Date: 2004-06-27
From: James River Foot Bridge

To: Waynesboro VA
Miles today: 767.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Gather is back in the saddle again (on the trail) we drove from Asheboro NC to Glasgow VA east to the James river foot bridge which is 678 feet long (nice bridge) We stopped and bought three biscuits for him to take along, I should have bought 6 because he ate the three on the way. I dropped him off at the trail at 1 pm today June 27th. Gather said he needed to make 10 miles to the Punchbowl Shelter.Actually we drove to Catawba VA to the 4 Pines Hostel first to drop off a package for Slimer (Jorma), you guessed it his sleeping bag and a Tarp I picked up Sat from Blue Ridge Mountain Sports from the Underdog. We then drove from Catawba VA to Glasgow then on the the James river bridge where I dropped Gather off.While at the 4 Pines Hostel we met Batty who had thru hiked three years ago, I explained to him Slimer was expecting the package to show up at the Post Office in Catawba, but his sleeping bag he mailed back just showed up (we thought it was lost) well ol Batty took us to where the trail crossed and we walked about 100 yards Southbound, he placed a sign on a tree so Slimer would see it telling him his package was at the 4 Pines Hostel. Batty even came up with material, 4 small nails, and a gallon zip lock bag to protect it against the weather. He also had a small hammer, what things people carry around with them.I also left a msg for Slimer to pull out the 4 small nails and take down the message so as not to de-face the tree or leave trash, hope he see's the message, if not he will walk the extra 6 miles to the Post Office to find out it's not there then he will call in and I'll tell him it's 3 more miles to the 4 Pines Hostel where I left the package.On the way to Glasgow I got to thinking, I didn't remember seeing a place to resupply in Catawba, and Slimer will have been on the trail 4.5 days from Pearisburg.I dropped Gather off and backtracked back toward Catawba VA, got into Roanoke VA and stopped at the Kroger store there and bought a box full of junk for Slimer to eat (Gather made me a list on the way to drop him off) anyway a nice gentleman at the Kroger store gave me a banana box to put all the junk in , ended up with $78.00 worth of food, felt like it weighed 30 lbs. Oh well what he doesn't want he can leave in the hikers box at 4 pines Hostel. I then drove all the back to 4 Pines stopping along the way several times where the trail crossed in hopes I might see the Slimer, no such luck. Dropped off the goodie box at 4 Pines, met Joe the owner, Joe was a very nice person he was in the basement slapping mud on sheetrock. Said he was getting married in two weeks and had to have the room finished and painted by next Wednesday. Wished ol Joe luck (he's gonna need it).On the way out of Catawba I stopped at the General Store / Hardware Store across from the Post Office, thats what makes up the town of Catawba or I missed the town (kinda like Pisgah where I live) . Talked to a nice Lady there, she said if Slimer gets mixed up and stops by the Post Office first she will make sure he gets a ride to 4 Pines to get his goodies. You meet wonderful people every where you go.When the Slimer and Gather call in I will give you folks an update,,,,PS: On the trip miles, rather than go all the way back and average I just plugged in the total miles, looks funny but maybe I can keep up with it from now on.