Having a Subway in the parking lot of the motel you're staying at is almost too handy. Breakfast was easy to get, and delicious to eat while relaxing on beds and watching tv. Breakfast in bed really is the way to go.
We packed up slowly, unwilling to meet out 11am checkout in a timely manner. While I was sitting out front waiting for Mr. Fantastic to finish collecting his gear, Suds wandered over to our almost vacated room. We all chatted for a while, and Mr. F made a few calls. Then it was over to the Burger King across the street to lunch up. Suds joined us as well. Thankfully the BK was also attached to the gas station Quick Stop, which we used as a resupply.
Weighted down by food and water, we walked to a corner to begin the hitching process. The sun was scorching, but we managed to shuffle in and out of the shade as we thumbed. After awhile (crocodile) we were picked up by a pickup, and rode our way back to the trail head in the standard open-air fashion.
We had a rough climb up to the ridge line, and Mr. Fantastic shot past me. It was thankfully a good deal cooler than the last few days, so once up top it was a nice hike. Not much happened on our 13 mile walk to the shelter today other than a steady 3mph pace for a good portion of it. We chatted and walked, agreeing that it was quite the interesting thing to know each day that you are in exactly the best shape of your life. That trend will hopefully continue for the next 3 months.
We had a very slow start today, so didn't make it into the shelter until a little before 9pm. We quickly ate our dinner and assembled sleeping pad/cot in the empty shelter. Like I said, it was a rather uneventful day.
That was all before a giant moth entered our shelter. The moth flew in and made such a racket that we were sure there was a bat in here. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but it has green wings about 4 inches in length, trailing down into 2 long stabilizing tails. It seems like it's going to be a noisy night if this guy decides to flap around the ceiling all night, but neither of us are willing to confront it in the dark. Maybe in the morning we'll make it pay if it keeps us up all night.
Tomorrow we tackle The Priest; a section of trail I've been dreading since we entered Virginia and picked up the maps. After a nice ridge line we're going to descend straight down 3000 feet over 4 miles, and then climb directly back up the same distance over 6 miles. 10 solid miles of sheer hell. I can't wait! At least after that the trail levels out and cuts us some slack for the rest of Virginia. Ok, it's time to try and ignore the plethora of giant moths flapping all around us and get some sleep. We'll surely need it.
