Date: 2003-04-29
From: Atkins, Va.

To: Knot Maul Shelter
Miles today: 13.7
Weather: light rain

This morning, my feet staged a rebellion. When it came time to move into my shoes, they set up a chorus of howls: "No, no! Not the shoes! Don't cram us in there!" They don't like these new shoes as much lately, which are now bruising/blistering the bunion and toe area. I explained to them that shoes were a necessary evil, that a worse fate would befall them if I went barefoot. But the feet were having none of it. They went into a serious sulk.I limped toward the local restaurant for an early breakfast and cuppajoe. I still had to go to the post office to mail off my "film", and Notes was mailing some gear home. Halfway there, a car swerves over to the shoulder and a Tommy Lee Jones look-alike pulls over and asks if we need to go to the post office. Mind-reader? No, it's Jim Love, enterprising owner of The Atkins Diner. The deal: we breakfast at his place, we get a free ride to the PO and grocery store. A win-win. Deal."Your feet hurt?" he asks as I hobble over. Uh, yeah, a little.After an excellent pancake breakfast, we launch the day's hike.And then it starts to rain. Hard!Sigh.There is a saying on the AT: "No rain, no pain, no Maine." Well, two out of three ought to count for something...If it's raining, we must be on the AT. Well, there it is, rain. Off we go.I remember saying that I would give some thought as to why I, the Comfort Princess, and everyone else out here, is persisting despite foot pain, knee pain, chafing, poison ivy, vomiting flu, sore backs and shoulders, bruised footbeds, plantar fasciitis and tendonitis... have I forgotten anything? Oh, too cold, too hot, too wet, smelly clothes, running out of toilet paper, only ramen noodles left in the food bag, etc.I have been remiss. I promise to get right down to the pondering. Answer tomorrow.Coming into town is such a joy, with a light foodbag and downhill miles and the anticipation of serious high-cal food. Walking out of town is more of a chore, with a heavy foodbag and an uphill climb out of the gap or valley.This morning I am carrying a full six days worth of food, the most since the Smokies. Do I notice the difference? Oooof! My feet voice their opinion. I scan my memory, mentally selecting the heaviest items in my food bag upon which to dine tonight.The terrain has gotten more rolling though, and I notice my heart and lungs keeping pace with the climbs. The climbs are tougher today - Virginia has been easier on us lately. Now, the honeymoon is over.Snappy and Puff-Puff join us in the fields right out of town. We walk through pastures, and then a board walk through a swamp. The story I heard was that this was a former beaver pond, and the resident beaver, Bucky, took it into his head to go check out the railroad tracks. After Bucky's demise, the dam fell into disrepair and the stream reclaimed its channel.The pastures give way to woods and mountains. One climb is so steep that we gasp looking up, stairs climbing skyward. These are only 3300 foot "bumps", but we start low, and switchbacks are few.Puff-Puff and I are laboring up the last fifty feet, when Snappy suddenly starts sprinting up the steep staircase. Surely, he will crash and burn, he can't keep it up. We are in awe, cheering and singing the theme music to "Rocky." He crests the top stair and pumps his arm.If I did that, my lungs would explode into pulpy pink bits and froth.The woods turn back to mountain high pastures, and cattle dot the green hills. This is Earl Shaffer country, the rural hill farms he loved to traverse. The early AT ran through more rural routes back when pioneer thru-hiker Earl first hiked the AT in post-WW2 America.Today, the stile Olympics: we cross maybe 10 of the ladder-like coops over pasture wire. We stop at a road near the area called Ceres, an apt name for a fruitful farming community, and rest under a big oak spreading across the country lane. The official AT 1/4 mark, mileage-wise, is here. We're working on our second quarter of the Trail now.Today is also the apple blossom festival. Fence lines, orchards and lanes all sport apple trees in various stages of blossom. We pass many limbs peppered with lime green leaves and little pink balls, some already opening to white blossoms. Bees dart about industriously. The smell is pure spring.Some of the Trail cuts through pastures of steers, or cows. One cow travels along the Trail in front of us for quite a ways while her herd mates drift below- a thru-hiking cow. Notes takes off and I hike the remaining miles on my own. The White Brothers and Drifter were there, along with "Spruce Grouch," or Tom, an acquaintance from the AT-L internet hiking list. He's also with the Green Mountain Club, and asks me why I didn't apply for my Long Trail completion patch. I promised him I would.Snappy and Puff-Puff come in and build a fire; Notes crashes, and soon the rest follow suit. I sit by their fire a bit and chat, as I journal.Now I am sleepy. Good night.