Date: 2009-05-02
From: Damascus, VA

To: Damascus, VA
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Took a while to fall asleep last night, because my feet would not stop hurting. Ugh. I woke at six as usual and took a shower and soaked my feet again. They are feeling a little better this morning. I went down for breakfast at eight and it was out of this world!! Cissy made Paula Dean's Praline French Toast, scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns, fresh fruit and a wonderful breakfast dessert. I ate so much! Actually, I ate a third of the praline french toast all by myself and most of the bacon and hash browns. I also asked for a second serving of fruit. Ha! They take the leftovers to Dave's Place, a hiker hostel, but they didn't have much to take to them today. Oops! I thought they were just kidding when they said they took the leftovers there. After breakfast I went to the outfitters for shoes. Jeff, the owner of Mount Rogers Outfitters, took care of me. I didn't take my old shoes with me, so he sent me to go get them. He wanted to make sure I needed new shoes and not just new insoles. When he checked out my shoes, he decided that yep I needed new shoes. Ha. He sized my foot and said I have wide feet and very high arches. He doctored up some Superfeet insoles for me and for the first time ever my arches feel support. It feels weird as I've never felt anything on my arch before. He spent a couple of hours with me, which I greatly appreciated, to help fix my feet. I so hope that these new shoes and insoles help my poor feet. After that lunch. I went to Quincy's and had a good hoagie and then back to the ice cream place for a chocolate sundae. Man am I stuffed. Ha. I took a short nap in the afternoon and made some phone calls on the house phone. I don't have cell service here either. Ugh. I didn't do much this afternoon, just relaxed. Met with Tanglefoot for dinner and we went to a family style dinner. Excellent down-home, southern food. We had a choice of three meats and we picked Chicken 'n Dumplings, Pot Roast, and Country Ham. Then we had mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, green beans, baked apples, soup beans, cole slaw and biscuits. For dessert I had blackberry cobbler. I was very happy with dinner. I know I've gained at least a couple pounds back with all the food I've eaten today. Only two of the restaurants in town serve alcohol and only beer. There is a city ordnance that they can't sell wine; however, you can buy wine from the convenience stores. Strange laws they have here. Now the selection isn't very large, but Tanglefoot bought some of those little bottles of White Zinfandel. We brought it back to the place I'm staying and we sat on the front porch and watched the world go by. I was up past dark which is simply amazing. Ha. I did notice that my body is adjusting to the cooler temperatures I'm living in every day. It was 65 out and I was sitting outside with just a long sleeve shirt. I'd have said it was way too cold to be sitting outside back home in Texas. I wore my new shoes to dinner and my feet are still way swollen and felt very cramped and uncomfortable. I am trying to decide whether I should take one more zero to give them just a little more time. There is 80% chance of thunderstorms all day tomorrow which may effect my decision in the morning. I hate to take another zero, but I'm trying to make the right choice for my feet which could effect the outcome of my hike. On the other hand, will taking one more day off really make a difference?I've seen a lot of other hikers in town that were ahead of me and behind me. Good thing I haven't seen any of the hardcore party animals. Yeah! I'll let you know tomorrow whether I'm hiking out or not. Only time will tell. Either way, I'm looking forward to breakfast here at the bed and breakfast.