Another update! It was a fast, wet, fun few days from the Wood’s Hole Hostel to a Relax Inn here where the trail crosses I-81 near a town called Atkins. It rained on me all day Monday and Tuesday (and alll night, but I was dry and sound in a shelter). Yesterday was nice and sunny. This morning is cold and foggy, but I am optimistic the sun will show itself soon, and the weather forecast for the next five days looks nice!
I’ve hit a few more milestones: I completed my fourth week of hiking, and have now hiked 75% of the AT! Friday afternoon I should reach the halfway point of my current hike: 510 miles from both the hostel in Harpers Ferry and from the summit of Springer Mountain in Georgia.
Where the trail crosses the interstate there are two gas stations, a restaurant called The Barn, and the motel. My guide has one of the gas station convenience stores listed as "long-term resupply," meaning it has enough grocery type food for a multi-day resupply. My plan was to get 4.5 days' of food there which would get me to Damascus (where I plan to arrive by Monday). The only problem is that gas station closed down a few months ago! So my resupply options were a Shell Food-Mart (where I would have packed out lots of candy bars, peanut butter, and hotdog buns), or to pay the guy at the motel $15 to drive me to a Wal-Mart in the next town. I went the Wal-Mart route, probably spent about the same amount of money on my food even with the shuttle fee, had good selection (I got another pound of lentils!), and there was a McDonalds and Subway next to the Wal-Mart. So, basically, the best $15 I’ve ever spent.
The motel is pretty rundown, but it has WiFi, very hot water, and a bathtub. So, basically, the best $40 I’ve ever spent.
I got the Hiker Breakfast at The Barn; I had an option between hash browns and grits, but I chickened out and got hash browns. I’ll try grits before I finish!
The real purpose of this report, other than to remind everyone that I’m hiking, is to point out that I’ve updated the map of my hike with placemarkers for the 28 places I’ve slept so far. I’ll try to update it periodically as I go (and there is a GeoRSS feed for those interested).
Diode