Date: 2006-05-07
From: TRIMPI SHELTER

To: MARION, VA
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: moderate rain

GOOD THINKING!In Florida, where we're from, it usually starts raining in the hot, late afternoons. Not so up here in Appalachian country. At 4 a.m., Mudflap was up putting a cover on his pack (I keep mine inside the tent to put my feet up on). Drat! Our nice little tent site was quickly becoming a mud hole. Double drat! We wanted to leave early to be the first hikers to use the solar shower at the next shelter. When you sleep in the shelter, your stuff stays dry so you can just up and leave when you want. That's what Opa, Banjo Man and Indiana did. When sleeping in a tent in the rain, you risk getting the inside of it wet if you disassemble it in the rain. So we waited. By 8:30 the rain let up and it was time to move. Early on, the trail took us through a beautiful green pasture (except for abundant cow pies). There is an abandoned old school bus in this field which we recognized from the "Trek" hiking video. We went over to take a closer look at it and take pictures. As I snapped my final shot, I wanted to deny what I knew I just felt on my cheek. NO! NOT MORE RAIN! Ugh! It would be another 9 miles to reach Partnership shelter. We have been looking forward to staying at this shelter since we left Georgia. Not only does it have a solar powered shower, there is a phone one-tenth of a mile past it. It is hiker tradition to order pizza and have it delivered here. We heard a rumor that one hiker stayed 16 days at this shelter because of these fabulous amenities! We hiked a little faster as the rain came down a little harder. Soon we came upon five men who were swiftly breaking camp. They called over to us "Do you want some cheese? We're going home to Ohio and don't need it." It had been an hour since breakfast and I was starving. "Sure, we'll take it." I did not hesitate. Next thing you know, they're unloading all kinds of stuff onto us. We scored some cookies, hot cocoa, cup-o-soup and even a stick of margarine! Oh yeah! I know just what to do with that margarine -- we can use it in our Stove Top stuffing! Good stuff. I devoured the pecan sandies after offering much thanks and we continued on through soggy weather.Once we started climbing up onto to the ridge, however, the wind and rain got worse. You could feel the temperature dropping by the minute. We caught up to Brains and Brawn who also left the shelter before us. They had already donned rain gear and suggested we do the same. "These are perfect conditions for hypothermia," Brawn warned. He was right. I hate taking my pack off in the cold because that's what keeps my back warm, but he was right. I had to do it. My fingers were already numb and I could barely undo the straps of my pack. Once I got the Precip jacket on, we practically ran up the trail with our packs on. The faster we move, the warmer we stay.We did those 9 miles in record time, struggled some more with numb fingers to get into dry clothes, then immediately got into our sleeping bags. Now I wish I hadn't sent my winter bag home yet. Brains and Brawn arrived shortly after we did. He was the only one out of seven of us at the shelter who wanted to try the solar shower. Brains still has her zero-degree down bag, the same model I sent back home, and she couldn't get warm in it. I couldn't get warm in my 20-degree bag either. I knew I would have to cook hot food in order to warm up but I did not want to get out of my bag. Mudflap wasn't volunteering either. Meanwhile, Brawn came up to the loft after the shower in a cloud of steam. It was pouring off of him. He said the shower was "almost too hot." Interesting, but I'm not gonna try it. Next, here comes Just Joan. She climbed up into the loft and sat on an upside down 5-gallon bucket. There she was in shorts; she had to be cold too. We discussed ordering pizza, but no-one wanted to go to the phone to order it. Then, Joan looked at us wimps shivering in our sleeping bags and asked matter of factly, "Why are you going to sit up here shivering in the cold for hours just to eat pizza when you could just as well use the phone to call a cab and go eat pizza in town?" God, I love rational people! Now, who's gonna volunteer to go out in the rain to call the cab? It was Brawn. What a good man! He came back in short order and announced the cabs would be here in 15 minutes. Let me tell you something, I bet you'll never again witness a bunch of hikers pack so fast. What usually takes at least an hour in the morning was accomplished in 15 minutes. The cabs were pulling up at the road just as we were running up boots in hand, equipment hanging off of us willy nilly.For $29 a night we got a room at the Roadway Inn with free hot breakfast in the morning...and Pizza Hut delivery service! Good thinking, Just Joan!!!