Date: 2005-05-09
From: Just inside PA

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Do you know a hiker named Bodnar?(occurred 4/06/05 in Pearisburg, VA)        I hadn't lost a single thing on this hike except for one water bottle cap, and that hadn't slipped away gently, unnoticed. It had fallen into the Elk River when I was collecting water, and it was swiftly carried away by the current. I didn't have a chance. On the other hand I've come across all sorts of gear that others had dropped or left behind, including backpack rain covers, tent poles, bandanas, air mattresses,and sleeping bags. But in town for a rest day and chores, this time I got sloppy. My first night staying at the hostel I met "Walk's Alone" and "Jay Bird", who were both hiking the AT. Walk's Alone was staying one night at the hostel and the next night downtown, since he was getting picked up early in the morning there for a flight out west to start the Pacific Coast Trail, which runs from Mexico to Canada. Coming into Pearisburg I had picked up a lighter weight sleeping bag that was waiting for me at the Post Office, and that afternoon I washed my winter sleeping bag and heavy winter clothing in preparation for mailing them back home the following morning. I was attempting to dry and fluff my winter bag in the wee hours of the morning near where the two men were sleeping outside. Walk's Alone, who had slept in the gazebo, was already awake and I had a good opportunity to talk to him as I worked, and after. As Walk's Alone and Jay Bird headed down into town, I was still packing up what I wanted to send back, so they left without me. I knew I might see them again at The Public Library, but I wasn't sure. Once at the Post Office, I set all of my things down on one of the back counnters and started organizing them. I had the box with the winter gear, old receipts and paper, a priority mail envelope, along with my tent and boot maintenance items that I was sending ahead to myself in Glasgow, VA, a fanny pack with my camera containing containing my smaller, unfilled memory card, wallet, compass, town map, etc. In yet another plastic bag was my larger, filled memory card holding almost 500 pictures, and my old guidebook pages listing where I was at what time, that I use for reference when posting photos in my journal. After mailing the two parcels, I collected my things and went to two places to try to get a haircut (both were closed), a store for Coleman fuel, The Dollar Store, another possible place to get a haircut (I was asking around), then back to the first two places (still closed).   After a couple of hours I got to the the library where there's internet access, and found that the bag with the camera memory card was missing; I could have dropped it anywhere. In case someone should find it, I wanted to report the loss to the police and asked the librarians where there they were located. They dialed the police for me and let me make the report that way. The police suggested I retrace my steps, but I told them I had been walking all over town, and even when I went back to some of the same places, it was by a different route. I was glad to have backed up the memory to CD just the day before at Wal-mart, but I found that something had gone wrong with that, and that alot of the camera files weren't on the CDs! I told the whole story to Walk's Alone, who was also on a PC in the library. He left before I did. I spent my time on the internet searching for a replacement memory card, but the place from which I wanted to buy one shipped 2nd day Fed Ex,and Post Offices will only hold packages that come by U.S. mail. So I placed the order but had it shipped to my sister's, Su's, address, and then asked her to mail it to me at the Glasgow, VA Post Office, where I'd mailed myself the priority mail package just that morning with the maintenance items inside.                I was discouraged that I had lost so many pictures. It was the worst thing that had happened to me thus far. But laying in my sleeping bag that night, I probably bothered the two women also staying there by wondering out loud if this will somehow work out, with the memory being found. So many things had gone my way so far. The things that I needed in order to keep going (or hoped for) seemed to appear or were offered to me. Maybe a half an hour later I heard a noise downstairs at the hostel and then heard someone coming up the stairs, wearing a headlamp. They wiggled my big toe through my sleeping bag. I sat up. They said, "No. 11, I found your stuff. It's at the Post Office." It was Walk's Alone. I shook his hand and thanked him profusely, and as quickly as he came, he left. One of the women reminded me that he was staying downtown tonight and that he probably had walked up into this hilly part of town, which would have taken me perhaps twenty minutes, and then had to walk back down again.        The next morning was my third time in that Post Office. The woman working there immediately recognized me and knew I was the one who had left something there. After Walk's Alone left, I realized I should asked him how he found my things. The woman at the Post Office said that she saw the plastic bag on the counter, remembered that I had been working there, knew that it was "hiker stuff", and saw my name and address on the guidenook pages. I din't get the whole story, but was told when Walk's Alone came into the Post Office she asked him, "Do you know a hiker named Bodnar?" He said that he might, though I didn't think I told him my last name. She said if I didn't come into the Post Offfice within a few days, she would have sent my things on to the Glasgow, VA Post Office and I would have been made whole about a week and a half later, or when I stopped in there. Thanks to Walk's Alone tremendous kindness, I had everything before I even left town. To those of you hiking the PCT, I hope you have had the good fortune to meet him.