retail therapy on the trail

I slept peacefully and woke up to this view...

Not bad. I was finding my groove. I made breakfast and packed up. My process was getting better but I was still slower than the rest of the gang and I was the last person out of camp, except the drifter who was still inside and hadn't woken up yet (or maybe wasn't alive? I didn't check).

The next two miles were downhill and would end at Neel's Gap where the trail crosses US19 and there is a small store/outfitters called Mountain Crossings. I cannot explain to you why I so looked forward to stopping at that store. In the end, I would walk away with just a cup of coffee and a Zone Bar but when I stepped foot inside the shop - it was as if I had never experienced retail before. I looked at EVERY SINGLE THING. Twice. I inspected every souvenir t-shirt and ceramic coffee mug. I considered every item of gear they offered...the high tech rain jackets that weighed like half a marshmallow (side note: still unable to wrap my head around proper units of weight measurement, I have given up and opt to weigh things as compared to marshmallows. Also, have I mentioned my 4 pound poncho yet? Oh I will!) and the socks, oh the socks, so many beautiful, dry, perfect socks. Socks are really amazing. I never knew! Then I made it to their food supply and considered every possible mac and cheese option. I read the back of the packaging on every medication and ointment they offered. It was like I was TRYING to find some reasonable way to add something to my pack. In the end, I realized that I had everything I needed and instead began to focus on refilling my water supply and charging my personal locator device.

(This is my sock regiment. Weird toe socks and thin Smart Wool socks. I changed them at halfway point each day. No blisters - and that is important, I saw grown men reduced to a crawl because they had blisters.)

While I was charging and refilling my water from a hose on the side of the building, The Cop and The Marine arrived. The Cop is a 300lb very large guy. He immediately drops his pack and begins fishing through it for something. The Marine (his sister) is in rough shape. She is wearing what appear to be combat boots but I can't imagine that is what we are sending our troops into battle wearing. I mean, I literally just bought those same shoes for my daughter's Hip-Hop recital costume. I don't like to get political, but I think we could at least equip those men and women protecting our country with some boots that utilize the innovations of the last century. Anyway, she was coughing a lot and moving very slowly and otherwise making it pretty clear that she was toast. I look back at The Cop and he is positioning a My Little Pony stuffed animal on the wall of the overlook to take a photo. Apparently this is the game he and his daughter play when he is away. He snaps the photos and sends them off...his little girl will wake up to a sweet message from her dad and a little "find the pony" action.

I went back into the store to breathe in the air of civilization and feel the electric currents and managed air flows one last time. There will not be another oasis on my journey...the remainder of my hike will cross roads and even a couple of highways but never in close proximity of a convenience store or a Target (dreaming!). The husband and wife team that runs the place (and who were, on this particular day, seemingly regretting that decision) were debating the cause of the raw, blistered collarbones I had shown them. I had made it through the last day by stuffing socks under my pack straps but they were considering better options. The wife came outside with what looked like a yoga mat and a roll of duct tape. She helped me put my pack on (properly, for the first time) and then cut big chunks of the blue foam and duct taped them to my pack straps. I put the pack back on, struggling to do this in some cooler way but it still required a lot of wiggling and then rocking myself back into a standing position. There was always a moment when rocking myself upright where I could go either way. I could arrive at some standing posture OR I could roll backward onto my back and the only thing separating the two was momentum, several stablizer muscles and dumb luck. Not here, not now! I had an audience! As I stood and adjusted the full weight of the pack hit me again and I felt something new...absolute love for this woman. Honestly, she just changed my life (for the next week) and I was a new person hiking happily out of Neels Gap and heading toward Low Gap Shelter. I started the day at 29.3 miles and would be hiking to 43.2 miles on my third day on the trail.