Woke up with nowhere to go and all day to get there. Harper's Ferry is only about 12 miles from the trail center. At my usual speed, that's about 4 hours. Laundry would take about 2 hours. Thus, I could probably leave by 11AM and still be able to find someone willing to do it within normal business hours. Sometimes relaxed days like that are absolutely lovely. I walked with Medic pretty much the whole way from the trail center to Harper's Ferry. She had only been out a week, had blisters, and was surprisingly not adept at dealing with them. I have no idea why people even market Moleskin. Moleskin is mostly useless to prevent blisters while hiking. Duct tape works so much better. She had heard this as well, but she didn't quite get how to use it on blisters on her toes. The trick is that you want to use little strips of tape wrapped around the damaged toes. You have to make sure that the tape wraps around and ends up back on itself. It will stick to itself much better than it will stick to your skin, most of the time. When she took off her shoes there were gobs of tape wrapped around every toe. Even if she wouldn't of have had blisters, that would have hurt tremendously. If you remember, she helped me with some medication for my shin splints; this time I was able to help her.
We were lost in conversation about relationships, childhood, and exercise when we got to the part of the trail that overlooks the river flowing into Harper's Ferry. We pretty much stopped talking after that part. Somehow nothing else mattered when confronted by something so massively beautiful.
After walking across the bridge into Harper's Ferry and into the woods on the other side, we found ourselves at the ATC headquarters. I took the normal picture in front of the building and got the heck to an ice cream stand in the lower town of Harpers Ferry. Priorities, people. Homemade chocolate birthday cake never tasted soooo good. After a snack, I had to do something about my foul clothing. Luckily I found out that there was a brave and sweet woman who ran the Town's Inn. She would wash and dry a load of laundry for $5. That's a deal.
The benefit of moving slower than I had previously is that you can get caught by those who you passed before. Sometimes their people you would have loved to hike with for an extended amount of time. This was the case with a Swiss couple named Boots and Melody. They are about the coolest individuals I've met on the trail. They both teach school in a rural area of Switzerland. They also both are exceptionally good musicians. Boots plays the guitar and Melody sings. They are more excited about music than about anyone I've ever met. At one point they got off trail, rented a car, and drove 500 miles one way to go see a country concert. If you could have seen Boot's enthusiasm as he explained the performance, it would have stirred something inside even the Grinch. He was talking about goose bumps and chills. Passionate doesn't even touch the level of devotion this guy has to country music in particular. We were at dinner, he sees a guitar, picks it up without asking anybody, and starts playing. It isn't long until Melody starts singing along. This is in the middle of a restaurant with about 20 people. Some kind of moxy. The people loved it. A group of people biking the entire C&O canal were calling out requests and singing along. It was a lot of fun once I got over the awkwardness of how it started.
It turned out to be Melody's birthday. I didn't know this until well into dinner with them. At the end of the meal, I offered to pay for my half, but she declined. She said it was her treat to treat both Boots and me to dinner. It was a tradition she had. Unbelievable. Just lovely people.
Due to their playing, the C&O canal group offered to take them to their hostel. This saved them from walking 2 miles in the dark along roads. Sometimes you give and you get. I got something that night in addition to a free meal, not because I was talented but because I perhaps looked helpless.After giving Boots and Melody a ride, the coordinator for the C&O group asked me where I was sleeping that night since Boots and Melody were staying in a hostel. I think I replied something to the effect of I was just going to illegally camp in the woods of Harper's Ferry because I didn't feel compelled to spend money on a room for the four hours between the time I would go to sleep and get up for the train into DC. The coordinator, a lovely woman and mother, said "NO! I'm a mother and that just won't do. You're going to sleep in our room on the floor." Turns out the C&O people had rented out a whole bed and breakfast. It was a phenomenal help to me. For that reason and because it's fun to tell people about the trail, I entertained all their questions about the trail. I was curious about the C&O as well. Sometimes you get and give and then get more.
Awesome day!
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