April 29, 1997 (Day 41 – milepoint 450.3 – Damascus, VA)

The 26-mile day into Damascus… Lastnight Easy Chair thought it would be great idea for us to start hiking at 1:00 in the morning so we could make it to town for lunch. When his alarm went off at 12:30 am, it was raining, thundering, and lightning-ing.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I declared. Easy Chair replied with a grunt and that was that.

The marathon got started at a more reasonable 6 am just before sunrise. The rain has stopped, the skies cleared, and I felt great until we crossed the Tennessee-Virginia line at mile 22 for the day. “Agony of da-feet!” Had I not been so close to town, I would have stopped and pitched my tent, but I kept seeing cheeseburgers on the trail in front of me and french fries hanging from tree branches, so I kept going.

What is it called when you’re limping on both feet at the same time? I don’t think you can call it ‘limping’ anymore. “Hobbling,” I think, better describes what it felt like. So I hobbled into town around 6:00 pm vaguely in sight of Easy Chair making a b-line for the hiker-hostel in town called, “The Place.” Found a bunk, laid down, and shivered from exhaustion.

After a long, hot shower, I’m feeling a little better and ready to turn my cheeseburger hallucination into a reality.

Aquaholic

April 29, 2009

Hey Aquaholic,

Funny thing, being a man…
More on “being a man” tomorrow. Here’s a funny thing:

O’