Mr. Fantastic and I were the last to leave camp today, but as there was really no rush it made for a relaxing morning. We ate breakfast, broke camp, and hiked a quick 2.5 miles to the highway. While it was an easy day in terms of foot travel, we had another 90-some miles to cover. Keeping our packs on to maintain the look, we polished up our thumbs.
It was a total of 5.5 hours to get into Damascus, riding in 5 different vehicles. Phew.
It took 40 minutes to get our first lift, which always slowly leads into a kind of disheartening insanity mixed with self-effacing humor. Our first angel was a man wearing a geocaching hat and shirt. He was on the hunt, and took us about a third of the way in jubilant conversation. He dropped us off by a Subway, which we slovenly took advantage of; both of us ordering a foot-long sandwich with chips only 3 hours after massive breakfasts. Back to the highway to stand, thumbs cocked, for another 40 minutes and we caught a lift from a seemingly down on his luck guy. He carried us a few more exits down the highway. The third car pulled over in just a few minutes, and the driver quickly threw his own pack into his trunk. A fellow hiker! He had just hiked over Roan Mountain (about 40 miles ahead of us), and we talked about the rainy weather and beautiful vistas. The next car, containing a guy and girl in their early twenties, picked us up almost as fast as it took to put up our thumbs. They were on their way to Philly to pick up a friend. The girl had always wanted to pick up a hitchhiker, but hadn't wanted to do it when alone. We talked about what's worth seeing in Philly, and enjoyed an energetic conversation before they dropped us off at a Dairy Queen.. so inside we went. Too much lactose and Fox News later, we got back to our business. We were only 11 miles away now so when we said we were going to Damascus we didn't get a funny look, but a knowing one. Our final angel picked us up, as well as one other thru-hiker who had come up from Gatlinburg. He knew where we were headed, and was a previous thru-hiker himself. He was from Pennsylvania and completed his hike in 2004, where he met his wife and moved to Damascus. He told us about the town, that we should expect 30,000 people, and dropped us off directly at the tent city (more of a town at the moment). We paid $5 bucks for our plots and walked past the gear vendors/repairers to set up our tents in the oppressive midday sun.
Changing into shorts and flip flops we walked toward town, taking in the sights. There we bumped into Tapeworm, Dick Flap/Too Far, Optimus, Meta, and Stonechair just in time for some pizza. It was interesting to be in a restaurant almost entirely full of filthy backpackers. All jovial with big smiles, big odors, and big appetites. After some great pizza, Optimus, Mr. Fantastic, and myself went hunting for power outlets at the church. Most of the events were being held around the church, and food was starting to get set out. We poked around downstairs until directed to a darkened room containing outlets and, more exciting still, a ping pong table. Plugged in, Mr. Fantastic and I played a little pong, but he was far too good for the likes of me. The sound of a ping pong balls bouncing seems to work like the smell of popcorn at a movie theater, as every hiker that came by poked their heads in to see who was playing their favorite game. The room quickly filled, and we went upstairs to find free hot dogs!
More meat later we started heading back to tent city. Unfortunately it had rained a bit, but to expect anything less would be insanity at this point. As they say: no pain, no rain, no Maine. On the way we picked up some free knit hats. This church group had apparently knit 450 hats for hikers, with the knitters ranging in age from 70-86 (so I'm told). It was an excellent stop!
Back at the tents we find nothing wet or damaged, and move to join the circle of covered hammocks that Tapeworm, Too Far, and Meta had drunkenly built together. They strapped their tarps between 3 trees, using two taped together trekking poles to suspend the top and keep the rain out. It was pretty epic, so we joined them there, passing around wine, strawberry moonshine, sweet tea whiskey, and rum & Coke. Stonechair came over joined by Detour, another thru-hiker. That's when the real rains came. It became a sudden thunderstorm, the tarps quickly being tested and found lacking. People scrambled, more poles were erected, and we got pretty damp. Well worth the laugh though.
Once the rain let up a little I quick stepped over to my own tent to enjoy a dry sleeping bag, and a late night snack. Tomorrow begins the true festivities, and CVS will be joining us again with a bonanza of food. He's a chef, and we're pretty excited. More free meals, music, and fun tomorrow, with yet another day of partying after that. Good food and people by the truckload make for an exciting excursion, and thankfully there should be more sun tomorrow to dry us out. Even better is that I don't have to pack up my wet tent in the morning!
