These are the days of learning.

Day 39 - 5/23/10
I had my alarm set for 6, which was very early, so when the time came
I hit the snooze button and ended up waking up at 7:45. I slept very
well in that motel bed, so that was part of the reason for my sleeping
in.

I showered, ate, and then got all packed up, so ended up leaving at 9
exactly. As I did I met 5 ladies, 3 from Florida and 2 from Ohio, who
were just about to start a section hike from Bland and head back to
Pearisburg. The motel manager was shuttling them there as I left, so
they asked me some questions, then had me take their picture. They
also wanted a picture with me, which I agreed to.

After all that I was back on the trail. About 10 minutes in I saw a
brown bunny scurry across the path, the first one I've seen out here.
I always enjoy the animal sightings, even small ones like that. As I
was leaving the town I passed some sort of mill or plant, and the
smell was terrible. Sort of like the Rumford paper mill. I was glad to
get away from there as fast as possible. The only problem was that the
day started with a steep uphill, so it took some time to get away. I
did get a little trail magic early on though, which was nice, and
helped me forget about the smell. There was a plastic carton off the
side of the trail with fresh fruit and veggies in it. I helped myself
to some blackberries and also took a banana.

Like I said it was a steep uphill in the beginning, so I was working
hard and sweating like crazy. About 1/2 way up I met a guy named
Duane. I talked to him for a while, he told me he's from Florida and
that he started his hike on April 28th. That means he's averaging
almost 30 miles a day! I also found out he's the one who left the
trail magic, it was some food of his that he didn't feel like carrying
anymore. I guess he's able to eat fresh stuff because he's going
through towns much more frequently than most hikers.

He left before me and disappeared quickly, so I continued on and
eventually made it to the top. The first shelter came pretty soon
after that, and was off in the woods away from this field that had
nice views into the valley below. A few people were eating lunch in
the field, admiring the views, including Duane. He actually hooked me
up with a little more trail magic, some fantastic fresh cut pineapple.
I also saw 7 D's again, and another guy named Gray Wanderer whose been
hiking with 7 D's recently. I stopped and joined them, and also laid
out my tent to dry more in the open sunlight. I stayed maybe a 1/2
hour then pushed on. The terrain the rest of the day was very flat
because it was a lot of ridgeline, so it was very pleasant hiking from
then on out.

Then the rain came. Again. The last 3-4 miles it really poured,
getting me completely soaked. It was raining so hard that my feet were
swimming inside my shoes. It's going to be rough putting them back on
tomorrow. When I got to the shelter Dwayne was there, as well as two
others, Boundless and Tattoo. Dwayne left, but eventually 7 D's and
Gray Wanderer pulled in, all soaked of course. Everyone has their
stuff hanging right now, trying to get things even just a little dried
out, including myself. My feet are itchy, but I didn't want to make a
mess of putting calamine on. We'll see if I can sleep well without it.

Speaking of the poison ivy, one thing the trail has taught me is to
change how I react to negative circumstances in my life, and thus
better adapt to them. Although it's a small issue (the poison ivy), I
could easily complain about it, let it make me mad or upset, any
number of things. Instead I just took a shorter day yesterday
(adapted), took care of it as much as possible, then got back to work
today, doing 19+ miles. I'm hoping that I continue to deal with
negative things better, that I'll bring it with me off the trail and
into my daily life.

Total miles: 645.7