Date: 2006-05-06
From: Pearisburg, VA, Rendezvous Hotel

To: Campsite under Oak Tree
Miles today: 11.9

Cell good.Yesterday and last night were just what the doctor ordered, or at least what I ordered. We got into town late morning, showered, and went to lunch. We ate at the Pizza Hut All You Can Eat [AYCE] Lunch Buffet. I had a big salad and lots of pizza that got washed down with lots of Pepsi. Actually I got full easily and had to stop long before the others. I'm a disgrace to the thru-hiker community when it comes to AYCE.When we left the Pizza Hut it was starting to rain out. Talk about good karma, we have a real roof over our head on a rainy day. Well, actually we had a little walk from the Pizza Hut to the motel. We ducked into the Dairy Queen and I had an ice cream cone and the others had Blizzards. We sat and watched the rain while enjoying our treats. When it slowed down, we walked back to the motel to complete our town chores - wash clothes, clean equipment, and check food for the next leg between towns.At dinner time we got a ride to a sports bar., I had the Yogi Berra sandwich - it was a reubin sandwich served with potato chips. Did I mention how full I was after lunch? Well I guess I was still full at dinner and the sandwich pushed the stomach walls out.After dinner Die Hard and I went to the Food Lion and bought a few items to bring our supplies up what we needed. This time I had to walk back to the hotel in the rain. It wasn't too bad knowing I had a warm room and warm shower, if needed, and dry clothes. Actually I didn't get that wet and only had to remove some clothes and dry my hair.I read for a while and went to sleep.I slept pretty good in a real bed. We awoke around 7:30 and got started hiking about 8:30am. As usual, the town was in a valley and the hiking is in the hills. We immediately had to hike uphill to reach the ridgeline. It wasn't too bad for me, as I'm no longer trying to catch up and I took it easy. The hiking for me was leasurely and nice without having to push hard. We reached the first shelter and stopped for lunch. Lunch was a bagel and New York Sharp Chedder cheese. The spring at this shelter was .4 miles away and the next source was 2 miles down the trail. We opted to tank up down the trail.My only bad thing was I left my sunglasses in the shelter and didn't remember until I was a few miles away. They are regular sunglasses, non-prescription, so they'll belong to the next person who picks them up. I haven't been wearing sunglasses, so I didn't miss having them on. Oh well, at least the first thing I've lost on this journey wasn't that important or that expensive.We're camping on a grassy hilltop with a beautiful view of the hills around us. I think we are going to see a beautiful sunset in a little while. Diehard and I are rested from our hike and very comfortable here. Both of us needed to stop early and not to overdo ourselves. We plan on not pushing too hard tomorrow and staying in a comfortable condition. We hear it might rain tomorrow - if it does, we have a rainy contingency plan; if not we move on.I called our former hiking partner Snowhoe this afternoon. He was on a boat fishing with a buddy - hope you caught one after we spoke. He says he misses the hiking, but he has a young family to take care of. He also said there's another Snowhoe due in September. Best wishes to you and Rabecca!Goodnight. Old Goat