Damascus

Day 41: Part II

After crossing the border into Virginia our pace quickened. We moved with pupose and aftet a few miles we started going down switchbacks. We could see the glint of houses and other man-made things through gaps in the trees. As we got closer we hiked even faster and I craned my neck to catch glimpses of the town. In one step my left foot gave under me and the rest of my weight fell on my ankle before I caught myself. I sank to the ground, my ankle throbbing with pain. I had to sit for a few minutes to let the pain subside. I could fully appreciate how one careless misstep could take someone off the Trail. Dark Horse, an older gentleman we met in the Smokies fell off a cliff just out of the Smokies and broke his back. A couple days earlier he had asked me to snap his photo in front of a shelter. He is still in a hospital in Asheville, NC. I stood up and hobbled on. This could have been a lot worse. Just a little resting and the pain would be entirely gone. We hiked into the small town of Damascus. Six years ago it took us a week and a half to get here, but this time it took five days. amWe entered the first restaurant we saw, The Blue Blaze Cafe. We got there just after eleven o'clock, just in time for a fantastic pizza lunch. I challenged myself to drink two large glasses of soda before the meal arrived, but fell short at one and a half. After lunch we went to check in at The Place which was a really cheap hostel run by a local church. It was so cheap, we got wooden bunks with no matresses to sleep on. After showering we went out to get peanutbutter-chocolate milkshakes at Dairy King and to the library to blog for a bit. For dinner we went back to the Blue Blaze Cafe where we joined Fromage for some lovely conversation and food. By the end I felt extremely stuffed. I ate too much food and drank two filling dark beers. Back at the hostel I rested in a rocking chair with a crossword puzzle and Nepsis with a book she found. Just after nine o'clock I got a hankering for some cold chocolate milk so I bugged Nepsis about it and we walked to the nearby Dollar General, but they had just closed. So we walked a half-mile to Food City for a quart of chocolate milk and couldn't resist a four-pack of custard filled donuts. We partook in the dark, sitting in a nearby parking lot. After the feast we walked back to the Place and slept as well as we could on our wooden bunks.

Miles hiked today: 10.4 Total AT miles completed: 467.6 Total AT miles left to hike: 1717.7

Day 42

We woke up and went to the Blue Blaze Cafe yet again for a wonderful breakfast of coconut cream pancakes and butterscotch pancakes. We decided we wanted a private room for the night with actual linens so we went to the Hiker's Inn, as recommended by the caretaker of The Place. Indeed, it was the cheapest place that met our criteria and we got the last available room. We headed over to Mojoe's Coffeehouse so I could do more blogging. We stayed for lunch and walked over to the library for a couple more hours of blogging. When we got tired of the computers we went to get icecream and to the store to resupply on food. For dinner we went to Crazy Joe's, a small Mexican food joint. It was packed with everyone we knew: North Star and Poker Face who we thought were far ahead, Forrester Gump, Fromage, Oconee, Wrecking Ball, Rocky Mountain High, Bearowl, Dr. Zoom, Machine and many more! It took a long time to get served and I easily accomplished my goal of downing two full glasses of soda. After we jumped into our warm bed and went to sleep.