Date: 2005-05-31
From: Pearisburg VA

To: Buffalo NY
Miles today: 0.0

Today I got up and had a shower before Stewie; T-Bone and I headed into town for food, the post office and laundry. We were going to walk into town until we could get a hitch but the man who takes care of the hostel came in the morning and gave us and couple other hikers a ride into town. We hit the post office first. Mostly because I was picking up my bounce box that would have extra cloths that we could wear while our laundry was washing. After collecting our parcels we headed over to throw our laundry in while we ate. Stewie looked kind of funny wearing my cloths, as he is about 9 inches shorter than I am. We went to the Dairy Queen for breakfast. The food was pretty tasty and not too expensive but we definitely got more bang for the buck at the Dairy King in Damascus. After breakfast I said goodbye to T-Bone and Stewie and I went back to dry our cloths. While we were hiking another thru-hiker, Britannica had put our cloths in the dryer and they were almost all dry when we got back. After the laundry was done Stewie headed out of town and I headed back towards the hostel for a zero day.I had decided to take a zero day in Pearisberg and then head home for off-trail commitments. I have to be back in Ontario on the 6th for a Gold Duke of Edinburgh¢s ceremony and I will be staying for university convocation on the 16th of June. I could have hiked a bit further up the trail but I didn't want to get stuck in a small town unable to get to public transportation.The Duke of Edinburgh's Award is an achievement-based award for young people around the world aged 14-25. There are five components to the award: physical fitness, community service, skill, expedition and residential. There are three levels, bronze, silver and gold, at each level you are required to make a larger time commitment. I have previously achieved the bronze and silver levels and last summer completed the gold level. Prince Edward of Great Britain (the Queen's youngest son) is going to be presenting the awards and since you can wait years for a member of the Royal Family to attend a presentation ceremony in your part of Canada; I felt that it was important enough to leave the trail. University convocation is ten days later and I figured that since I was travelling all the way back for the other event I might as well stay for it. I will be graduating with distinction with a B.Sc. (Eng.) in Biological Engineering.After saying so long to Stewie I headed over to the public library. Moe and Mystic were waiting outside for it to open. While we were waiting another thru-hiker, Montreal, who is from Montreal, came by to use the internet as well. I was able to catch up on e-mail and Canadian news. I love following current affairs, and to me not knowing what is going on in the outside world is one of the hardest parts of the trail. As I was leaving the library I saw Trash Barrel Carol and Hobo Joe.From the library I went over to the Subway to get lunch. I also got some candy bars for my sister. She has a chocolate bar wrapper collection. In Canada we call candy bars chocolate bars even if they are not necessarily made of chocolate. From there I went back to the hostel.The hostel was empty when I got there and without the commotion going on I was able to get a good look at the place. It really is a gorgeous hostel. The covered deck gives you a great view of the mountains and the lawn really is expansive. Inside there is also a shelf of books. I took my stuff upstairs and clamed a mattress.On the porch I ate lunch and sat down to write some post cards. The hostel caretaker came by with his dog to check on the place. We talked a bit and I told him about how I was heading home to Canada. He told me he could shuttle me into the Roanoke airport for 80 dollars or into Blacksburg to the Virginia Tech campus for 35 dollars. From there I could take the 'Smart Bus' for three dollars into the Roanoke airport.I thought that the Smart Bus sounded like a god idea and he said that he would find out the details of the bus and he could shuttle me there tomorrow. Just then a man came by the hostel looking to see if there was anyone that needed a hitch around town or to Blacksburg where he lives. He is a lawyer and whenever he is in the area he stops in to see if he can help any hikers out. He gave me a ride to the Virginia Tech campus and a little tour. He even phoned his wife at home to see what time the smart bus would be leaving to make sure that he wasn't leaving me in the middle of nowhere. He certainly is a trail angel. Before I started the trail I was really skeptical of 'trail magic' but the amount of good-luck and generous people that I have encountered in the past couple days really makes me appreciate all the help that I have been given. I could hike the trail without the help, but it makes everything go so much more smoothly. I hope that I will be able to pass on the good will and help to others.From the Roanoke airport I was able to get a taxi downtown that brought me right to the bus station. I was able to get a ticket that leaves Roanoke tonight and arrives in Buffalo tomorrow afternoon. Once I get to Buffalo I'll make my way to the Peace Bridge and then met my sister on the Canadian side. I'm going to stay with her most of the time that I am in Canada. I plan on hiking a section of the Bruce trail while I am away from the AT to try and keep my trail legs and to occupy myself. I hope to complete the southern section up to where I left of with my section hike last year. Hopefully I'll do a journal for that hike as well. There isn't much information on-line about the Bruce Trail, especially longer hikes, so it might help someone else out. I'm also planning on making a trip to MEC to get another pair of shoes and switch out some other gear. After a year of use and 600 AT miles my shoes are toast. I have been checking all the out fitters along the trail since Hot Springs for shoes but none had any in my size - women¢s 11. Of course there are a few movies and books that others on the trail have recommended to me that I would like to see/read. I might also do some internet research on the sections of the trail coming up.