Trail Days: 5/14-5/15

Day 1:

What an interesting event. It's hard to describe all that happens here, but I will do my best to include the highlights. Friday started off at 7am with doing some laundry. What a highlight, right? After that I went down to the Baptist Church and got a free shower. They have an emergency vehicle set up that has 4 showers inside, so even though many people were signed up things moved quickly. That place (the church, not the showers) is actually where a lot of events happen, and is by far my favorite spot at Trail Days.

After my shower I did a free medical screening that was in the parking lot there, which included a BMI check, and a foot massage/check-up on my feet with a nurse. Her name was Abby, and she suggested I use some lotion on them because they're getting dry. And wouldn't you know they had plenty of travel size bottles available. Everything went well and it looks like I'm a healthy hiker.

Because there are so many hikers here, you do end up waiting a while for some things, so by then it was past lunch, so I went down to the basement of the church and they had leftover BBQ pulled pork from yesterday's dinner. I had two of those, plus a couple sodas, and then a slice of cake. They take such good care of hikers here. I feel sort of like that movie Pay It Forward, like I need to pass on good deeds after this trip for all the good that people have been doing toward me. It's amazing what they do for us really. The basement also had a little computer room set up, so I had a chance to use that for a bit.

By then it was afternoon, so I decided to finally go and see some of the gear vendors in the park. They had at least 50 booths, even stuff that wasn't hiker related, so I spent a lot of time just grazing, stopping into many of the tents and seeing what they were all about. One of them was Enertia Trail Foods. They make dehydrated meals and snacks, which I've come to realize I'm not a big fan of. But I was talking to one of the guys running the booth, his name was Chris, and he had me try this one that was essentially a no bake cookie. It tasted phenomenal. And it had 660 calories per pack, plus loads of protein and fiber, so I couldn't pass them up. I bought two, which I'll be eating for desserts after a nice long hiking day, perhaps tomorrow.

After I had my fill of the vendors, at least the ones in the park, I headed back to the church because they were having another free food event, this time desserts and coffee. They had cookies, brownies, 10 different cakes, cobblers (apple, peach, blueberry), watermelon, strawberries, and the list goes on. I actually feel spoiled with all the food they're giving us. I filled up two plates and ate with some other hikers I had met after going past Damascus a couple days back. They had a band playing so a good amount of hikers were around, and as I'm scouring the crowd who do I see but Markus! I couldn't believe it, I ran over and greeted him. He's still hurting, his ankle isn't completely healed, but he is much better. He's doing only 10-milers, which he says he really enjoys. One reason is he gets to take 4 coffee breaks a day now. The doctor he saw said once the 10's feel easy he can bump it up, and within a few weeks he should be back to normal. So after this it's hard to say when I will see him again, but perhaps he will catch me.

We hung out for a while, but it started raining so we went over to The Place to keep dry until it stopped. It was over pretty quick, but there was some impressive lightning off in the distance. Around 8:30 he decided he wanted a pizza so I went along and we went to this restaurant/bar called Quincey's. The place was packed and I saw many of my friends from before, but Markus and I took it to go then sat at some picnic tables by the hostel. At 10 o'clock I began feeling very tired, so I called it a night. I was hoping to go see everyone again over in tent city, but I just couldn't muster the energy. I may tomorrow night because after that everyone will be back on the trail.

Day 2:
I woke up later today, around 8, which isn't that late but it was like sleeping in for me. It actually made me feel really tired and sluggish for the first part of the morning. As I was up and moving around so were Rainer and Dewlap, so they invited me to go to breakfast with them at Dairy King. I had no idea that place did breakfast, so I said sure and thought I'd give it a try. Walking over I was telling them how good the shakes were, so we all ordered them with our breakfasts, as well as coffee. It was actually very nice of them to make shakes for us so early. They both went with blueberry and I had another creamsicle. Too good to not get another one. I also had eggs, toast, bacon, and home fries. A very good breakfast.

When I went to pay they said they don't take credit cards so Rainer had to cover me, which was very nice. So that meant I now had to hit up the bank, and while over there I stopped in at the PO and shipped some stuff home, free gear and magazines and other small stuff I've accumulated while here at Trail Days. Finished with those "chores" I went back to The Place and paid back Rainer, then decided to take the long stroll to tent city to see the big name vendors that were set up over there. I stopped in to tent city to see if Paul Bunyan was around, but didn't see him, although I saw Hand Me Down and Mohawk and stopped to talk to them for a minute. I also passed a guy with purple hair, several tattoos on his face, and giant boobs...no joke. I'd heard about this guy, but you can't help staring at someone like that.

A little farther along I made it to the big name vendors, Osprey, Gregory, Mountain Hardware, Backpacker magazine, etc. and saw that most were also doing repairs. Fortunately none of my things need fixing, but it's really cool to have that if you need it. At the Backpacker booth I signed up for a free raffle to win loads of gear, but I have to be back there in person at 6 to collect it if they call my name. They also gave me some soda and a box of popcorn, all for free.

I headed back to town, and man did it really start to get hot. When I got there I sat down in the shady spot by my tent and rested. It was past 12, and I was getting hungry again for lunch, so after feeling sufficiently cool I went back to the Baptist church for more grub. Another BBQ pulled pork sandwich. Tasted just as good as yesterday. I hit up another shower in the emergency vehicle, and then hurried over to the end of town to get ready for the big hiker parade. I didn't have any time to fill up on water balloons, and after going through town I really wish I had because I'm not lying when I say the entire town, all the hikers, townsfolk, people in cars, everyone just has a giant water balloon/water gun fight the whole walk down main street. It was the most fun I've had in a long time, people getting drenched everywhere. I experienced an ambush attack too, a younger kid sneaked from behind and poured a full bucket of water over my head! But I loved it, I just laughed and continued on, and the craziness did too. We all walked, a huge crowd of hundreds, from one end of the town to the other, right to the park with all the vendors. I stopped and did another quick check through all of them, and then went back to town so I could write this. It's almost 4 o'clock now, which means Trail Days is almost over. I'll hopefully get out early tomorrow, or maybe even tonight if I can find a ride to where I need to be. That would actually be ideal. But either way I'll be back on the trail, and Trail Days will be behind me. What a great time I've had, this is something that everyone deserves to experience, even if you haven't hiked the trail. You owe it to yourself.

And one quick note, I did see Loon wearing a dress during the parade. And at least 10 other older guys too. Hikers are crazy.