Date: 2009-06-18
From: Lamberts Meadow Shelter

To: Daleville, VA
Miles today: 10.6
Weather: broken clouds

I didn¢t sleep well last night as I thought that I heard a dog barking in the distance. I really felt bad for Terra (Belinda and Audra¢s dog) being out there all by itself. As it was out in the woods for a month already, reality told me that almost all hope in finding the dog was lost. Bears, mountain lions, other hungry critters¢¦I woke up at 5:30 am and, after getting some water, eating some oatmeal, and gathering my belongings, I was out on the trail by 7 am. I was whistling on the trail for the dog when I saw this large ¢bug¢ flying towards me. As it approached, I saw that it was a huge wasp. Everything happened in slow motion, but the wasp must have gotten caught in my beard and it stung my upper right lip. It was excruciating pain and, thinking that it was still on me, I had to punch myself in the face a few times. Immediately, my lip became numb and it started to swell. I started having these strange chills down my spine; I knew that I did not have any allergies, but it was still a concern. My lip quadrupled in size with 30 minutes. I can¢t even imagine what people allergic to bees do out in the woods would do. I was still three hours and 10 miles away from town, so there was very little that I could do except maybe run some cold water over it. I was cruising for much of the day so that I could get some ice in town. Walking on a ridge again, there were stunning views on both sides of the mountain. One view, in particular, was of the meandering James River and green luscious mountains surrounding it. It was a very pretty view. On the last leg into Daleville, the trail had turned incredibly muddy due to all of the rain we have had in the past few days. At one point, I climbed up on the side of the trail to avoid the mud spots, but I completely slipped on the embankment and wiped out! My trekking poles went flying and, with a loud thud, I hit the ground, thereby dousing myself with wet stinky mud all along the right side of my leg and ribcage. I arrived at US 220 and then headed underneath I-81 en route to Shoney¢s. I was looking forward to an All-You-Can-Eat. As I climbed down the embankment to the restaurant, I was approached by three elderly folks with one asking, ¢Why do you have two poles?¢ I explained that I had been hiking since Georgia and that I needed both for balance. All three, but especially the woman, looked completely confused and a little bit intimidated. ¢You¢ve been hiking since Georgia!!!¢ At this point, I took all of my soggy clothing ¢ all of it: socks, liners, shoes, shirts, shorts, knee pads, handkerchief, etc. and laid it outside on the sidewalk so that the sun could heat it up and dry it out. Inside the restaurant, I asked for some ice and began icing my fat lip. The swelling had gone down quite a bit, but it was still rather on the large side. I ended up downing about five plates of food and was too stuffed for dessert. As I was taking a break from one of my plates, the elderly woman who I had met outside came up to me and asked, ¢Did you get your ticket yet?¢¢My ticket?¢ I perplexed.¢Yeah, your check. I¢d like to pay for your meal.¢I was taken aback by this generous offer, but I figured that she thought that I was homeless or penniless. I explained that I was okay on money and that I really appreciated the offer. She was a bit resistant and wanted to pay, but I thought that allowing for her to pay for my meal would be taking advantage of my situation. Trail magic is more than acceptable ¢ when you receive it out of goodwill. In this case, it was more out of pity and misunderstanding and, I think, in the end, I made the right decision by declining the woman¢s offer. At this point, I packed up my belongings and asked for some cardboard and a permanent marker so that I could make a sign for my hitch up Interstate 81. Initially, my efforts walking out on I-81 did not go too well and I was out in the hot sun for about 40 minutes without much luck. Taking Jill¢s advice, I then walked back to US 220 and started hitching from there. Within 15 minutes, a Puerto Rican woman named Lissi driving a Prius stopped to give me a lift. Her boyfriend had hiked the Appalachian Trail back in ¢97 and then had done the Pacific Crest Trail two years later. He is now considering doing the rigorous Continental Divide Trail. Lissi ended up driving me 10 minutes or so out of her way to drop me off at a gas station on US 460. Within minutes, a young couple driving a Jeep picked me up and gave me a lift all the way to the Walmart in Bedford. From there, I waited out in the hot sun for 40 minutes for another hitch into Lynchburg, which is where Jill would come down to pick me up. The third hitch was rather interesting. A young man driving a pick-up truck pulled off to the side of the road and immediately said, ¢Sorry man, I don¢t have any room. My suitcases are in here¢. So, I asked him if he could put them in the cabin of the pick-up so that I could sit inside. He agreed and we quickly maneuvered his belongings around to create space. Frasier turned out to be from State College, PA and we used to have the same club soccer coach, Barry Gorman. He played ODP for the Pennsylvania State Team, as did I. He moved to California after high school, which I did in-between my college years. There were a lot of similarities between the two of us and we were both incredibly shocked at how we connected. He had just moved back to the East Coast and was finishing up with his master¢s degree at Liberty University in Lynchburg.He asked me if I carried any books with me out on the trail. I told him that I would listen to several books on my iPod, but ever since my iPod became completely saturated, this was no longer possible. He told me that he would like to buy me a book ¢ a small book. I declined and said that I don¢t carry books because they are heavy. He continued and said that he would like to buy me a book. So, instead of initially dropping me off at Walmart, he pulled in to a Family Christian Bookstore and explained that he was going to go buy me that book. I followed Frasier in and, using a few simple commands, he was able to get the book speed-ordered engraved with my trail name ¢Tully¢. This book turned out to be the Bible. As I explained before in previous posts, I consider myself to be a spiritual person, but far from religious. However, I can¢t tell you enough how honoured I felt to be given this Bible by Frasier. It ended up costing him $30 to buy and engrave it and it was just an incredible gesture and I thank him for his generosity. I do hope to read bits and pieces of the book and, maybe, at some point in my life ¢ the entire thing. Jill picked me up at the Walmart; it was soo good to see her again. She was well-dressed, beautiful and with make-up and I was a very gross and stinky hiker. Instead of giving her a hug, I gave her an elbow bump. I thought it was hilarious when she placed her dog blanket down on the seat so that I wouldn¢t stink anything up. We chatted on the way back to Sweet Briar and I told her all about the stories of the past few days, including my horrible wasp sting on my lip. At Sweet Briar, she dropped me off at the Men¢s Locker Room (mainly used by faculty as Sweet Briar is an all-girls college) so that I could freshen up and take a warm shower. She had a bag of fresh clothing, organic soap, an apple, several grain bars, and febreze in case I stunk really badly. The warm shower felt like heaven and I was so happy to be fresh and clean again. As I approached my stinky clothing, I realized just WHY Jill had made me climb on top of her dog¢s blanket in the car. My clothes smelled rancid! I walked across campus to the Admissions Office, where I met a few of Jill¢s co-workers and the Dean of the College, whose father had done a portion of the AT many years prior. On the way back home to the house, Jill and I were able to catch up a bit more about life. When we arrived back at the country home, I was able to meet her husband, Zach, and two dogs. Zach is originally from Michigan, but has acquired a very thick southern twang ¢ very impressive. He ended up going to an instrument-making school and has learned the repair and construction trade for banjos and fiddles. He can also play VERY well. I organized my belongings at the house and then Jan and Jeff, along with their wrecking-ball son, Lewis, came on over to the house. Jan and Jeff are both musically talented and play in a band with Zack whenever they can. I say that Lewis is a wrecking ball because he literally just went around the house looking for things to pick up and then throw across the room. It was quite comical to watch. Jill made a delightful spaghetti meal and it was very peaceful to be at a table sipping on wine again and eating a good hearty meal. After talking to my paps for a short while on the phone, I was off to sleep.