800+

Got up with the sun and got an early start. Got up and over Rice Mountain and walked the swinging suspension bridge over Pedlar River. Hit the 800 mile mark, felt good but I’m looking at 1,000 now as my next big milestone. Then it’s Harper’s Ferry and the spiritual halfway point. Goals have a way of escalating with success, though hitting Shenandoah around 860 will feel pretty good too. Took a short break at an inviting campsite beside a noisy stream and saw a big black king snake, hanging around. They’re black with a tiny bit of yellow that looks like a pattern washed out. Had a pretty flat stretch beside Brown River Creek where old stone walls from a turn of the century freed slave community could still be seen. The clay mud is back, but I still made it to the shelter 9.5 away before noon. Chatted with Yukelady, who I’ve been keeping pace with the last couple days. Constantine and Turtle rolled up a couple minutes after me, having left camp an hour and half later than I did so they must have been hustling.

Another two miles and we were at the parking lot at 806.1. Kay and Gentle G were meeting me there in an hour but Constantine got us a ride to Buena Vista in the back of a pickup beside a Husqvarna dirt bike. The tailgate was open and we were sitting on ladders so at first I was scared of flying off the back doing 45 down mountain roads, but I eased into it and stopped gripping quite so tightly to the truck’s frame, enjoying the ride. There are few things as freeing as the wind whipping through (what’s left) of your hair watching big Bob Ross clouds float in the blue sky between the tree branches that over arch the road. Plus the relative speed is exhilarating, covering ten miles in fifteen minutes instead of five hours.

Gentle G and Kay met me in town, it seems it was hard to relax on Virginia Beach with the Air Force bombers taking off all day. I got clean and we enjoyed that American tradition of drinking crap beer on the porch. Rain swept in, which is always enjoyable when you’re done hiking for the day and don’t have to set up the tent. Eventually we got some mediocre Mexican and back to the motel to watch lightning flash and reveal the mountains on the horizon.