Day 91 - Sunday, September 11

Linda

Although we didn't suspect it when we woke up this morning, this was to be another day to remember for many years. Like most of our truly memorable days, it grew out of adversity and the kindness of a stranger. (Sounds like a line from "A Streetcar Named Desire".) Ronald was feeling much better when he woke up, so we cooked a hot breakfast, then headed off for Cloverdale in search of groceries, showers and a laundromat. Most of the trail to Rt. 11 was on paved roads, but it was a beautiful morning, and as we came down over the ridge, we had a tremendous view of the valley. At one point I stopped to take a picture, and while we were standing there, a man came out of a nearby house to pick up his Sunday paper. His name was Harold King, and he turned out to be our guardian angel that day. We got started talking, and he gave us a few apples off the trees in his front yard. We thanked him and were ready to go on, when he invited us in for breakfast. We weren't going to stop at first, but I'm thankful we did. We went inside and he fixed us a delicious farm breakfast of sausage, eggs, toast and fresh tomatoes. What a treat! We enjoyed chatting with him over breakfast. He lived there with his wife and children, none of whom were up yet (they must be very sound sleepers). He was a mailman and also raised bees and vegetables to sell. When we told him we were out of honey, he filled up both of our Gerry tubes with fresh honey from his hives. We were having such a pleasant time, we hated to leave, but we were still trying to get down to Cloverdale for the aforementioned necessities. We thanked Harold for his hospitality and left to walk the last couple miles into town.

The bad news started as soon as we reached the truck stop. Usually, the fact that we were a married couple worked to our advantage in situations like asking for water at houses, hitchhiking, and generally having people take pity on us. We just looked more respectable and trustworthy (even at our grubbiest) than a couple of scruffy guys. Numerous times we had been warned by male hikers about how mean someone was, or how someone else really hated hikers, only to find them warm and friendly toward us. Maybe it was coincidence, maybe not. At the truck stop, however, traveling as a couple was more of a liability. Unless I could pass as a truck driver, we could kiss the shower good-bye. We were informed in no uncertain terms that they did not let hikers use their showers, and they didn't know who would have told us such a thing. I suspect that the guy that did tell us about it just waltzed in by himself and no one paid too much attention. Well, that was bad enough, but they also told us that the only laundromat was several miles down the road, and the nearest grocery store was over a mile away. What a downer! We hadn't had a bath or clean clothes in nine days, and the prospect of going seven more days to our next scheduled stop in Pearisburg was almost unbearable.

We walked to the Greenway Store which turned out to be too small to have anything we needed. We decided we'd have to hitchhike into Roanoke to find a bigger store, so we bought two Mr. Pibb's to drown our sorrows, and walked across the road to try and get a ride. Before we even stuck out our thumbs, Harold King, our friend from this morning, pulled up in his truck. He was on his way to church and he offered to take us to a laundromat and shopping center with a big Krogers grocery store. We hopped in quickly and off we went. On the way we told him about bombing out on the showers, and he said he thought he had a solution to our problem. He told us that if we finished up our laundry and shopping while he was at church, he would meet us at Burger King at 12:30, and take us home to use his shower, then bring us back to the trail. We could hardly believe his generosity, but gratefully accepted his offer, and said we'd be at Burger King at the appointed hour.

We washed our clothes and bought all the groceries we could carry, and I took a few minutes to call Mom at church to check in. She told me that my Aunt Florence had died this week. That's Grandpa Dick's sister. She had cancer and had been ill for some time. Last week she had surgery and never regained consciousness. Grandpa is such a stoic, he's taking it well, and wouldn't let on if he wasn't. I'll miss her, even though I didn't see her often, living so far away. She was the type of person who was so friendly and outgoing, that you could feel comfortable just picking up where you left off, even if there had been years in between. I hope Uncle Lowell will be okay. He's not in the best of health either. Mom was sorry to have to pass on the news, but was also pleased to hear that we were in such good hands. I told her we'd call again in Pearisburg.

At 12:30 sharp we met Harold King across the street at Burger King. We got Whoppers and fries, and he got his order to take home to his kids who never had gotten up while we were there before. We drove back to his house and he introduced us to Jerry and Judy, two of his three children. I imagine they were surprised to see us walk in. He had told them about fixing us breakfast, but they certainly didn't expect to have us come back again. If they were surprised, they didn't show it, and just acted like it was perfectly normal. Living along the trail, this probably wasn't the first time their dad had befriended hikers, so maybe they had gotten used to it. We ate lunch together, then each of us took a long awaited shower. It felt heavenly to be clean again.

Before leaving, we got the grand tour of their property, including 35 bee hives and a huge orchard and garden. In addition to the apples and honey from this morning, he also gave us a bag full of tomatoes, fresh from the garden. We took pictures of each other, then got back in his truck, drove down to Cloverdale, and he dropped us off right where we'd been so depressed just a few hours earlier. Our outlook had improved dramatically, due to the kindness of our new friend. We exchanged names and addresses, and promised to write to him when we finish the trail.

It was 2:30 when we finally started off toward Lambert's Meadow Shelter 10 miles away. We hadn't gotten far when we met two guys coming the other way. One of them, Jim Florey, had finished the whole AT South to North in July, with the exception of the last part in Maine from Rainbow Lakes to Katahdin, which was in flames at the time. We had heard there was a huge fire up there, but didn't know the extent of the area or the damage. I'll bet it was disappointing to hike 1900+ miles, then not get to finish the last few, due to circumstances beyond your control. It's worse in Maine, also, just because Katahdin is much more remote than Springer Mountain, Georgia. It would be harder to just pop up there for a long weekend to finish up the last few miles. He seemed to be taking it in stride, but what choice did he have? We talked for a long time, filling each other in on different bits of trail information and trivia, then figured we'd better do some serious miles before having to break out the flashlights.

