Sunday, May 31st - Woke up at 4:25 am, when Mark asked: "Hey Bob, was that thunder?" A couple of seconds later we got a confirmational boom, and quickly dressed and got outside (in the rain) to bring in all our gear, all wet once again. Fortunately this QUITE unexpected storm passed by about 2 miles to the side, so our stuff was wet but not soaked (for which we were duly appreciative). After that 10 - 15 minutes of excitement, I was unable to sleep until about 6:30, and so finally got up around 8:15 am - one of my latest wakeups of the trek.
Mark's mom fixed us some breakfast while Mark perused the yellow pages for outdoor outfitters in Roanoke and nearby (the most promising were out of business, but there was one in Roanoke that opened at 11:30 am). I spent a few minutes taking all our stuff back out of the basement, laying everything back out in the sun, and then hosed out my pack. I then spent some time on-line, and found that Marco had re-set my password, so I sent him a list of gear I needed forwarded up the line (some of my clothing is coming to pieces after the wear and tear of the past 8 weeks, plus I needed to replace the pair of socks and underwear that I had left at the Rice Field Shelter (I'm sure the hikers behind them REALLY appreciated that little bit of Trail Magic...).
We headed off to Roanoke just before noon, taking some time to get around a street market/festival and find the outdoor store; nice place but very limited selection, so we ended up going to a Dick's Sporting Goods nearby, where Mark bought some medium/low ankle Merrills that were considerably more comfortable on his feet. Hopefully this will help on the blister front. We ate a late lunch/early dinner at the Golden Corral, and quite a feast it was, too! Got back around 4:00, and started in on some blog reports for Pete. Typed reports til 7:30, and called it a day. Meanwhile, Mark chatted with one of Essie's friends who came by to talk about the trail. I think we'll risk leaving our gear out tonight - but maybe not!
Once I finished typing up and sending the blog reports, we had a light dinner courtesy of Mark's mom, and discussed our upcoming resupply points. We're able to resupply regularly for the next week or so, which will certainly keep our pack weights down versus last week. I also chatted with Essie's friend John about our food and gear; as a previous hunter, he was very interested in how we were living on the trail. Once dinner was over we headed over to a nearby Kroger's grocery store and bought a few things to carry us through to Troutville on Tuesday mid-day. We also noted that Mark's mom's car had a major radiator leak, something she'll take care of tomorrow; hopefully it's just a hose and not a water pump or some other really pricey repair. Back at the house, we sorted food and gear and laid things out for our departure tomorrow; Mark fully packed but I left things unpacked to give my pack another 8 hours to fully dry out. Checked the weather forecast - Monday and Tuesday both clear but hot (near 90 on Tuesday), then increasing chances of afternoon thunderstorms on Wednesday and Thursday. After a little more TV (the Nationals lost again), bed by 11:00. Back at it tomorrow....
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