Date: 2015-06-25
From: David Lessor Shelter 

To: Harper's Ferry, WVA
Miles today: 9.0

Sleep last night was impossible. Between having trouble getting comfortable and anxious to get home I slept in fits and starts. I bet only about 20 minutes at a time. When I checked my watch at 4:45 am I decided to go ahead and get up. The 5:40 am start was by far my earliest.On the trail I was flying. The first three miles were super fast for me at close to 3 mph. Easy terrain and desire to be home for sure was the reason. With less than 4 miles to go and we'll before the 12 noon estimated arrival time, I ran into Foo, A guy that I met in Shenandoah. In fact he was a guy Ben Jolly had advised to seek medical help for an infected bug bite back in the Shenandoah. For some reason the two of us hit it off well. I had last seen him at the Big Meadows Lodge when there with Sandahl, Jeff and Aubrey. He was there after having seen a doctor in Luray.He was recuperating well. He's much faster than me but on this day I kept up with him. We stayed together until the outskirts of Harper's Ferry where he finally pulled ahead.Crossing the Shenandoah River and entering Harper's Ferry was nice. I have now hiked almost 1023.2 of the AT. 553.2 of that this journey in Virginia and West Virginia. The trail takes you right into the heart of historic Harper's Ferry. Here the Appalachian Trail Conference main office is located off a side trail. Absolutely everyone goes there. When I arrived about 40 hikers, most of whom I knew or at least recognized were congregated. Packs lined the sidewalk out front and hikers crowded the lounge inside. Here everyone is photographed and recorded by number, either as a section hiker or thru hiker. Unfortunately I did not commit my number to memory. It was in the 380 realm however.Here at the ATC office my busyness began. I needed to pick up a mail drop, head to Econo Lodge to check in, pack some gear back into the box Cathy sent stuff in, and then get back to the PO to mail before closing. And of course I also wanted to spend some time with friends before we parted ways.Having arrived well before Bad Hat and Mr Magoo, I had lunch with Ma'am, Sunshine, 4B and two others. After lunch it was back to motel for napping and securing gear for travel home. Cathy had sent travel clothes so I had fresh stuff. I visited with Bad Hat and Mr Magoo when they arrived and we said our good byes as they were not joining the rest of us for dinner in the historic old town area. Besides dinner there I needed to check out where I needed to come early tomorrow morning to catch the commuter train to DC. Dinner was at Private Quinn's Pub. By the time we left the motel Ma'am's family and a friend of Sunshine ' had arrived for a visit. Good news because they had cars and it was raining. The walk there would have taken 20 minutes. We parked right at the train depot where I wanted to be at 5:25 am tomorrow. At Quinn's we chose to eat on the deck under a makeshift tent of table umbrellas to ward off the intermittent drizzle. It was sort of a fitting end to my hike symbolic of having lived outside for most of two months. Still hungry as if e had not already had a town meal, we ordered appetizers to share with drinks. For my dinner I had a crab cake sandwich with potato cakes. A quick stop at Walgreen's on the way back to the motel, a quick goodbye to friends, and it was to bed for me. I will rise early tomorrow to begin the long journey home.Blessngs,