[at-l] PA hike / Tdays

[wb4pan at mindspring.com (Chase Davidson)]

HI Gang,

	It was nice to see ya'll at Trail Days! Sunday I walked to Eagles 
Nest Shelter from Port Clinton. That evening I met Restless AT 2001. 
Restless lives near there and was out for a week hike also. Monday we 
walked to William Penn Shelter. Rainman also a section hiker joined us 
for the night. A Thru-hiker came in later after a 31 mile day!
	Tuesday I camped just north of 325 in Clark Valley. I was surprised 
to run into Flick near Rausch shelter. Flick lives not to far away 
from my home and is Thru hiking this year. I met him and some others 
at Kincora when Woodelf and I did a hike there recently.
	The following day I ran into Pop Tart. She was also at Kincora the 
weekend we met POG who gave a free hot dog dinner at the Hostel a few 
weeks back.
	I checked in to the Doyle Hotel for the night. I walked in the Bar to 
make the room arraignments. It must have been 85* in there. Well it 
seemed like it anyway. I had been walking in windy cool conditions, 
humping it to stay warm. I had to go back outside and get some 
cigarette free air and kind of get used to the inside slowly. You know 
the Doyle is one of the original Anhouser Bush Hotels. I am not sure 
what that means but I heard and read it a lot LOL! I do know that it 
is a smokers paradise. There is a stinking ash tray at arms reach ... 
everywhere. Cigarette smoke permeates the place day and night. The 
coughing and hacking in the background... On the other hand it was 
cheap, adventure sleeping I guess. Great food at the bar. DSL internet 
  service for $2. @ half hour at the bar. Owners Pat and Vicki where 
nice, even gave me a free ride to the drug store. I had more 
cigarettes for breakfast at Jodi's dinner across the road. Next time I 
think I will wash my cloths on the way out of town as some Thru hiker 
suggested.
	5-22-03 I came off the trail at highway 11 at checked in the Super 8 
motel. I almost ate the whole thing. A Large the works pizza I ordered 
from Carlisle. I enjoyed the History Channel and stayed up till 10:00. 
I did not leave the next day till 9:00. All week the called for rain. 
The only rain I had was the night I tented near 325. The mornings were 
cool and i pushed for mileage before midday. Then slowed a bit in the 
afternoons. Still I pushed to hard and got a couple of nice blisters. 
I hadn't seen blisters in a while!
	So this morning I decide that I better wash my spare socks. The socks 
had Band-Aid blister goo stuck and dried into place. With Rain 
predicted I might need that second pair of socks. And I need them 
nice and soft. So I washed one pair of socks. $2 for the washer, .50 
for soap and another .50 for the dryer. So I left there at nine.
	Today is Saturday and I continue my walk across the Cumberland 
Valley. Occasionally mud and mostly large flat fields. I went into 
Darlington Shelter to reminisce about hiking the Tuscarora Trail it 
begins near there. I met Dimples there (from the Kincora bunch). When 
I left Darlington I headed north on the AT. Later I came up on this 
rusty corn harvesting machine setting beside the trail. It was just 
like the one I saw earlier today. In fact it was the same one. Ya I 
went the wrong way again. It took me a half hour to get back to 
Darlington and continue my hike south. I got real close to a red fox 
in one of the fields.
	I gave up on making it to Iron Masters for the night and pulled into 
Tagg Runn shelter instead. Returning from the short hike to the nice 
spring Butter Cup (formerly Red) was there. She was doing big miles, 
24 today and planned 28 tomorrow.
	Sunday I did the short hike to Iron Masters. It rained and misted 
some off and on today. Shawn was not at the Hostel. Instead there was 
some folks there filling in for him while he was on vacation 
Washington. We might end up with a new Inn Keeper if he takes a job on 
the west coast.
	I wish I had known the location of some of our ATL thru hikers. I 
could have ducked into the Shenandoah for some trail magic on my way 
home. Now I have two gaps in my second section hike. MD and WV so I 
hope to hike those two states on long weekends this year. Anyone in 
the area for a hike or a shuttle? :-)
	Oh yea, pictures. Well I left my extra memory in the car so I only 
took 40 or so. In fact some of them where from a side trip to Trail 
Days. Next time you are near Damascus drive to Saltville to the 
museum. Most of the table salt in the area and NC comes from salt 
wells in Saltville. Also they had Dinosaurs. I never realized that we 
had any skeletons dug up in Virginia. They have a Woolly Mammoth on 
display dug up right there in the area. Lots of other neat stuff too. 
A nice museum trip.

chase