, and I rolled my eyes and said ok. You're not going to believe what she did next. She's a NursePractitioner\University Professor, and she offered to do some energy work on myfoot. I said I'd love that (totally thinking sometime tomorrow or something,AFTER I showered).She pulled up 2 chairs, told me to sit down, she grabs a clean t-shirt of herson's (that he's not using now) wets it and proceeds to start wiping down myfilthy not-washed for 5 days disgusting foot! She put some lotion on my footand starting rubbing it and doing energy techniques. This is all happening inthe laundrymat by the way! LOL I could not believe she was so willing to offer help on the spot, much lesstouch my disgusting feet! And if that's not enough, she goes across the streetand gets a cup of ice @ the gas station, and ices my foot down! Her generosity did not end there. After our laundry was finished, she drove usto the Italian place to get a to go order, she picked up her husband, Joe, andthey drove us to Abingdon to our motel!! Seriously, I'm still shocked and feltlike crying when we had to tell Joe and Diana goodbye. Just awesome people, andthey are so dedicated and "in" to their 2 sons. So cool to see that.So we're checked into our room now, got all the gear out, and we devoured ourfood. I'm icing my foot as ordered by Diana, and we're both anticipating theseason finale of Grey's Anatomy that is on tonight.We thought Fuzzy Monkey was going to share the room with us, but he hasn'tshowed up yet. Oh, when I was walking back from the PO, I ran into Upload andStitches, who thru-hiked last year! I used their journal a lot for mypreparation, so that was pretty cool to meet them.I was feeling really down today. Just feeling like the next momentum stopper(my foot) is upon me. I told Persistent tonight that she needed to startfocusing on her own hike (not that she hasn't, or that she wouldn't) but Iwanted to make sure it was clear that there are no expectations of us stayingtogether, especially since my foot is acting up. Besides, she's got asemi-deadline in her head that fits more into the 6-month plan, and I've neverhad any intention of doing this in 6 months unless it just happened naturally. I figured I'd need an extra month. She also has to go home for at least 10 daysin August, and I was initially planning on doing that with her if we were stilltogether, but doubt I'll be able to if I have to take time off to heal. Lately (as in the past week) I've been feeling a need to be alone out here (it's been a difficult week for me and I tend to have a need to withdraw so I'll have the energy to deal with the situation at hand). I knew this day would comeeventually, and it is 110% about my personal inner journey that I'm on. I know if Persistent and I ever split up, we'll miss each other a lot, but she's just as capable and independent as I am, so I don't worry about her. It's great to have that type of hiking partnership with someone. No stringsattached.I also felt very frustrated today, because I feel like I took the advice ofthose who have been there before me. I took it slow (basically, it has taken me2 months to do what most do in 1 month) I have taken a lot of zeros to rest ,and yet, I'm still being plagued with an "over use" injury. They say this hike is 10% physical, 90% mental. That's sort of true, but manytimes the mental challenge is being able to deal with your physical ailments outhere. The mental challenge comes from dealing with all of the hiccups and obstaclesthat prevent you from hiking--the momentum stoppers. You want nothing more thanto just hike, but all of these "things", be it home issues, physical issues,gear isues, or the baggage you brought out here with you, keep hopping in yourpath. Psychologically, it is easy to start focusing on all of the things preventingyou from hiking, instead of focusing on just how far you've already come (459.5miles baby!). Eventually, you start entertaining the idea that it just isn'tpossible anymore, and then you quit. Granted, there are people with suchintense injuries they absolutely can not hike, but I fall into the othercategory of having to keep myself focused on the right thing.I do not feel like quitting at all. I know that taking on something this hugerequires patience and flexibility, which are not two of my strongest traits. Iknow that the expectations I brought into this can serve to bite me in the ass(like expecting to have few problems as long as I take it slow). And I alsoknow that nothing great has ever been accomplished without persevearance, andthat is one of my strong traits luckily.I remember writing about fear of the unknown in one of my prep entries. I amfacing that right now with my foot. I do not know if I'll need to take timeoff, I do not know if\when I do, how hard it will be to start hiking again, andhave to recondition myself all over again. I don't know any of this, and it'sthese very things that make a person choose what they do know, because it feelssafer. Quitting and going home would be so easy. I have a loving partner, 3 greatcats, friends, and they would all welcome me home without judgement. That's notme though. So even if I'm told to take 2 weeks off, I'll go home, rest,recover, and find my way back to the mountains, long hard climbs, dirt, sweat,bugs, pouring rains, beating sun, and all those great trees I've yet to hangfrom. This journey, if you're paying attention, can be about a lot more than justhiking 2175 miles. I am glad to have the opportunity to face some of my fears.It is not easy, but it is what I came out here to do. ~Certain