Date: 2005-06-02
From: Catawba, VA

To: Troutville, VA
Miles today: 21.3

Up at 6:15 and looking forward to a breakfast from the Catawba Valley General Store. We stayed dry in the feed shed that night, not so for my friends in their tents. Though they were dry for the most part, their tents and anything left outside was saturated (It rained real hard). In fact it was still raining when Sleeveless and I hitched a ride to the trail. Hitch hiking with a female is always a sure thing (in my opinion). In fact we never even put our thumb out, she talked to a pick up owner and got us a ride right there in the stores parking lot.    Once back on the trail it was a slow miserable hike. Fog and trail conditions made for a long wet day. McAfee Knob was fogged in (as the picture shows) and there went another vista. I took a number of photos that day however, only a few came out.    Two towns were ahead of me and I chose the furthest one to stop at (Troutville). I wanted to walk through the town before stopping (as was my way of doing things). I am so glad I did. The trail was covered over with tall grasses and saturated in rain water (a low land section). My feet were soaked beyond description. I would not of wanted to do that piece first thing in the morning. Having soaked feet at the beginning of the day makes for a terrible hike. Blisters come easy and calluses flake off. Yuck! After a bit of a road walk I stopped in at the Comfort Inn. Nice place however, they did not have a laundry facility. I shared a room with Tomato Head and Sleeveless.       This brings up an issue or two that must be noted. Alarm clocks, mainly wrist watch alarms. If you are the type to use them on the trail, shut them off when you share a room. It is totally "not cool" of a fellow hiker to fail to do so. Sound like I had a bad experience? Well I did and my opinion is as such, not only should you shut it off but if you forget to do so, you should not lay there and let it beep for the entire alarm ringing period. Get up, turn it off, say your sorry and go back to bed. Another issue, taking a shower, take your shower and get out of the bathroom. Don't do your laundry in the tub while others are waiting to clean up. Do your laundry after all are clean, we waited for over an hour to do so. It was late and we wanted to go get supper. Some folk can be so inconsiderate, after all they are not the only one paying for the room. It was the end of a terrible day and I was on edge, it continued on in the morning with the alarm issue. I guess you learn who not to share the cost of a room with (mainly me). From that point on anyone I hooked up with I would ask them to shut off their alarm, please make the first shower short and volunteer to do their laundry with mine (even bath tub laundry). My way of trying to control the "ugly " part of being Bob.   Afterward (finally) we all went to a local buffet style restaurant (Shoney's I believe) and had a pretty good meal. Buffets are the way to go. Small portions of a wide variety of things, indeed a hiker's dream. Once you find the things you like the best then "go large". If you are spending the night in town then even better. Consume copious amounts of food, waddle your way back to the room, watch a little tube, lie there and digest. It does the body good.