May 16

The day of the pickup.

Today was a rather easy day on the trail. I woke up from my tent site rested and ready to go. I can't say that for the two people camped next to me. Apparently one couldn't sleep, and at 2 AM thought it appropriate to take some Benadryl... I had my stuff packed and ready to go before either showed their faces to the new day.

I had already scheduled today to be a low mileage day. Only real hilights were to be the Audie Murphy monument, the dragon's tooth, and a ride to my first zero day at Radford university to help Keeper's sister move. Turns out I had a surprise coming as well.

It wasn't but a few miles after I started that I almost fell in a creek off of a log bridge. It actually wasn't really my fault. There are two classes of bridges on the trail - those that were (over)designed by civil engineers and those that were designed by muppets using crayons and a 12 pack of PBR. This bridge fell into the second category. Whoever built the bridge used 2.5" nails to secure 2x4 planks to felled trees. I'm not a civil engineer, but I'm not a muppet either. Hindsight isn't the only thing telling me those nails were too short. Anyway, as I was walking along, the "secured" planks tilted completely off to one side attempting to jounce me and my pack right off. The bridge was rather successful in its attempt. I was only able to save myself from falling ten feet by quickly grabbing a good plank using my hand that was still over the bridge.

The rest of the day was enjoyable, but the dragon's tooth was covered in tourists. It's not a real problem; it's there for all, but it was a bit of culture shock. The day ended with beer, ice cream, and then beer and pizza at Radford. Pretty sure it was a good day. Got picked up at the gas station at Newport Road near trail mile 696.8.