A Zero In Waynesboro

Hey guys!

I took my second zero today since getting on the trail-- my first was back in Daleville where I didn't feel like hiking in the heat. Today, I don't really know WHY I took a zero, it just felt like a good idea.

My plans ahead, I'm looking to do the Shenandoah Park rather quickly-- I'm thinking of finishing within 4 and 1/2 days, if not a little less. This mileage gives me a 20 tomorrow, a 20 the day after, 23 the next day and a 30 to get near the very end of the park. After that, it's a brief stroll of 13 miles to Front Royal and a few miles on to a really posh shelter that apparently has a solar shower! Neat-o!

Today was nice but hot. I wound up leaving the library and going to the YMCA in hopes to find out about the bus schedule to get to Wal-Mart about 3 miles away (not an easy hitch here, many converging roads and the town borders are fuzzy-- I don't want cops to get angry with me) After getting to the YMCA where they didn't have the schedule, I headed back to my camp in the southeast part of town and talked with some of the guys who were going to take the bus to see when it would swing around. I talked with one gent. who told me it would be around at 2:15 at the library so I headed to Ming Garden to get some food before I left. Lo and behold, kismet happened and I met a guy who was driving from garbage can to garbage can looking for scrap metal. I helped him get a large oven into his truck and he asked if he owed me anything, I told him of course not but he offered me a ride and I asked if Wal-Mart would be ok, he said hop right in.

I held a plant for him while he drove, it felt like some sort of Parisian silent film for a moment where I was a mime... but we started talking quickly. He had a cool southern drawl and he told me about what he was up to, how the town was nice, the storms were bad lately and the heat was unbearable. I thanked him half a million times and went into Wal-Mart. My main purpose was to get A Feast For Crows, the fourth book in the Song Of Ice And Fire anthology and lo and behold, it was there (what luck!) I did my resupply which amounted to three packs of tuna for supper, 8 pop-tarts for my breakfasts and a pound of trail mix (this should all last me well over three days). I asked customer service about the bus schedule and got fifty cents from the cashier to head out of town.

I waited at the bus stop and eyed a Buffalo Wild Wings across the way-- I was so tempted but I knew Ming Garden would better. On the bus ride, I spotted Chic-Fil-A and had deep redemption-- I could have totally pigged out there and enjoyed myself. I wonder what they'd do if I asked for a pound of waffle fries.

It was a long ride back to Kroger's, mainly because I asked to go to Food Lion which was on the other side of town. I fixed the mistake and there was no problem, the bus was going by Ming Garden anyways. When I finally got to Ming Garden, I immediately began to sweat from the heat. It was terrible outside. Ming was closing for lunch and reopening at four so I headed back to camp and saw Hoosh and met up with a red-head kid named Turtle Tracks. He's a really cool guy, interesting thoughts on food and all types of subjects and the three of us went to Ming for supper. We sat for a good two and a half hours just chatting it up, eating a ton and getting ice cream (they have Blue Bunny there, it was great). Some of my food choices were Beef Lo Mein, General Tsao chicken, pizza, diet coke, several types of fruit and of course chicken wings. Deee-licious.

We got back to camp to behold quite a sight- there were a few guys getting their wal-mart rafts and gear ready for their attempt at an aqua blaze. An aqua blaze is traditionally where you rent a raft or kayak in the Shenandoah park and go down the river to a certain point near Harper's Ferry-- it's a quick way through the easy Shenandoah park and some people love to do it that way. It's also, may I mention, almost 200 miles long. I'm opting for the hiking aspect, though. These gentlemen I was hanging with were doing it super cheap though-- they're using blow-up rafts from Wal-Mart (one a piece, so you must wonder how their packs will fit) and they each are crafting oars by using a cutting board and a stick while the other uses a magnificent wooden fork (that broke at the end) and has a tiki-totem-like design up the shaft of it... and is being duct taped and webbed to resemble an oar. All in all, with the river being low, they're in for quite a trip and maybe they won't be successful but I sure as hell hope they'll have fun! These guys are my heroes, anyways and we wound up joking and becoming fast friends. It is a terrific break to my solitude I was experiencing less than 100 miles ago.

I hopped over to the library to kick back and relax for a bit and I'm having a good time.

The guys I've met are awesome, it looks as though I'll be seeing Hoosh often and it will be a really nice mileage time up ahead. Wish me luck and beautiful, beautiful miles and I'll wish you best in your endeavors as well! ;) Peace!