April 29 & 30 - 20.4 / 616.0 & 10.9 / 626.9

Today, I decided the trail is much like faith. I know the path to take, but I am having to trust that it is steering me in the right direction. I am told (or can read in my Hikers Companion) that a town may be so many days away. I can only trust that, that is true. Also, I follow blazes that are painted on trees, bridges, street signs, etc. God shows us signs but we might not always see them. They are there though. We might even have to turn around to see them too. Sometimes we make our journey in faith alone and sometimes we walk along with other people. The same is true with the trail.

Again, VA went back to rocks today. Overall, there wasn't much elevation change except for a 2,000 foot climb near the end of the day. For breakfast/lunch, SR, TW, and I walked to a gas station grocery about a half mile off the trail. I got a cheeseburger and cajun fries. I also got a Boone's Farm to drink. I don't know really why I bought it other than saying it was an impulse buy or really a joke thing to do. After eating, I kinda wished I would have hiked on instead of stopping. I would much rather hike more in the morning before stopping to eat. It makes the afternoons better.

This was the first day that seemed like it really dragged on while hiking. Eventually, I was able to make it to a road crossing that took me to Woods Hole Hostel. The hostel is ran my a couple name Neville and Michael. My friend Stuart's, aka Sleepy Pizza from earlier blogs, is family friends with Neville's family. Tweedie Griswold actually knew Neville's grandmother who along with Neville's grandfather came up with the idea to start the hostel years ago. Neville's grandfather suddenly passed away in his sleep before the idea was finalized. The grandmother tried to get everything going, but passed away in 2007. That is when Neville asked her mom to inherit the property and make the hostel dream come true. Neville and Michael were two very extraordinary people. They would do anything for the hikers.

Last night, I was able to get there before dinner so I decided to join in. They try to use items from their own garden or from neighbors. For dinner we had a salad and homemade breadsticks. I know most of the stuff in the salad was grown by them. We also had homemade crutons and dressings. One of the dressings was a honey vinaigrette made with the honey from their own bees. The main course was a calzone filled with spinach, cheese, and pepperoni. The pepperoni was made from a combination of deer and a pig which they slaughtered. Homemade butter pecan and cookies n' cream ice cream was for dessert. The other hikers who did not pay for dinner all came inside for ice cream.

For breakfast we all woke up to a triangle being rang. That meant that coffee and tea was ready. The coffee is grown and roasted by them too. The meal was eggs, grits, sausage, fried bananas, and biscuits. It was incredible. They also had local jellies and jams. One of the jellies was a spicy jelly made by a local Amish family. TW, SW, and I spent the rest of the morning slowly getting ready to hike. None of us wanted to leave but knew we had to. Don't worry, I will return to their place in the future and just spend a weekend with them. I recommend anyone around Pearisburg, VA to go spent a weekend with them. They rent out rooms in their cabin to anyone. Trust me, it would be worth it.

Eventually, the three of us got a hitch from Neville back to the trail. We hiked the 10 miles into Pearisburg. While here we did laundry and resupplied. I bought way too much food. I think this is this most my pack has weighed.

Tonight we hiked about a half mile out of town. We found a flat spot just right off the trail and set camp up. We wanted to get out of town by 5, but didn't leave until 7:45ish. We are maybe 50 yards from a train track and three trains have already gone by. It might be a long night.

BT