Sunday, May 24th - Got up at 5:45 am at Doc's Knob Shelter, overcast skies, 58 degrees. Quick packup and gone by 6:15, with farewells to Dick Brown. 8 1/2 miles to Pearisburg. First 6 miles pretty easy - mostly an old road/trail followed by moderate ups and downs along a ridgeline trail. Right shin still hurting, though not as bad as yesterday (yet).
Misty and gray, with occasional drops of rain, but nothing of note. Two sets of deer this morning - 2 or 3 went crashing through the brush to my left about 2 hours in (just after I finished eating a quick breakfast), then 2 more who crossed behind me about an hour later. A big disappointment was no views at various overlooks, including"Angel's Rest," supposed to offer a fabulous view of the valley. Well, nothing but another sea of gray. Very steep descent down from Angel's Rest to Bluff City/Pearisburg, and my shin starting barking again. I am committed now to take tomorrow (Memorial Day Monday) off, and give my body a break to heal up some. Made the road at 10:15, decent time for the distance. Naturally, the clouds that had socked in the mountain just an hour before were now breaking up, and it was turning into a pretty nice day.
Decided against the Rendezvous Hotel (located right at the trailhead), since they had no Internet, and I have much typing to do to catch up on the blog reports and recover from the power failure in Bland. Called the Holiday Motor Lodge and reserved a room, no shuttle, and no one picking up hikers today (I tried for about 15 minutes), so I ended up hiking it in - lucky for me it was only about a mile. Only $38 a night, and in fact they gave me a double. Got cleaned up, then hit the local Dairy Queen for lunch. Checked email, and fired off a status email to Pete and Pauline, but the time limit is 30 minutes with people waiting, and several people were waiting to check their email before heading backout.
The rest of the afternoon was spent making phone calls, typing up blog reports (in 30 minute intervals), and sorting my gear; though quite tired, I resisted taking a nap. Various other hikers were at the hotel, coming and going, including the Birds (with Chachee (sp?)back in tow), plus the two guys that Mark and I had met back at the Virginia Inn in Marion, plus a few other vaguely familiar faces. Pearisburg is the last full service town for about 60 - 65 miles, so just about everyone stops here for at least a day, because it's 3 days minimum to get to the Roanoke area (more like 5 days for us).
Talked to Pete on the phone, and he gave me some good news in that he had managed to buy one of these new Therm-a-Rests for me at Casual Adventure (he got the last one they had in my size). Then I got a call from Mark, and after we discussed my desire to take a zero day here tomorrow (Monday), he decided to meet me here instead of on the trail. He sounds much more confident about his leg now. So he and Brenda will meet me at the hotel around noon or so. And he'll bring my new Therm-a-Rest too (and Brenda can take my old one home). So, things are looking up!
I hit the Hardee's for dinner, and called Mark again about our hiking plans and how much food to buy (how many days worth, an important decision since we were going to be doing short days to start, and it was a long way to the next grocery stop). Then I walked over to the Food Lion (in a large strip mall across the street), but didn't get food yet, but rather just bought more ibuprofen, Neosporin, and batteries (for the SteriPen). Back to the hotel, I typed up one more blog report, then transcribed a few more days worth for tomorrow. Decided to hit the rack around 10:30 - I realized as I turned off the light that I hadn't turned on the TV since I had arrived, not even for the Weather Channel. I guess I really am ready for a break!
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