“A Day of Softness & Rest”

AT Day 26

Miles: 6.91

Total Miles: 491.16

(Damascus, VA)

*literal yawn*

So tired as I sit down to write this… that’s nothing new. But the sitting down at a kitchen table part is kind of nice. You probably owulnd’t be surprised to learn that it’s sort of challenging to type these out when I’m curled up in in my tent, my phone propped up against my Diddy Bag. By the way–a couple people have asked how I actually write these. The answer is a wireless keyboard. It’s one of my favorite “luxury items.” It folds three ways, so that it doesn’t take up much more space than an iPhone. It weighs 184g, which isn’t inconsequential, but considering how much it allows me to capture, I take it to be worth having. I carried it on the Colorado Trail and CDT as well, but to this day I’ve never seen another hiker with one, and any time I show other hikers they’re flabbergasted–first at how small and light it is, but also that I’m still willing to carry the extra weight.

I slept like a stone last night. The sleep I’ve been getting most nights on trail is better than any I’ve found in YEARS. Not drinking alcohol combined with a lot of physical exercise is no doubt to thank for that. Maybe I’m kind of comfortable in the “home” that is my tent too.

Tonight I’m at a Bed & Breakfast with a large family and a few other hikers, and although the bed is probably a more conventional sleeping situation than my tent, I know that I won’t sleep as well tonight, because I never do after my tent becomes my home on a long trail.

The damn birds man… for how beautiful they are through the day, it’s always what wakes me up. They start at the first sign of sunrise, and tweet through the whole day.

Why can’t I just put in ear plugs? You might ask. Well, the answer is that I don’t really have a good answer, except that by the time they’re waking me up I usually feel like I aught to be getting up sometime soon.

But damned if I didn’t have to absolutely drag myself out of my tent this morning.

I only had 6 miles to get into Damascus, but I wanted to have the day to rest, and I didn’t want to just lounge in my tent all morning.

It started raining just a bit as I was breaking tent, which is somethign that absolutely sucks. But fortunately that settled down pretty quickly and I was able to get to trail without needing rain gear. It was still chilly though. So much so that I wore my down jacket for most of the morning.

Crossed the TN/VA border about an hour in. Didn’t feel like anything too special, but I still got a few photos. I’m almost 500 miles in now. That in itself feels kind of monumental.

When I got into town I checked into the outdoor store to see if they have the shoe that I need. Mine have enough miles on them that they need to be replaced. And in hindsight, it was pretty stupid of me to rely on the shoes I need being available in this town. They are not. They have a size 12, but I wear an 11.5. And that difference matters. It’s actually a pretty big problem. Because I pushed it a bit far with the ones I’m wearing now.

So here’s what I’m having to do: I ordered 1 pair of new ones shipped *190 MILES* up trail… because that was the best I could do. Any shorter and it’s likely that they wouldn’t arrive in time… So I’m going to try on that pair of Size 12 at the outdoor shop tomorrow morning. And if they feel even close to okay, then I’m going to give them a go… and hope they get me 190 miles up trail. But if they don’t feel right, then I’m going to try to stick it out with these ones… shit… how I’m going to get a total of 700 miles out of these shoes… that’s pushing it way too far…

I also ordered 3x new pairs of the same shoe shipped back to my friend in Arizona. I don’t want this problem to come up again. So he’s going to be able to send me new ones when I need them from here on. I’ll just give him a 100 mile head’s up, and then he can ship them to me. That way I don’t have to rely on Jeffery Bezos or small town gear stores. I’d rather leave my money in these little towns than give it to Bezos.com, but I’m learning that these small towns sometimes don’t have what I need.

As I rolled into town this morning I turned on my phone, and got a notification of a donation from a reader. And so I’d be amiss to not send a big thank you to Phil who threw a few bones my way to cover dinner tonight and the pack of NA beers that are now in the B&B fridge 🙂

There were a lot of folks back home in AZ who left donations before I left too. And even though I don’t do this for the donations, I do want to express my deepest gratitude to those who have supported. It takes the sting out of some of the unexpected expenses of the trail. So Phil, and the rest of y’all who have thrown some my way–thank you ten thousand times over.

Again however–I’m just as grateful to have your readership. So to everyone who follows these posts–it’s more than enough just to have your readership.

Had an amazing meal at the local dinner (after discovering that the outdoor store didn’t have the shoes I need). Even had a cup of coffee with my Steak, Shrimp, Rice, Biscut, Mashed Potatoes, and Tater Tots. I was just so tired this morning… I didn’t want to be dragging ass through the rest of my town day. And damn if I didn’t nearly nod off on my way into town.

There’s this sweet little Bed & Breakfast called Lady Di’s where I’m staying tonight. It’s so far the favorite place I’ve stayed. A while house, converted into a sort of hostel/B&B.

There’s a family of SEVEN hiking the trail, and they’re all staying here tonight… yes, that’s mom, dad, and FIVE kids! Although I haven’t been able to count them all. I just see kids and family all over the place, and I’ve been told there are seven of them… or maybe it’s seven kids. I don’t know. LOL. It’s a big family is all I know.

I expected they’d be weird and uber religious or something, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. In fact they seem to be pretty cool. Talked to the parents and a couple of the kids.

One thing that was kind of a stand out today…

When I checked into the B&B there was a guy already here who I’ve been seeing pretty commonly on trail. We actually push pretty similar miles, and he even threw down a 44 mile day yesterday! Long story short, he mostly keeps to himself because he is worried about catching Norovirus, and we haven’t connected much except that we pass one another a lot.

We were chatting a bit when I first arrived here, but then he bounced out to get a resupply. When I got back, an hour later, he was bundled up on the bed, shivering so bad that he could barely talk.

Within an hour an ambulance arrived, and paramedics were up there taking care of him for about another hour before he was literally carried out on a stretcher. Sounds like extremely bad norovirus. Which is exactly what he’s been so worried about catching. He was so sick that he could barely catch his breath.

I’ve texted him, but still haven’t heard back. He was in bad bad bad shape.

No we did not have close contact while he was here. Still, I’m dotting my Ts and crossing my Is. I’ve washed my hands a lot and moved to a room farther from where he was sleeping.

That dude I gave weed to yesterday bought me a burger and NA beer at the brew pub this evening.

I got all my gear dry.

Bought way more food than I need for the next few days, but whatever. I’m enjoying being well fed, and since there’s so much water on the AT, I’m able to carry more food and just stop for water more often after coming out of trail towns. And my gear is still probably lighter than most people I meet out here.

Tomorrow morning I’m going to take one of the kids’ advice and go back to that gear store to try on the size 12. I asked them for their opinion and that was the answer. They’re right. I need to at least see what they feel like. Otherwise these shoes are going to fall apart over the next week and a half…

I would have liked to get an early start out of town tomorrow, but this needs to take priority. I was also told by the family that’s staying here tonight that the breakfast that’s offered with my stay here is pretty bombastic. So I’m not one to turn down a good breakfast. Especially if there’s protein involved.

Alright. I think that’s it for now.

Back to trail tomorrow after breakfast and a quick run by the outdoor shop.

Will write again soon.

Wormwood.

PS: I checked with the parents. It’s Seven kids. They’re a total of nine… 😳

🧍+🧍‍♀️+👶👶👶👶👶👶👶