Onward.

Day 32 - 5/16/10
Made very good miles today, 23, even after 2 days of nonstop eating, a
later start than normal, and bad weather most of the day.

I woke up early and had all my stuff packed by 7:30. I wanted to see
if I could find a ride other than the 1pm church shuttle because I
didn't want to waste almost another whole day. I saw Markus, Dewlap,
and Rainer in the morning and said goodbye to all of them, then headed
up the road with my homemade cardboard sign I made that said
TROUTDALE, which is the closest big town near where I was trying to
get to. No less than a minute walk and I'd found a ride. A guy who had
come down for Trail Days from Delaware said he was going that way
anyway so he'd be able to give me a lift. He sectioned the entire AT
so he's always looking for opportunities to help hikers.

As were driving I started to get worried after he passed towns I
recognized from my guidebook that were close to Troutdale. I told him
it seemed too far so he pulled into a gas station to check some maps.
Turns out there's a town called Troutville further north in Virginia
that's near the AT, so he thought I was trying to get there. Thank god
we hadn't made it too far. He was real nice about it, and after some
backtracking he eventually got me to where I had gotten off the trail.
I gave him some gas money for the trouble, then got back on the trail.
I was actually getting antsy after all that time off in town, so it
felt good to be out in the woods again. Plus he got me back right at
10, which was much better than if I had taken the church shuttle.

Within a mile I bumped into Red Stick and another hiker I'd never met
named Cope. We talked for a bit, all three of us, but Red Stick did
most of it, which is fine by me. He's was born in Venezuela, but moved
here to go to college and then stayed in Miami. He's a great guy to
listen to because every subject he speaks about he does so with such
passion. I could see him being a preacher or something, always drawing
big crowds from across the land. Anyway, after 15 min. we all
continued on, not really together, but I did hike with Red Stick again
later on in the day.

I took a snack break after a few hours, and just as I was wrapping up
it started to sprinkle so I put my pack cover on. The rain wasn't at
all bad, and stopped here and there depending on where you were. But
the thunder, man was that scary. I didn't see any lightning, just the
crackle of thunder all over the place, except for one flash that was
accompanied by what sounded like 3 cannons going off simultaneously
right over my head. I dropped to the ground so fast that my shoulder
muscle had a spasm, causing it to hurt the remainder of the day.

I made it to a shelter, which is where I caught up with Red Stick, and
stopped for some lunch. A few weekender SOBOs were there, all older
local guys, so Red Stick talked them up of course. When we had got in
it was around 2:15, and the next shelter was over 10 miles. I don't
like calling it a day that early, no matter what the weather is, so I
said I was going to push for those miles and Red Stick decided to join
me. When we left the rain really began to pick up.

At first it was very nice because it was still early and the temp
wasn't cold and the rain was fairly light. We talked a lot about life,
Red Stick loves talking about life, and time was going by quickly. At
one point we passed a big yellow bus that was up the hill that
reminded me of the one Chris McCandless lived and died in up in
Alaska. It was a bit eerie. Red Stick also asked me a lot about how
Hollywood works after I told him I lived in LA, so I had fun telling
him about that. Then it started pouring buckets for the last five
miles, so when we made it to Partnership shelter at 7:30 we were both
drenched. But I wasn't mad, in fact I was very happy. I'm proud that I
made those miles even though it was a tough day. I told Red Stick he
should be proud too.

They have showers at this shelter so I took one of those, mostly to
warm up, then went up to the second floor and set up my stuff. Two
guys up here, Steve and Just Jeff, had some leftover pizza they
ordered so they gave me some. You can also order pizza to this
shelter! I was very thankful because it meant I wouldn't have to cook
anything after that long day. Now I'm warm, fairly dry, and going to
bed. This weather is supposed to stick around for at least the next
two days. Fun times ahead.

Total miles: 527.2