I salute you, America.

Day 0 - 7/4/10
Happy 4th of July! I opted for a zero today because of my feet and ankles, I wanted to let them rest, and because it's the 4th, so why not take a break on our day of independence?

Bill came downstairs at 6:30 and yelled at us hikers to wake up! Breakfast is ready! I was so tired and out of it when he did that, but thankfully he had coffee ready, so that perked me up quickly. He made all of us cheese omelets, hash browns, sausage, and english muffins. It was all very good, and just the right amount of food. Butch took Legends and the mom/daughter team to their places they needed to start from, and Pony left around 9:30. Butch came back at 10, and soon Shakes, a hiker I'd met maybe a week ago, rolled on in. He said there were probably going to be a lot of hikers coming in today because it's the 4th, and he knew of a lot that were right behind him.

Butch asked if either of us would want to go for a ride, so I said sure why not and went with him to a couple places. Grocery store and gas station, and it was fun to just ride in a car. It's hard to describe the thoughts going on in my head at that time, driving through unfamiliar America in a truck with some guy I barely knew. The best I can do is say it made me plain old happy, glad to be exactly where I was at that exact moment. I probably had a big dumb smile on my face, too.

At one of the stops I bought a 50 cent mango, and when we got back I sliced that thing up right away (as best I could) and scarfed it. A great mango, nice and juicy. I just wish I had better cutting skills. Jen, your grandma should give me a lesson someday. I walked down to the general store afterward and got myself a sandwich, and saw Trashman and Ohibro there so I talked with them for a bit. Tried to get them to come up to the mayor's, but they wanted to make more miles. When I went back up more hikers had shown up, and as the day progressed they kept rolling in. Now there's at least 15 here, so it's getting a bit crowded again like at DWG. I'm actually thankful I was able to enjoy this place with a smaller crowd last night because I got the full experience, whereas today it's more of a hiker party and the Mayor people aren't too involved. But I'm glad I stayed because I've had all afternoon to relax with everyone else, had a bunch of good food, and even a BBQ cookout with burgers and dogs.

Tomorrow it's onward for me, and although I've had fun today, I hope I can escape the crowd and get back to being just by myself for a while. A lot of the hikers that showed up today hike in a huge pack, and that's totally fine, it's just not my thing, and so I'd like to get some distance between us and not get stuck in their whirlwind. Anyway, that's all from me. Had a good 4th here at the Mayor's. By the way, I finally had a chance to load more pics, so I put all of them up and sealed off the second album. It's my trip from Damascus, VA to New Jersey. Hope you all like them.