All,
Today was a rest day in Damascus, which is also a central stopping point for hikers on the Appalachian Trail. Talking with a few hikers, Joe and I learned there was some huge Indian – style campfire a couple nights before that we just missed with hundreds of sweaty, stinky ATers worshiping the gods of nature. Sounds like a fun time.
Back to Joe, he and I walked to Tennessee today, planning on taking the AT. After the first mile, however, we learned the trail takes 12 miles while the road takes 3, which made our route quite a bit faster. It poured rain as we walked and chatted against traffic, dodging reckless drivers with each step. My five fingered feet, it turns out, offer no support whatsoever. Go figure.
Since today was a rest day, last night many of us gathered at the local pizza shop for greasy Italian food and some brews; the amount of food I’m able to eat is sort of overwhelming – it seems my stomach is stretching with each passing day. Most of the food we’ve eaten so far hasn’t been anything special – the vast majority of the meat has been precooked, and there have only been a couple of nights with fresh vegetables. Thinking of food as fuel is becoming more and more tempting, especially when everyone around insists that potato chips are good for you since we’re losing so much salt everyday. I never knew that UTZ chips were local produce.
Anyways, I’m off to finish my first book of the tour – Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Cheerio,
Paul
PS: Since the last week has been so difficult riding-wise, I’ve started to bike with other riders, finally breaking my fears!
May 17, 2010
Day 7 (May 11)
Nina,
It was ¡great! talking to you last night. I'm at the post office in Ivy, PA [sic]. (Editor's note: Pretty sure he meant VA!!) Classically, I missed my turn again! When you see a big hill, and you're about to go down, it's always a good idea to make sure you're going the right way and look at your map because otherwise you'll have to go back up or take a detour, which I'm doing. It's cold and wet. Wish you were here.
Love,
Paul
It was ¡great! talking to you last night. I'm at the post office in Ivy, PA [sic]. (Editor's note: Pretty sure he meant VA!!) Classically, I missed my turn again! When you see a big hill, and you're about to go down, it's always a good idea to make sure you're going the right way and look at your map because otherwise you'll have to go back up or take a detour, which I'm doing. It's cold and wet. Wish you were here.
Love,
Paul
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