Tinker Ridge was our next big climb, then once on top, we followed the ridge up and down, and up and down, (sound familiar? - Pennsylvania comes to mind.) over rocks and more rocks for several miles. It was pretty rough going, but the day was the clearest we've had in weeks, so the views made the hiking worth it. We met a guy from South Carolina who said he'd hiked with Steve Peck in the Shenandoahs. Steve and John had been hiking together, but John had gotten off the trail for a while. The guy we talked to was just doing a section here and there, so he was hitching around a lot. We figured Steve must still be over a week behind us. I was just thinking about him and all our other comrades, so it was great to hear that he's still on the trail. Maybe we'll see him again somewhere further south.

After the hours of rocky ridge walking, we hobbled into the shelter around 7:00 where we were greeted by Pat McLaughlin, the Southbounder whose comments we'd been following in trail registers for a while. He started in Pennsylvania for Georgia, but took two weeks off in Roanoke, so this was his first day back on the trail. The guy who told us about Steve came dragging in later, too (but I forgot his name), so we had lots of company. Seemed like New England again. Fixed our dinner of Tuna Helper with pudding, then topped it off with fresh tomatoes, courtesy of Harold King. Sat up and talked until much later than we should have, but we couldn't resist. Even with the 5 hours off in the middle of the day, we still managed 14.8 miles. With the kindness of Harold King, the beauty of the day, and the good company of fellow hikers, this is a day that will stand out in my memory for many years.

Ron

My peaceful dreams were interrupted this morning by the rays of sunlight streaming in. The stove was fired up for the first hot breakfast in weeks. It wasn't that the weather was getting cold, it was just that the store in Snowden didn't have any other breakfast food except oatmeal. Well fortified we headed off to town with high hopes of hot showers, restaurants and well stocked grocery stores. The mile and a half hike down the mountain to the road was easy. From there it was road walking all the way to town. We stopped on a particularly scenic section of the country road to photograph the valley and mountains beyond.

As we hiked along the road we passed a man stepping out to get the Sunday paper. We talked with Harold King for awhile and he invited us in for a cup of coffee and some apples from his trees. Being the ardent moochers that we had become, we could not turn him down. Before long we were getting a full breakfast of eggs, sausage, toast and fresh tomatoes. Over the course of the meal we mentioned to Harold that we were headed into town to resupply. He asked if we carried honey on the trail. Of course we said yes. Honey is one of our mainstays. When mixed with peanut butter, it make a great snack. Harold told us of the bees he raises for extra money. Before leaving we filled two Gerry tubes with fresh honey.

Well fortified for the second time, we thanked him for his generosity and headed off for town. Our first planned stop was at a truck stop on Highway 11. We heard from other hikers that it was a good place to get showers. At the truck stop we informed that our information was incorrect. Now despite our otherwise pleasant morning, Linda was depressed. The thought of six more days without a shower was not pleasant. After the truck stop, she just poked along on the way to the store.

Once at the store we knew immediately that we wouldn't be able to get enough food for the next six days here. Since Cloverdale didn't have a laundry either, we resigned ourselves to hitching further into Roanoke. After a pop to quench our thirst, we headed across the road to hitch into town. Anxious to get started, I stuck out my thumb before we made it to the other side. The third vehicle to pass was a truck driven by Harold King on his way to church. Our surprise was almost as great as his kindness.

He drove us down the road to a laundromat with a big Krogers grocery nearby. After hearing about our failure at the truck stop, he offered to take us back to his house after church so we could take showers. He would even give us a ride back to the trailhead. We agreed to meet later at the Burger King across from the laundromat.

While Linda did the laundry, I went shopping. Back at the laundry we repackaged the food and our packs. We had accomplished two major task for the morning. Harold was just pulling in to Burger King as we walked across the road. We grabbed a couple of burgers then headed out to Harold's home. After lunch, Linda and I took showers and completed our third major task for the day, all thanks to the help of Harold King. Before we left for the trail head, Harold gave us a tour of his bee hives and a few fresh tomatoes from his garden.

Even with all the activity of the morning we were back on the trail by 2:30. We weren't hiking for 15 minutes before we met another hiker who had complete the trail in July and was out on a weekend trip. We talked for a half hour before pushing on to the lean-to. The trail was not overly difficult. There were several steep sections that should have been switch-backed. On top of the ridge we met a hiker who was skipping around and hiking different parts of the trail. He gave us our first news of Steve Peck since he and John and left the trail in Maine. It's good to know Steve's still on the trail, but we're not sure where John is.

Ten miles later we arrived here at Lamberts Meadow Shelter at 7:00. The shelter was already occupied by another Georgia bound hiker. He was hiking the section from Pennsylvania south and was just getting back after a two weeks rest in Roanoke. There are four of us here tonight. It is the most company we've had in a long time. I wonder how long we will hike together. Probably not very long. Linda and I manage to cover a lot of distance. Linda is in a much better mood than this morning at the truck stop. As to my own mood. I can only say what a tremendous difference a day can make.

(14.8 Miles - 1374.5 Total)