Date: 2009-05-14
From: VA611

To: Wapiti Shelter
Miles today: 17.3
Weather: scattered clouds

May14 --I am in my tent listening to hopefully the end of a passing shower at the Wapiti Shelter gaining strength for the ~17m charge into Pearisburg, VA tomorrow for a recharge, clean up, and mail drop which actually will be a mail bump to Cloverdale. I can forward the box unopened for no fee, and since I am heavy on food now, that is the plan. Today's weather was more seasonable, warmer and noticabley more humid. I awoke with almost no water so I postponed oatmeal until I got to the Jenny Knob Shelter after 3.1m. I didnt see too many on the trail just Mike, and a Korean guy who can speak about 3 words of English. Both are here tonight, Mike in the shelter with Gatorade and Dances with Woofie, a woman from Missouri. There were rumbles of thunder this afternoon so rain is no surprise. The light breakfast seemed to take my edge so I cooked up a batch at the shelter break and had a peanut butter loaded cinamon bagel to boot. I took a second lunch break at the Kimberly Creek Suspension Bridge, a big golden delicious apple and an 8oz block of Colby Jack, 'twas great. The trail offered no surprise today and again was a little bit of everything, woods, tall pine groves, rhododendrens, rocks, mud and late in the day followed Dismal Creek for miles, crossing it many times, at one point there were tall pines on the left in open spacing with knee to thigh high blueberry bushes and on the right was the edge of tall, deep rhododendrens with the Dismal Creek "sliding unseen beneath the trees" --from Grandchester Meadows, Ummagumma, Pink Floyd, a song that has gone through my head more than a few times in the past weeks. I have no need nor use for piped music, Ipods and such, because I have a catalog of 50 yrs from which to choose. Sometimes they replay for hours, but most times I hear what I want. The White Album is popular as is the entire Beatles catalog. What plays depends a lot on the pace, for example, during flat paths through open fields today, John Phillip Sousa was on automatic, I don't know where that came from, I've never owned his music. Uphills are tough, usually slower, heavier, usually blues plays, live Cream is good, Elmore James better. On long, steep uphills the music stops and the counting takes over, I count my steps, and usually stop walking and counting around 72, in a level, shady spot if possible. This is my regulator, I stop for a few seconds that I dont count, and then resume, that way I dont fo anaerobic and blow a gasket. In my old job I used to count time units of things in, for example, microseconds, nS, etc, to keep track and figure out what is going on. In my new job, I just count steps, or time between points using my stop watch. I hardly ever use the real time time watch unless someone asks me what time it is, but why would they want to know know that anyway? It doesn't take long to get organized on the trail, everything that I have is right here in my tent, I can't lose anything and in the morning it all, including the tent, gets stuffed bak in the pack in an organized fashion, and I carry it to the next place and do it again, and that's about what eveyone else does, I think, except for when we decend on towns like B-movie cowboys, or prospectors, who have been out on the trail and now want whiskey and women and get into fights, and after they blow their pay go back on the trail and do it again. I hear a voice in my head at least once everyday out here that says, "If the trail's good, keep movin'", like spurs in my ribs. This is indeed a great way to see America, a true pursuit of happiness.