April 13, 2000

Damascus, VA · 10 Miles Hiked Today · 455 of 2167 Miles Hiked Total

The plan to get up early failed. None of us could sleep and spontaneously "awoke" and stared laughing at 12:30 am. The fire was still going and blowing smoke and everyone had gas. So, we slept through the alarm and woke up at 6:30. Grinder and I took off and still caught the other guys. We covered 10 miles in 2 hours 45 minutes. An early start on town.

Once in town (by the way, we are now in Virginia for the next 544 miles) it was the usual: check into the hostel (The Place - $3/night with hot showers and wooden bunks), grocery shop (way overpriced), eat, check-mail, etc. Also caught up with some people (Dan, Brian, Special Agent, Mob Squad, Duke Nuke 'Em) and met new ones (Trucker, Horse, Trot, Slug, Good Wheels, Pitt).

Tomorrow will be laundry, the post office, and quiet reading at the library. I will also sew an extra pleat or two into my pants (I've lost some weight). By the way, I did get a chance to send some e-mails today and look at my site, so....be watching you in-boxes and thanks again to Rob for building the site -- it looks good!