May 20

Hitchin' a ride

Got breakfast at Cowboy's, again.  Pretty great for gas station food.  Today is Sunday, and since I haven't gotten to a service while on the trail, I figured I'd stop by the Baptist church.  Church is closed though.  They are having a hiker service in the town park today for Trail Days instead.  Saw Pops en route, and we went down to the park together.  I've really appreciated all the things that churches have done for me on the trail.  I started trying to figure out a way back to the trail around 1pm or so.  Got a black marker, and a piece of cardboard from the Dollar General, and wrote "AT Hiker to Pearisburg" on it.  Thirsty and Bush Googles were leaving town at the same time I was, and did the same thing.  We started walking down the highway toward Abingdon, since that would be closer to I81.  We were quickly picked up by a local, who drove us about 10 miles further north than Abingdon, out of her way entirely.  We were now in Glade, Va.  The town was wiped out by tornadoes, last year, or the year before.  We destroyed the lunch buffet at the rebuilt Pizza Plus, then spent the next 2 hours holding up our signs, standing at the on-ramp for the interstate, trying to get a hitch to Pearisburg.  Finally a car stopped, and ironically, it was a couple that were vendors at Trail Days, heading back home to Michigan!  All three of us piled into their car, packs and all, and with their dog.  The couple that picked us up run a website that is geared toward people over the age of 50, giving info on how to stay active and get outdoors.  If anyone wants to check out their site it's at:  www.fiftysense.com or find them on Facebook at fiftysense.com.  We got back to Pearisburg, and hit up DQ for a Blizzard.  They headed south on the AT towards Woods Hole, since that's where they had left off.  I went northbound out of town, with the plan to catch up with my crew.  I figure they're at least a day, maybe two, ahead of me at this point.  Didn't start hiking until after 5pm though.  I got about 1 mile out of town, and got the call of nature.  Figures.  I had a nice toilet to use back at DQ, spent 20 minutes in the woods, and sure enough, had to dig a hole.  Around dusk, I saw my first raccoon.  After about 1400 feet of climbing out of the lowlands around town, I made it to the top of the ridge at dark.  I started picking up the glow of deer's eyes with my headlamp.  Saw probably half a dozen or so on the way to Rice Field shelter.  There was one other hiker there.  Made some dinner, rolled out my mat, and went to bed after a 7 mile day.  Good to be back on the trail!

Trying to catch a ride out of Damascus