Date: 2011-06-06
From: Fullhardt Shelter

To: VA 43/ Buchanan 
Miles today: 16.6

Day 77 - The Boy Scouts were planning to do 14 miles today so the leaders wanted them on the trail early. This suited me just fine as I was planning to do a similar number of miles and even though the humidity is high the temperature is much cooler in the morning. I actually slept in the shelter because the ground was wet from the rain the previous afternoon. This was probably a mistake because it was hot and muggy in the shelter plus the flying insects are out. I woke up at 5:35am and I was on the trail at 6:30am. It was humid but nothing unbearable at this early hour. The forecast was calling for Roanoke to be in the low to mid-90s today. At 11:00, after 8.3 miles of hiking I finally saw the Blue Ridge Parkway, this was one of my mental milestones. At 11:30am I crossed over the BRP at Taylor's Mountain overlook. The trail crosses back and forth over the parkway several times. At 12:20pm, I arrived at Harvey Knob overlook and decided to stop and lay down in the shade and rest for awhile. It was very hot and humid but I had been very disciplined in either drinking Gatorade or water every 15 minutes. I knew I needed to eat something but nothing I had sounded appetizing. Finally, I did force down some peanut butter and raisins. I took off my boots, socks and shirt and hung them all out to dry. I don't think I actually went to sleep but I did get off my feet for 2 hours. That afternoon, I continued until I arrived at VA 43 at 5:10pm. I was not totally pleased with the way the water sourced looked and I needed additional water to get to the next water supply, 5.4 miles away. Furthermore, I was tired as I had hiked 16.6 miles today. I knew I could not get to next water source today. So, I am standing on VA 43, the town of Buchanan is 5.0 miles down the mountain which is suppose to have restaurants and a bed/breakfast and the Peaks of Otter Lodge is up the mountain on the BRP. I elected to attempt to hitch a ride into Buchanan, with one slight problem, there is no traffic. Finally, at 5:30pm, I started hitching in either direction, whichever way a vehicle was going that was the direction I wanted to go. Finally, at 5:45pm, Mr. Anderson stopped and was going to Roanoke and he gave me a ride into Buchanan. Mr. Anderson was familiar with northeast Tennessee area and had relatives that worked at "the Eastman". I forgot to mention last week, that Ian, the EMS person, that his grandfather also worked at Eastman and his grandmother still lives on Kenmore Drive. After Mr. Anderson dropped me off, the fun started. All the restaurants that were listed in my guide were either out of business or closed on Monday. Twice, I walked up and down the main street of Buchanan attempting to find a place to eat. Burger King was the only place opened so my choice was easy. Next, where was I to stay? The German restaurant and bed/breakfast evidently was closed, so I headed to the James River. I knew that there was an outfitter there and I hoped he could help me. Dan, the owner of Twin River outfitter, was most gracious and told me I could set up my tent down on the river. This sounded good and worked out well. Even the close proximity of the railroad tracks was not a problem as there were only 2 trains to come through that night. I met Daydreamer, who was going to kayak from this spot to Buena Vista and cut off 21 miles off the AT. Dan was going to meet him in Buena Vista, get the kayak and give Daydreamer his pack. Additionally, I met Captain Ketchup, who had bought a canoe and he was going to paddle all the way home to Newport News. He had no idea how long it would take him. Over all, a good day, and I am at 741.5 miles total.