Due to lack of service, days 38 and 39 will be coming out today

Both rocket’s and my doctors told us that we were ready to start increasing our mileage again. By that I mean, when we plugged our updates into ChatGPT, she said it sounded like we were good to start increasing by a few miles every few days. But we both agreed, let’s play it safe. We made today a near-o to make sure we were at as full strength as possible before we started to ramp up. We made a plan to go 4 miles. 

With that plan in mind, Rocket, deuce and Viking were all up early. They went about their camp chores like any other day. Rushing through breakfast and getting ready as quickly as possible. I, on the other hand, decided to lounge. It was cold outside and warm in my sleeping bag. And I didn’t see a need to force myself out early if the day was planned to be so short. So I chatted with them as they got ready from the comfort of bed. 

But eventually, I had to leave and, after eating a cliff bar breakfast, I hit the trail. It was another gorgeous day out. By the time I was moving, the sun was climbing higher in the sky and was warming up the air around me. I walked over small hills and through dense pine forest. I felt like I was barely putting in any effort to move and then suddenly, I saw the shelter I was looking for. It almost felt too close. I wanted to walk more. But plans were plans. Also this shelter had a free shuttle into town. 

Rocket and I walked over to the 10:45 shuttle at 10:40 only to find out that it had already left. We were planning a hitch strategy when Sunshine came rolling through, being driven by her parents. “That’s our ride,” I said to rocket and he just nodded. We walked over to them and began chatting about our walks, sunshine and how we were just trying to figure out how to get to town. 

Hook, line, sinker. “We can drive you if you’d like,” said Mr Sunshine.

We ate a huge meal at the local Japanese restaurant and I followed it up with a slice of cheesecake, to balance out my diet. As we left, we ran into Viking and he and I decided to head back to camp while rocket went to explore the local aquatics center. 

In the shuttle ride back to the shelter, I was so full I could barely talk. I tried to make conversation, but eventually just closed my eyes. When we got back to camp, I excused myself and went right for a 2 hour nap. It was the only thing I could do. 

Post nap was time for a mega fire. One guy told rocket and I that if we could get it lit, he’d keep it going all night. He then pulled a saw from his pack to show us he was serious. And so we collected wood and got a fire lit. He then took it from a normal sized fire to a big fire to a massive one. As well all sat around it, we each found ourselves inching away from it further and further to avoid sweating. 

Then came the highlight of the night. This shelter is famous because it is next to the visitors center which has a landline to town (there’s no service anywhere in Virginia apparently). You can then use said landline to order pizza to the shelter. So we sat around the fire, and then a game of rummy (notch another win in my belt, no big deal) while stuffing our faces full of pizza (I also packed in a bottle of wine from town which helped the non NY style pizza go down easier.)

Today’s camp was full of characters. Still packing sat with his dog Snoopy and told us about how he had told off park rangers who had tried to tell him not to smoke weed, energizer and duracel were a father son duo, roundabout played guitar with his nails painted black with white AT logos painted on and a few others just camped off in the distance, leaving us be. 

I retired, as rummy champ, well past my usual bedtime. It’s almost 10 as I’m writing this.

Key stats:

Miles: 4

Elevation gained: 500 ft

Mile marker: 534

How badly Snoopy wanted my pizza: really badly