Date: 2016-07-19
From: Blackburn ATC Center

To: Appalachian Trail Conservancy / Teahorse Hostel 
Miles today: 11.9
Weather: broken clouds

A funny story from last night - When you're immersed in a culture and lingo, you take for granted that people know what you're talking about. There's a lot of AT jargon and the longer you're out, the more you pick up, the more you add to the lexicon.Last night we were all around the picnic table and The Counselor was discussing his brown blazing. The DC woman said, "Oh, I follow my husband every time he brown blazes." And then she smiled sweetly.Everyone sort of stared at her."'Brown blazing' means going to take a dump," I said quietly.hahaha!!!! We all lost it. They laughed too. I'm not sure what she thought it meant, but definitely not that!I was first out of camp this morning - I usually am. Which is so weird to anyone who knows me. I just wake up, do my thing, follow the same pattern every morning, and I'm good to go. Perhaps the Trader Joe's coffee packs help. :-) Thanks Mom!We crossed a long bridge over the Shenandoah today - awesome, but very, very hot. Straw and Atlas have long sleeves to protect their skin. Me, I don't have sun protection, so I have the world's most ridiculous tan. There are white strips of untanned flesh at my elbows, since my arms are always bent with the poles! And my scoop-necked shirt is also leaving a real awesome semi-circle tan line. And where did all these freckles come from? Last year I came out with a long-sleeved sun-protection shirt, but it was too hot and I ended up sleeping in it. Next year I'll have to figure out something for the Whites - no trees, full exposure. You sweat off sunblock and it's too heavy anyway.I was excited to get to ATC's headquarters. Really exciting! They keep photo books of all the 2,000 miler hikers, both section hikers and thru hikers. The color of the number indicates which you are.When I walked into the hiker room, I saw Brokeback again! This time with Moonshine. Later, we ran into PBS and his family. It's so weird, the roving community out here. It's so much more pronounced this year than last year. Once I met up with Straw and Atlas, we ate a lot of food, got to the Teahorse Hostel (named for the hiking trail in China), did laundry, and then Atlas and I played two games of Yu-Gi-Oh! (on a real table! With chairs! Like civilized people!). The other people on the hostel are mostly long distance cyclists. It's interesting to talk to people in a different crazy sub-niche. :-) A cyclist father was sitting at our table teaching his daughter chess, as Atlas continued to tutor me in the art of casting spells, setting traps, and summoning monsters with ridiculous punny names.I'm aware that I only have a few days of journaling left, so let me talk about Frankenlegs. It's pretty much a ubitquitous phenomenon among AT hikers. Basically, you're a hiking machine all day. You move constantly. And when you rest for 5 minutes or more, get off your feet...this happens. It's like your muscles all freeze up. You can't bend or flex anything. You hobble around like Frankenstein. It hilarious to see in town....smelly zombie-walkers stumbling around looking for beer and pizza. Or you walk into a restaurant okay, but then you can't get up to leave. Or you stumble to the door and gingerly ease your way down steps.To an outsider, it must make no sense. How can people who don't appear to be able to walk 10 feet...be able to hike up and down mountains? But it's just what happens. And it disappears almost as quickly as it comes on. My friend Tanya has seen this both years so far - me hobbling up and down her stairs, having to put both feet on each step and brace myself against the railing before attempting the next.At Tea Horse, I weighed my pack without food and water. Base weight: 18 pounds. Not bad! I'm just carrying a lot of weight in food. I don't feel the weight really anymore. Just the heat and inclines. The ATC actually had heat warning signs up. The air feels heavy, muggy. It sucks energy from you.It's so hard being in great shape, being easily able to keep pace with thru-hikers....and knowing that I'll be getting off soon, will lose it, and will have to get it back. But at least I know I can get it back. And it takes about 2 weeks. :-)