Date: 2005-05-14
To: Trail Days
Miles today: 0.0

It rained all night on Friday night. Saturday I got up, cleaned up, and headed down to Oakie's campsite. Oakie arranged a ride for us into town so we headed out for breakfast. Tried to wake Rain Man, but he was still snoozin. We had breakfast at Cowboy's and headed over to Dot's to meet up with the Whiteblaze folks at 10 am. Unfortunately, Dot's was closed so the group went across the street to chat at The Barn. I met Baltimore Jack, Lone Wolf, Skittles, Rancid, Sgt. Rock and Attroll again, and a slew of other folks who's names are escaping me right now. Oakie wanted to get back to the park and I kinda wanted to see the talent show, so we made quick time of the introductions and headed back to the other side of town.   I didn't catch much of the show, but I did see Domino do his "Mindless Switchback" routine. It was hilarious. When it came time for the hiker parade, we headed up the Virginia Creeper trail to where the hikers were congregating. On the way, some local boys started an early assault on us hikers and nailed a few of us with water balloons. Check out the photo page. The hiker parade eventually got rained out. Did I tell you it rained alllll weekend? But that didn't stop the hikers, they still marched down main street, rain or not, and had a free for all. The locals and the hikers make war of water balloons and water guns, all the way down main street. It's a riot to watch.After the onslaught was over, we had lunch at the local fire department. They put on a big hiker feed, bbq chicken with all the fixins. We donated to the cause....Back at the campground, later that night, we had decided to go 'promenading' around the campground. So, with umbrellas in hand, we sauntered through the mud and puddles. Poptart, who I met Friday at the park, walked up and invited us to a grill-out at his campsite. I asked what he was grilling and I heard, come out of his mouth, two words that I never dreamed I'd hear in Damascus, Virginia. He said "Lupo's Spiedies." Now for those of you not in the know, Lupo's Spiedies can be gotten fresh in one and only one place in this country, and that is in Endicott NY. The family Lupo, started this little food stand decades ago, and they sell this marinated meat shish-k-bob like meal. It is to die for. My husband is from this town and that is how I came upon this delicacy. It isn't sold outside of about a fifty mile radius or so of the tri-cities. Turns out, Poptart is from Vestal, one of the tri-cities. He said the minute he said Spiedies, my eyes got big as saucers and lit right up. That's when he leaned in with a knowing grin on his face and informed me it was .....Lupo's spiedies. I couldn't believe my luck. He told us where his campsite was located and he'd be there in about 20 minutes. An hour later, we finally found him (check out tent city) and I helped skewer the meat. He even had Italian bread to go with it. Just as we were putting the first skewers on the grill, the heavens opened up and it came down it buckets. Everyone that was milling about dove for tents, and there we were, the four of us, standing over the grill with our umbrellas over the spiedies. Not another soul in sight, and we just stood there watching them cook and keeping them dry. It was well worth it......The rain put a damper on the drum circle that night and we dodged raindrops by jumping into my Dodge. The next day we said our goodbyes early. Rain Man and I headed back to Nashville, Okie back to Oklahoma, and SaxyLady north on the AT. SaxyLady has it the best by far. I look forward to hiking through this little town again when I do my section.