Date: 2013-05-02
From: Campsite ~ 2 miles before Damascus

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 2.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Good afternoon dear readers,The lovely Nero day today makes writing in the afternoon possible! Ahhh, what a simply fantastic nap I had - we're staying in the cabin at the Victorian Inn B&B, which is actually more like an in-law apartment above the garage. It's simply fantastic - 2 bedrooms, a great living room, full kitchen, amazing bathroom, and the most comfortable bed I've slept in yet on the trail. All for a great price, other hikers I strongly recommend staying here, Linda and Jerry keep the place, and the gardens up marvelously! We were up early, anticipating both getting into town and the breakfast we would soon have. A quick 2 miles later amidst the awakening forest, so lovely, and we were posing at the "welcome to Damascus" sign for pictures. The locals are so friendly - we immediately got suggestions on where to get breakfast. Walking through small town USA, it was so strange, yet reassuring that life does go on outside of the trail, to see parents waiting for the school bus with their kids, people mowing their yards, etc. We lingered over breakfast and saw many other hikers, Cookie and Wolfie included! Many pushed to get into town yesterday, so I'm so thankful OB thought to call to make a reservation. Many are zeroing today and heading out tomorrow. Since we couldn't check in until 10am, we swung by the post office to pick up my boxes, one with the other packs - yea!!! The post office clerk said someone loved me a lot to overnight the boxes to me - thanks again Mom & Dad!! When I opened the pack box, I immediately grabbed up my Osprey pack and hugged it to me, sniffing joyfully. Now, please understand that my current pack, after soaking in my sweat for 6 weeks, smells more dreadful than you can imagine. I've used both other packs before, but they looked (and smelled) so NEW in comparison! *happy, contented sigh*. Granted, I still need to pack all my current worldly belongings in each of them and test them out, but there is no way I'm carrying "Big Ole Blue" any longer. Headbones was nice enough to do the laundry while the aforementioned napping took place, then it was off the mile round trip walk to Food City for resupply and Pizza Plus for lunch. I do so live their salad bar! I loaded up on fruits and veggies for the zero tomorrow, I'm so craving things that should be fresh and crunchy A wonderful "last dinner" at the Old Mill with the guys, the food and conversation were each excellent! Such mixed feelings about zeroing tomorrow - on one hand I know I need the rest as I've been feeling really worn out pretty much all day long, not just during my weird afternoon slump and the last mile of the day. On the other hand, it's heart wrenching to separate from the guys. You know you're a thru hiker when.....On the way back from dinner and our quest to find an ice cream cone for dessert (have I mentioned recently how much I love being able to eat anything I want in towns? If we count calories out here, it's to worry we're not getting enough!) we stopped at the Dollar General to pick up a few things. OB had purchased a package of toilet paper, but the kicker came when we were walking down the Main Street, and he yells out to some other hikers, "hey, you good for TP?" Now, anywhere else people definitely wouldn't understand this (we don't need to carry more than a roll at a time) and might even find someone they didn't know yelling at this to be offensive! However the other hikers didn't bat an eyelash before yelling back they were all set but thanks. A few moments later OB, Headbones and I looked at each other, realized how *weird* that was, and cracked up! Ohh, the life of a hiker..... I swear l'll still be "civilized" at home, Mom!