Midnight on the Appalachian Trail: More crazy wonderful trail magic.

So, past few days have been pretty great. First, on the 1st, walked 10 miles into Dalesville, where I'd planned on resupplying and moving on. My broken pack was worrying me, however. It was still 60 miles to Glasgow, and I'd probably get there either Saturday or Sunday after post office hours. So I had a reasonably clever thought, and I called the Glasgow post office to have them forward my mail to Dalesville, and I'd spend the night in town.

So on the morning of the second, I went to the post office to pick up my packages. But alas, there was only a solitary package there. The one from Momma Sparkle containing way too much food (and an Ale-8!), and not the one containing the piece of my pack that I needed to actually continue on my hike. So phone calls were made. Apparently, since that package was shipped UPS, only UPS could ship it, and it wouldn't arrive until Monday. Uh-oh.

Not to worry, the wonderful Seyra at the outfitter in town (Outdoor Trails, I think it was) saved my day. She had a spare of the piece I needed, and even helped me install it. All of this took longer than expected however, so it was past noon when I was ready to hike. Then I ran into Dinosaur and Beandip, who'd just made it into town. I was invited to eat with them, so I did. They were splitting a room with Spirit Crusher and Thin Mint, and offered me a spot on their floor. So I figured to heck with it, and zeroed. Though I stayed in Fireman's room. He had a second bed that wasn't being used, so I got a bed. Happy days.

So I moved on the next day, the 3rd. Easy walking, pretty surroundings, but I was feeling burned out. Did about 10 miles, and then sat at the second shelter I came to for an hour. It was a little after noon, and the sun was hot. Talked with Capt and her partner (drawing a blank on the name but she's already thru-hiked twice, nice and knowledgeable lady). Moxie showed up and I traded him a pastry to fill my water bottle. I was debating on whether to go further when Dino and Sisyfus showed up. I'd never met Sis before, but she has one of those infectious smiles. When I told her my name, she said, "You're Midnight Sparkle!? I've been wanting to meet you forever! I feel like I'm meeting a celebrity." So obviously I like her. She looked so familiar, though, and I couldn't figure out why, until it suddenly dawned on me that she had an uncanny resemblance to Starbuck from the new Battlestar Galactica. I think Kaytee Sackhoff every time I see her now.

They were pushing off, and asked me if I wanted to go, so I joined them. Sis was leading and she was flying, until Dino eventually suggested a tamer speed, and Sis apologized, because she was worried she would slow us down. I laughed at that. Not much can slow me down, hard to get slower than me.

Then the crazy stuff happened. We got to Taylor overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and I said let's take a break. So we took our packs off and flopped down, and almost immediately a pickup truck swerves into the overlook with a bunch of hollering. It's Sis's friends, who'd met up with Kindergarten Cop, a former PCT thru-hiker and retired LAPD cop, back in Daleville. Two of them had hiked with him on the PCT. Her friends were Geared Up (who'd made his own backpack out of ziplock bags), Cristo the Lion, and Winging It. We picked up Moxie at the next overlook.

Kindergarten Cop (KC) took us to his place in Bedford, a beautiful old Victorian home. He and his wife had moved out here when they retired. You've heard the phrase "bigger than life?" KC is who they were talking about. Not necessarily physically, as he's not particularly tall, though he's quite solidly built. I wouldn't keep score in his register, anyway. But his presence and obvious zest for life are remarkable.

They had made food for us, ribs, corn, incredibly delicious pies with a local dairy's ice cream, and a ton of other stuff. The girls watched a movie (Kill Bill 1), but I spent the evening talking with KC and the other guys. The man had so many crazy interesting stories. Some would make you laugh, and some would make you cringe. He wrote a novel that's in the editing stage, of which I read a chapter. Pretty entertaining, I'm looking forward to reading it all when it's published. The best part of hanging out with KC? I could tell my own stories.

I've had to be careful about what stories to tell on the Trail. It's mostly civilians, and some story that I think is hilarious could draw looks of horror. But I didn't have to censor myself with KC. He's seen similar things and been in similar situations. It felt like I was talking to another soldier. It felt good. I really missed that, and hadn't even realized it.

The plan was to go back to the Trail in the morning. However, when morning came (they fed us a huge and excellent breakfast as well!), Dino says, "Can we stay and watch Kill Bill 2? Then we can do night hiking tonight! It will be fun!" I was less than enthused, but it was a bit of a drive back to the trailhead and I didn't want KC to make an extra trip, plus I was really enjoying sitting on his front porch swing talking with him and his wife. So long story short, we got back on the Trail at about 1630. Pretty late. Cristo, Gear, and Wing stayed at KC's.

The girls and I met up with Moxie at the next shelter, and we all hiked together for a while. Saw a large blacksnake, freaked Dino out until we explained it wasn't poisonous. Seen several of those guys, so far. Passed Ranger, Princess, and Rocketman, who'd set up camp in a reasonably flat spot, and we reached the next shelter right at dark. This was about ten miles in. Dino says, "Umm, I think I'm going to camp here." Ha.

So Moxie, Sis, and I go for the night hike Dino suggested. It was pretty fun, I guess. We passed the time by singing. But only songs from the nineties, and we rotated who picked one. It was mostly just choruses and a few random lines, but good time. Arrived at the shelter just after midnight, for about seventeen miles. Facts, Grasshopper, and Topo were the only ones there, and it fit 20 people. Really nice shelter. Lovely design. Bryant shelter, I think it's called. And there was a note from Canary to me in the register, which made me happy. Good times, but I don't think I'm doing that again.