I opened my eyes this morning to find pain free ankles and the night time arrival of Merry and Sweet & Sour. Both welcome things to find with the arrival of the sun.
Shortly into my hike I passed a pair of section hikers who were "Hikin' for Jesus!". They told me about some trail magic by the road, and I thanked them for the tip and their efforts. Once I came upon the magic bear box the church had chained to a tree, I was reunited with everyone from camp last night. We all enjoyed the cold sodas and sugary snacks, maybe a little too much. Thank you Jesus!
Mr. Fantastic and I continued on, making our way to a rolling open field. It was different and a nice view, but after 10 minutes we were thankful to be back in the shade of the green tunnel.
We made it to the designated lunch shelter in no time at all, and again reunited with everyone from camp and Jesus magic.
Lunch was quick for me, and I set back out to finish off the day. An hour before I estimated I stumbled across a shelter on the side of the road. My map says we were headed for a 5 person shelter, but looking into this one I saw space for no more than 3. I walked around the woods looking for a path to water, and finding none I decided to sit down and wait for people to catch up.
I sat there for 40 minutes before Chicken and Rooster came by. They informed me that this was no longer used, and the shelter we were all looking for was another 1.5 miles up the trail. I thanked them and trekked on.
Along the last push for the day I came across two pretty girls who offered me an orange. Sometimes trail magic is delivered, but rarely by cute girls. I took one for my dessert and thanked the SOBO section hikers as they continued spreading the magic.
Arriving at the correct shelter had me meeting up with Nimbus again, who had set out at 6:30am. The water source was the standard aggressive hike downhill a side trail, but I'm always grateful for water!
Dinner was delicious, but we're all ready for pizza in town tomorrow. 10 miles down will bring us full circle back to Damascus, and finally properly into Virginia. Georgia and North Carolina are done, tomorrow we finish with Tennessee! Then a mere 550 miles in Virginia.
I'll wake up early, eat a quick breakfast, and run to my pizza lunch. There I'll charge my devices, and then resupply at the Dollar General I've already been in 4 times. Then we'll head back over to Mojoe's for a snack and some wifi, before grabbing some Subway to take back onto the trail. We don't know where we'll be camping tomorrow, but we want to push right through town. As wonderful as it's been, I've spent enough time in Damascus for one thru-hike.
