April 14, 2000

Damascus, VA · 0 Miles Hiked Today · 455 of 2167 Miles Hiked Total

As odd as it sounds, my day started off great because I was doing laundry. Actually, I first sat and read while eating cereal with milk (woo-hoo!) and then went and did laundry. It was great because I was the only one in the laundromat (the cleanest, best maintained I've seen), I had some snacks, the Sports Illustrated baseball issue, it was warm, and there was a jukebox. I sang loudly with Lenny Kravitz (American Woman) and Santana (Maria Maria). I really miss music. So...I bought a small radio for $5 at Dollar General to jam to while hiking. It turns out a lot of us miss music (and movies).

The rest of the day was mostly errands, reading at the library, and fixing my pants. The one bit of excitement came when a contingency of hikers I know arrived including Special Agent.  Special Agent and Mushroom had a deal that if they met here, Mushroom would shave his head (he's had long hair for 7 years). So, it got shaved by Brian after first being cut by someone else. Mushroom is one of the MOB Squad I have hiked with. Then Orion (MOB) got her hair trimmed as well. It was crazy! They threatened to shave mine one day soon and I promised a beating on anyone who held me down.

Damascus is a cool little town, I guess. There's not a lot to it, but everyone treats us well. It is also the home of Trail Days, a 3 day party for AT hikers with a hiker parade, speeches, free food, reunions, etc. About 5,000 hikers show up for it. I think I will wait for another year a) because I don't want to spend 4 days hitching to/from here a month from now, b) because I'll appreciate it more having done the whole trail, and c) I'm not sure I care about meeting "famous" past hikers (i.e. the oldest, first, etc.). Maybe if I'm hiking with someone at the time who has a prearranged ride I will, but even then, I'm not sure.