TRAIL DAY 104

Fri, June 3, 2016 I must have been so taken with my wife’s presence and the arrival of family this day that my pictures stopped for 26 hours. My last was of Theo at 2:30 p.m. in the parking area by US 522, waiting for Bonnie. My next was of Theo again, at 4:30 p.m. today but I sneaked it in yesterday’s installment. His enjoyment of off-trail comfort was picture perfect.

Before getting further into family time, I should give you the line-up from oldest to youngest and state that pictures for these days together all come from my wonderful family. The are:

Bonnie, my dear wife.
Hollie, my dear niece.
Soren and Karen: Hannah and Bergen were not able to come.
Christopher and Wendy: John Paul; Thomas; Beth; Isaac and Grace.
Emily.
Nathan.
Marian.

This was travel day for most of them. My niece had driven down to Lancaster from Mamaroneck, New York and probably stayed with Christopher, Wendy and the kids. It was a 2½-hour drive from Lancaster to Middletown, Virginia. My oldest, Soren, and his wife Karen, were going to get in late. Christopher and Wendy would bring Hollie and their 5 by mid-afternoon. It would be a very warm arrival full of hugs and ooohs and aaaahs at the skinny guy with the big beard.

Christopher and his older boys had joined me for several of my Pennsylvania shakedown hikes in the past years and I’ll take credit for boosting the hiking hormone in their blood. In fact, just the year before, in 2015, Christopher was giving a talk in Vermont on a topic for which he is known all over the world and his two oldest decided to go along so they could hike some of The Long Trail as I had done in preparation. The Long Trail and the Appalachian Trail are coincident for 100 miles in southern Vermont and it was in this portion of the trail that Christopher stopped to drop off his hikers before heading on to his talk. As he was parked, a couple thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail emerged from the woods and they got to talking. They were hoping to get into town for the night and Christopher offered to drive them wherever they needed to go. They accepted gratefully. Along the way, they said they were thru-hiking the AT and Christopher told them that his father was going to thru-hike the following year at age 75 with his dog.

That night the wife wrote in her journal something to the effect, “Christopher has been so kind to us, I hope I get to give trail magic to his father next year.”

Back in my room, as was my habit, I had laid out all my backpacking stuff to clean, reorganize and to assure everything was in order, not to mention letting things air out. There was a little side-porch off our suite and that became my gear turf. I had asked Bonnie to bring a bag of plastic bags I had at home along with food and other supplies stored on bookshelves in our back basement.

She also brought both my black and silver duct tape to repair Theo’s saddled bags. There were many, many times that Theo had to squeeze through boulder-lined passages where the leading edge of his saddlebags would rub hard against the stone wearing gaping holes. I considered trying to sew some strong material in place but gave up in favor of sticking duct tape over the holes inside and out. Eventually, the tape would come off so, by the time I got to the northern states, I opted for safety pins to hold the tape in place and so his bags remain to this day.

There was always a lot to be mindful of on a break, birthday or not. Repaired saddlebags; dried things out and aired them out; planned next leg; selected food; and made sure all was ready to go when the time came. I also packed up the excess to return home.

Mid-afternoon was reunion time – get-re-acquainted time. Who-is-this-hiker time. The stick figure drawing I had texted to prepare my family for my loss of weight and gain of beard and hair must have done the trick because no one gave me directives about eating.

By the end of the day, we would be 13 people, hiker included. The full count of 15 would not be reached until Soren and Karen arrived on the 4^th. Our Innkeepers would get to know all of us whom they welcomed royally. And, as pictures make readily clear, Theo was a welcomed member of the family – I guess he makes 16! He had free run of the place but would follow me wherever I went.

We learned that our Innkeepers were fairly new in their roles. They bought the place at auction for a pretty reasonable price. In truth probably the ancient artifacts hanging everywhere were worth what they had paid. Now they had to make a go of it. I remember telling them that I think the “Appalachian Trail” they were on was longer and more difficult than mine.

I remember taking a long walk by myself out the front door of the Inn to the right. I passed several houses with small yards and a sparse section of small businesses.

I walked out the front door one time and stepped off a low, slanted platform for wheelchairs and was thrown way off balance careening toward a pillar on the porch scraping my leg against its support. When you think the ground is in one place and it’s not there, all kinds of awkward and sometimes harmful things can happen.

I survived – but you know that, don’t you?

Perhaps I should have mentioned it to our Innkeepers but I didn’t want to taint our stay. I hope I didn’t taint anybody else’s at a later time by my silence.

We just hung around the Inn most of the afternoon, getting familiar with its nooks and crannies and each other. There was milling about, hanging out and, come evening, drinks in the Tavern to accompany the warm feelings that come with a reunion and celebration.

I’d showered and primped in the ample bathroom in our suite my first night and probably did the same on the second.

Pictures taken by others inform me that we all ate together in the Tavern and had a grand old time mirroring what was to come the next day.

Day #104 Wayside Inn, Middletown, VA 0 miles