Things got silly last night, but I was still up by 9am, and thankfully sans hangover. I watched the second half of GoT with the balcony wifi, and was contented by 10am to get the resupply done with Mr. Fantastic.
This is the first time in 4 resupplies that we had a supermarket available, instead of a gas station or Dollar General. The benefits of having so many options can be tempered for me by my inability to not buy too much. All things said and done, my 2 day resupply is more like 4 and weighs about 15lbs. But I guess my luxury item on the trail, and everybody has at least one, is variety of foodstuffs.
After saying our hopefully temporary farewells, I slung my dramatically heavier pack onto my shoulders and strode over to the DQ.
I will say, I was shocked by how good their chicken fingers are with buffalo sauce. After the Blizzard that followed, Mr. Fantastic had joined me and we started off toward the trailhead.
By the time we were back to the trail it was around 1pm, and we had given up on any notions of doing a big mile day. Our only good option, in light of our timing, was to go to the first shelter only 7 miles away. Mr. Fantastic stopped early on to have his lunch on the trail, but I had just eaten, so continued on alone. The climb out of Pearisburg was a rough one, especially in the heat of the day. Once ascended the ridge lining trail was fun to follow, and lead to a great shelter in the woods right next to a bald. Since I had arrived at 4:30pm, I had plenty of time to dry my clothes, fetch some water, and eat a long enormous dinner.
Big Daddy Tickle joined us (he was also at the shindig last night, I forgot to mention) along with Stumble, a guy who gave himself this trip as a graduation present from college.
The sun is getting ready to set, and my sleeping bag beckons. With mostly clean and dry gear, and sun in the forecast, tomorrow should be a nice 16 mile hike. It feels good to have a real day planned out again.
