Daleville
You know you are a thru-hiker when... you can walk 90 miles in four days to meet your Dad.
After Jose dropped us back in Pearisberg on Saturday night we realised that we had to walk 90 miles (144 kms) by friday morning in order to meet Zan's Dad in Daleville. On Friday morning as we were sitting on top of the mountain looking down on Daleville having a healthy snack of snickers we decided to look at our watch. It was 1:20pm and we were supposed to meet at 2:00pm and we still had 3 miles to go. Needless to say we set a new personal best down that mountain and arrived only 5 minutes late.
We met Dad on the trail and introduced him to a trail tradition. Food before shower. Heading to the 'Three Little Pigs BBQ' we got a table outside and proceed to astound him with the amount of food we consumed. By the time we were finished we were both ready for a shower before eating second lunch (another hiker tradition). Eager to see what care packages had arrived from home with Dad we were disapointed to hear that he had lost his luggage, although it did explain why he smelt almost as bad as we did. (We hear you were complaining about how bad we smelt).
We stayed in the Holiday Inn in Roanoake, Virginia. It was luxurious, there was a bath, a bar and a resturant, all the hiker essentials in one spot. Several showers later we were ready for dinner. All week long we had been hearing about a homestyle resturant in Catawaba and it turns out that on the flight over so had Dad. Wanting to show Dad as much of the hiker culture as possible we agreed it was the best place to eat. The resturant was an old homestead surrounded by paddocks of cows. Inside there were several other hikers, we introduced Dad to Cash, Rusch Hour and Goldfish who proceed to put on a very enlightening show for him.
After a fantastic feast we waddled outside to the car to find Cash, Rusch Hour and Goldfish sitting outside contemplating how they were going to get there 3 cases of beer, their packs and themselves the 3 miles back up the hill to the trail. They had strategically placed themselves in our path in the hope of a lift. Without even consulting Dad we waved them over to the car and before Dad knew what was happening the 6 of us were driving back to the trail head.
Things really began to get interesting once we arrived back at the trail head. Deciding that a case of beer was too much to carry the mile the next shelter Rusch Hour and Goldfish proceed to drink a few. Sometime after the first beer Cash brought out a rusty hunting knife he had found earlier that day and demonstrated how he had tried to hitch-hike down to the resturant by wielding it at passing motorists.
After a few days of relaxing, shopping and eating we made plans to show Dad some of the trail. We picked a fairly 'easy' 4 mile stretch that ended at a spectacular rock formation, Dragon's Tooth, and instructed Dad to bring his new hiking poles. Along the way we introduced him to the other hikers we passed as we gave out some soft drinks.
Dragon's Tooth
After Jose dropped us back in Pearisberg on Saturday night we realised that we had to walk 90 miles (144 kms) by friday morning in order to meet Zan's Dad in Daleville. On Friday morning as we were sitting on top of the mountain looking down on Daleville having a healthy snack of snickers we decided to look at our watch. It was 1:20pm and we were supposed to meet at 2:00pm and we still had 3 miles to go. Needless to say we set a new personal best down that mountain and arrived only 5 minutes late.
We met Dad on the trail and introduced him to a trail tradition. Food before shower. Heading to the 'Three Little Pigs BBQ' we got a table outside and proceed to astound him with the amount of food we consumed. By the time we were finished we were both ready for a shower before eating second lunch (another hiker tradition). Eager to see what care packages had arrived from home with Dad we were disapointed to hear that he had lost his luggage, although it did explain why he smelt almost as bad as we did. (We hear you were complaining about how bad we smelt).
We stayed in the Holiday Inn in Roanoake, Virginia. It was luxurious, there was a bath, a bar and a resturant, all the hiker essentials in one spot. Several showers later we were ready for dinner. All week long we had been hearing about a homestyle resturant in Catawaba and it turns out that on the flight over so had Dad. Wanting to show Dad as much of the hiker culture as possible we agreed it was the best place to eat. The resturant was an old homestead surrounded by paddocks of cows. Inside there were several other hikers, we introduced Dad to Cash, Rusch Hour and Goldfish who proceed to put on a very enlightening show for him.
After a fantastic feast we waddled outside to the car to find Cash, Rusch Hour and Goldfish sitting outside contemplating how they were going to get there 3 cases of beer, their packs and themselves the 3 miles back up the hill to the trail. They had strategically placed themselves in our path in the hope of a lift. Without even consulting Dad we waved them over to the car and before Dad knew what was happening the 6 of us were driving back to the trail head.
Things really began to get interesting once we arrived back at the trail head. Deciding that a case of beer was too much to carry the mile the next shelter Rusch Hour and Goldfish proceed to drink a few. Sometime after the first beer Cash brought out a rusty hunting knife he had found earlier that day and demonstrated how he had tried to hitch-hike down to the resturant by wielding it at passing motorists.
After a few days of relaxing, shopping and eating we made plans to show Dad some of the trail. We picked a fairly 'easy' 4 mile stretch that ended at a spectacular rock formation, Dragon's Tooth, and instructed Dad to bring his new hiking poles. Along the way we introduced him to the other hikers we passed as we gave out some soft drinks.
Dragon's Tooth
posted by Mike & Zan :-) | 1:09 pm
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