Hello hello and greetings from the downtown metropolis of Pearisburg, Virginia on the New River. Looks like I'll be heading into a few days o'rain from here but otherwise everything is in good working order. Let's do this in bullet format:
* PONIES!!!! Grayson Highlands State Park just north of Damascus has some pretty aggro, yet adorable, wild ponies. They're pretty accustomed to hikers rolling through at this point so they go straight for your foodbag. They also must be accustomed to hikers trying to hop on and ride them because when a friend did so, it ran straight for where there was barbed wire strung 4 ft off the ground to try to clothesline him. Cute ponies. Pics soon.
* More magic. One magical Saturday morning we came upon a road crossing with three people waiting by some SUVs asking us if we wanted a hot meal. Turns out they're from ATOM, the Appalachian Trail Outreach Ministry of the Methodist Church. If I were to ever die a death from kindness, it would be surrounded by these people. They took us to the local church a mile away where they sat us down at a long table and shoved food, coffee & OJ in our faces for an hour - pancakes, sausage, bread pudding, bananas, cookies, apple sauce, biscuits, grits, gravy - it was pretty serious. The group said they used to do similar trips to do outreach for the church in Mexico but they decided to switch to ATOM. Apparently in the New World Order, us hiker folk are on the level with Mexicans. I like this.
* Continuation of magic. We got back to the trail after the church only to find another set up a half mile down the road doing hot dogs, chili, ice cream, etc. Two guys - Stumblefoot and Insomniac - who had section hiked the whole trail over 10 years while full-time coal miners in Eastern WV, decided they wanted to pay back all the favors they received while hiking by throwing a hiker feed on the trail. They said they had gotten so many things from people while out there, but never money - which is something I think is pretty cool about being out here. Insomniac had a sweet tat on his arm (which was no small arm) which was a map of the whole trail. Pics to come, yet again.
* Welp, lots more has happened. Blisters have kicked up, saw a tiny tiny bear cup climbing a tree (momentarily 'awww'ing until I realized it was time to get the heeeelll outta there before Mama Bear came back), and in the next week or so I'll be getting into driving range of DC so come visit meeeee!!!!! See how funky I smell, how cut up my shins are, and the sweet poison ivy I will have acquired by then.
Okay, more to come soon. Missing everyone!
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