Date: 2003-06-05
From: Niday Shelter

To: Catawba, VA
Miles today: 0.0

So today I¢m taking a zero ¢ not a complete zero day, I did do some miles. Woke up this morning feeling terrible and decided to hitch in with Smokey, Bandit, and Jim. Chuck and Gravy also came with us. It was an easy walk to the road then we walked another 2 or 3 miles down the road before we caught a ride on the back of a semi hauling a flat bed trailer. This was the most exciting hitch I¢ve had yet. He dropped us off at the convenience store where I made my resupply for the next couple days and bought myself lunch, a BLT with some milk and some chocolate ice cream for dessert. So the six of us spent most of the day lounging in the sun out side the store. If you can imagine six hikers sprawled out on their sleeping mats in the parking lot, it was pretty funny. After a while we had enough of the sun and move over to the shade tree at the Post Office. One of the blue blazers ended up giving us a ride over to the Homeplace where we sat around some more. I caught a ride with Del (a trail angel) over to the hostel so I could hopefully get myself a bunk before it filled up. There was nothing left so I dropped my pack off in the field to claim a tent spot and got a ride back with Del to the Homeplace. Between Joe, the owner, and Del, they made 3 or 4 trips dropping hikers off to eat. We had a table of about 25 and I think I knew only half of them. The Homeplace is awesome! For $12 we had all you can eat fried chicken, roast beef, BBQ, mashed potatoes, gravy, biscuits, pinto beans, green beans, coleslaw, and peach cobbler for dessert, all served family style. I don¢t think there was one of us that didn¢t walk out of there in pain from eating so much and I didn¢t even mind because it was so good. Once I got back to the hostel I checked with the owner about getting Chuck and myself a ride back to the trail in the morning. He said he could do it but we would have to leave at 5:45 am. That¢s a lot too early so chuck called his parents and his dad said he would take us around 9:00. Everyone just hung out talking the rest of the evening. Moxie and Crazy Talk decided they wanted to go back to the trail tonight so Two Dog and I got their spots in the bunkhouse. I should explain that it¢s not really a bunkhouse; the owner turned his 3-car garage into the hostel. On one side of the room there is a bunch of mats and cots and on the other side is a bathroom and sitting area. Between those sleeping inside and those tenting in the yard there are probably 30 people here. What a great night! When we came back from dinner Pipes mentioned something about when was my birthday and when I told her Sleepy Floyd started singing Happy Birthday and then Pipes joined in and before I knew it everyone in the hostel was singing. Even though it¢s no longer my birthday, it still felt great. The rest of the evening I sat around listening to Sleepy Floyd play the guitar. After a while we gathered around and started singing along. He¢s really good with the guitar. After a while T-Bird took over. She is also really good and I was lucky enough to have still been in camp this morning to hear her play a little before we all headed out. Pipes and T-Bird have such good voices. I wish I could sing like they do. I know I have to go back to make up the miles I missed but it was so worth coming in here today and being able to experience this. I¢m glad I did it.