Day 97 - Saturday, September 17

Linda

The rain continued all night and into the morning, but we were very cozy and dry, in our barn. The sound of the rain on the tin roof provided a soothing lullaby last night, and a gentle alarm in the morning. We finally got up and gathered our laundry together, and after another shower, went up to the rectory with the puppy at our heels. Nancy said she would chauffeur us around town, since she was in no hurry, so we didn't have to walk far or try to hitch a ride. After toast and OJ, we left Ozone in a face-off with the church's resident cat, Oatmeal, and went into town. The first stop was the Post Office to pick up our mail, but we were disappointed to find our main package missing. It did turn up later in the day, and Father Charles went and picked it up for us, so we didn't have to leave without it.

We had a huge stack of mail to read, including a letter from Dennis Testerman, a friend from church, asking if we'd like to get together today. What a nice surprise! He was going to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, which is only a few miles away, so we called him from the laundromat and arranged to meet at the barn at 6:30 and go out to dinner.

After finishing the laundry, we walked down to Krogers and spent what seemed like an ungodly amount of money on the next week's food supply. Nancy picked us up at 12:30 and we went back to the barn to fix lunch. We spent a quiet afternoon chatting and organizing our food and gear, and really enjoying our pastoral surroundings. We played with the puppy, and tried to get him to pose for some pictures. He was less than cooperative, though, since he was still nursing a sore paw from his ordeal in the wilderness, not to mention a bloated stomach from snarfing down a whole can of dog food we bought him. An adorable dog, but not too much in the common sense department.

Dennis arrived around 7:00 with another friend of ours, Cecelia Ferramosca and a young woman named Robin who is an intern at Tech's Baptist Student Union this year. It was great to see them, and have the evening to catch up. We showed them around the place, then went to the Rendezvous (where I'd tried unsuccessfully to get directions yesterday) for pizza. Even though it was a Saturday night, the place was almost deserted, so we sat there and ate and carried on until 10:00, when they finally said they'd better be heading back.

After getting back we called Mom and Dad, and even got to talk with Randy. This has been such a pleasant day, we sure will hate to leave in the morning. We could both happily live in a town like this.

Ron

The sound of rain on the tin roof supported my decision to push hard for town. It was enjoyable to roll over and wait for a better time to greet the world. We made our appearance at the rectory around 8:30 to inquire if Nancy was up. She had offered to provide us with transportation into town. She came out around 9:00 and we sat around awhile eating toast and drinking orange juice.

After a run to the Post Office, she dropped us off at the laundry and we agreed to meet later at the grocery. I was worried when we left the Post Office about a package that had not arrived. Since tomorrow is Sunday and the Post Office is closed, we wouldn't be able to collect it. I left a forwarding address to Damascus in hopes that we could collect it when we arrived. With laundry completed, we went to the grocery store and proceeded to acquire $35 worth of food. That is a considerable sum when you consider it will last only six days.

Later when Nancy picked us up, she said that the Post Office had found our package and called Father Charles. He had already gone down and picked it up before they closed. When we got back to the barn, we laid out all of the food we purchased plus the food sent from home. We had way too much food.

One of the letters we got this morning was from a friend who was attending VPI about 30 miles away. We called him and agreed to meet tonight. The rest of the afternoon was spent repackaging the food or just plain relaxing. We talked to Nancy about the trail south of Pearisburg.

Dennis showed up around 7:00 with a couple of friends, Cecelia and Robin. After a grand tour of the barn we headed out to the Rendezvous Pizza Restaurant. It was a good thing business was slow because we sat around, talked and ate for two hours. Linda and I felt a little embarrassed as we did most of the talking. Back at the barn we said our good-byes and Dennis and friends were off back to school.