Broken equipment and monsoons.

Short day today. Very short, like maybe 7 miles. It was a good one though. 

Started off the day by visiting Rite-Aid, where I picked up some insoles, batteries, and a 50% off chocolate Easter bunny for breakfast. Violet and Survivorman hit up the post office, where Violet got lucky and they were holding her package. 

Our trio split up today, though. Because of the rain, Violet stayed in town. I was supposed to meet Survivorman at a restaraunt for a late breakfast and leave from there, but when I picked up my pack I heard an unpleasant sound. The frame of my pack broke. It had actually broken the day before, but I'd thought something had just slipped out of place. Nope. Actually broke. I fiddled with it and readjusted it well enough to carry, but I'm  worried the crack will spread. The most important item in a backpacking trip is the backpack. Literally, otherwise it wouldn't be a backpacking trip. 

So I called Bill from Pine Mountain Outfitters. He was a tremendous help, contacting Granite Gear for me and finding out who to talk to. I ended up talking to a guy there named Keon who was incredibly easy to work with. The customer service was great, in general. They're shipping me the piece I need, but it won't arrive until around Wed next week. Since I didn't want to wait in one place that long, I had them ship it to Glasgow, Va. About 150 miles up the trail. A 150 miles with a broken backpack? No sweat. 

After getting that all squared away, it was almost noon. Survivorman had already left. I had some lunch and headed out. Into a monsoon. I mean, it was obviously just a strong rain storm. Some lightning and thunder. But it was a deluge. Fun to walk in that stuff. 

At the first shelter out of town, Dinosaur, Beandip, and Mama Beandip (Spirit Crusher) were holed up. This shelter had great views directly in front of it. Grasshopper was also there, as well as three section hikers. I'd planned on pushing farther, but I wouldn't have gone as far as I wanted, and the company was excellent here, so I laid up. Supposed to be beautiful tomorrow. 

Beandip is hilarious, and so is her mother. For example, Dinosaur says something like "everything you say is funny," and Beandip replies "wait 'til I tell you about cancer." And yesterday for breakfast, Violet, who is vegetarian, accidentally ate some eggs with sausage in them. Everyone at the table is quiet, because they don't know how she's going to take it, and Beandip says, "Don't worry, it was eco-friendly meat." Then she grins real big and continues, "His name was Steve." And earlier I said something about everyone making mistakes, and Mama Bean points at Beandip and says, "Here's mine."  I was dying laughing. According to them, it's the other daughter who's really funny. I'm going to have to visit them someday. 

The three of us and Rabbit played Diamonds, which Dino won. I barely stayed out of last place.  Foreigners are taking over. Dino and I played two more games after everyone else went to bed.  I thought of them as WWI and WWII.  I won both, but she should have won the first one. She is also an awesome lady. 

And now I am going to sleep. 

In between bursts of rain and mist. Was a real pretty day for about an hour.