June 15

900

I couldn't pull myself out of bed.  By the time I finally woke up for good, the shelter was empty, and only a couple tents were still around.  9:30am start.  Terrible.  Passed the 900 mile mark.  Someone had made a "900" out of sticks and pine cones laid across the trail.  Crossed the highway at Swift Run Gap soon enough and headed into SNP's central district.  I feel like the cold I had is starting to break a little bit.  Still have a lot of sinus issues, and the calf is still a bit tight, but I was moving right along at a pretty good clip.  Still rockin' out to the electronic tunes.  Made it to Lewis Mountain and stopped by the campground store.  I new I needed fluids, so I got a 32oz Gatorade, a Coke, and a grapefruit juice.  The store keeper convinced me to buy a microwaveable cheeseburger.  It wasn't a hard decision.  I ate my trail lunch of pepperoni and cheese on flatbread too.  I tried calling my dad to come out to meet me again, but no service.  Surprise, surprise.  Thanks Sprint.  I did get all of my electronics charged up while I took an hour for lunch.  Climbing up Bearfence Mountain went pretty smoothly.  Cruised along up and over Hazeltop, and down into Milam Gap to take a break.  I downed a 20oz Gatorade in the parking lot there that I had packed out from the store.  At one point, I had to dip off into the woods to dig a hole.  So while I'm sitting there, this doe walks right up on me, literally six feet away, just nibbling away on plants.  Not much I could do in the position I was in, so I tried yelling and clapping, but it wasn't phased.  So I was like, okay deer if you don't care then I don't care.  So I handled my business, covered it up and walked right past the animal on my way back to the trail.  Weird.  I don't know what it was but the next 10 miles or so went by really well.  Maybe it was that cheap cheeseburger.  My calf stopped hurting and I wasn't as congested.  I flew past the campground at Big Meadows, practically jogging down the trail.  A mix came on my mp3 player of Lady Gaga's 'Bad Romace' mashed up with some crazy dupstep by Skrillex.  That was like turbo boost mode.  I was putting the beat down to the trail.  Made it to Rock Spring Hut.  24 mile day.  Bam!  I actually had cell service, so I called mom to let her know I was getting close to Luray.  She told me that my crew was at the house tonight!  I had managed to catch up within half a day of them.  Apache, Tink, Rainbow Eyes, Bambam, Highking were all there, and they had picked up another hiker that I hadn't met before, Crayola.  Mom sounded like she was having a blast hosting everyone.  They had just had dinner, and were playing Scattergories before having dessert.  Ahhhh I can't wait to get home tomorrow!

Eh, what's up doc?