You might wonder how in the world I ever got to have that milkshake after Paul was so determined to march on and not stop in Glasgow (Virginia, not Scotland!) . It was the weather forecast....it was full of rain and misery and after that night on the mountain with campers everywhere all around us, Paul was ready to come off the trail.
We actually had one more night on the trail before we could get to the campground. We were heading to the biggest shelter anyone had heard of. It was supposed to be a 2 story building that could sleep over 8 campers. We hustled as much as we could in the hot humid weather to get there in time to maybe get a real place to sleep. By this point, it was starting to be a lot less fun, and Paul was starting to wonder if this was the worst trip ever, or if it was merely the second worst trip. While he was working on that puzzle, I was telling myself, "only one more day to a burger, a shake and a shower". We ended up at the Bryant shelter right before dark, and it was full of people, but somehow they made room for us. Yes, Popeye was there ahead of us. A big family was there as well. Somehow they had hiked in with 4 young kids. There was a couple young hipster guys, and two women that I figured were together as a couple but were having some kind of fight. I never quite solved that one, but the younger one and I talked a bit. She was a firefighter from St. Cloud, Florida and pretty much gave me the impression that if there was any sexual harassment at her job, she took care of it personally. Even though that place was way overcrowded, it was fun and we were happy, because by dinnertime, it was pouring down rain and we were dry. A funny side note, the outhouse didn't have a door on it, so while on any trip to the bathroom, I made sure that I made a lot of noise before I went walking up to it. And, I made a lot of noise while I was in it as well.
After Pam, sending me so many text messages about ticks in the woods, I was pretty sure I had one on me, and was already sure I had contracted Lyme disease. The firewoman took a look at the spot on my leg and told me to just yank it out, making sure I got the head. At least I didn't pass out while doing that.
I lay awake all that night, feeling little crawly things on my skin. We were packed like sardines on the raised platform of the first floor of the shelter, with Firewoman on one side and her friend on the other. They never said one word to each other the whole time that I was there. I actually was hoping I didn't start snoring or doing anything else embarrassing while there. You'd think I would have slept better because of the dryness and safety of the group, but the youngsters decided to stay up late playing with flashlights on the second floor and every once in a while, I'd get a beam right in the eyeballs. Another strange thing with the rain that night was that I would get hot, take the blanket off, and then get cold, while remaining sticky the whole time.
When the morning finally rolled around. I was ready to go. We had been hearing stories from everyone about this awesome campground, their cabins, and short order food. I found their phone number and Paul had enough signal to call them and make a reservation for lunchtime pickup.
The day was looking up, and I was just having my first cup of coffee. All we had to do was to get down that mountain in two hours...
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