Day 20 and 21

I woke up miserable and didn’t sleep well. I was sitting in the tent bored and trying to see if I should just pack up and go even though I knew more rain was coming. I got restless enough to not even care. I just packed up and headed out. I knew that I was only 10 miles to a hotel.

6 miles later and I’m still pissed. I was cussing and fighting the wind all day. Not enough sleep was really beating down my will to go on. I came close to sticking my thumb up for a ride. I had to keep telling myself to just keep going. I was just tired and hungry and had lost site of everything. I just felt stupid for being out there. It was very out of character for me as I can usually find something positive to motivate me. This time I just wanted to stop and scream. In fact I did that. A few times. Domino was scared. I had to say sorry and that I wasn’t yelling at her.

As I was about 3.5 miles away and SUV pulled over and my first thought was should I ask for a ride. I soon recognized the vehicle and Chris from 2 or 3 days before hops out. Man was I happy to see him. He was the man who really cheered me up the last time from the same bad mood that I was in. He asked if I wanted a ride. Haha

I had to decline. I knew that I could and should just tough it out and keep walking. He gave me a CB radio and another awesome gift. The radio is great to have. I can use it in emergencies when I don’t have cell service. I know my mom will be very happy about that. He showed me how to use it and told me the emergency channel. This guy saved me. I immediately cheered up when I saw him. It brought my spirits back up. We said goodbye and he gave me his number in case I needed anything else. Just amazing!

I roll on and am still battling the wind but I had my positivity back this time. Nothing was going to stop me from getting to Thomas WV and inside of a hotel for some much needed R&R. Two cars pull up as I am about a half a mile away. They saw me and just wanted to make sure that it wasn’t a baby in my stroller haha. I told them about what I was doing and they gave me some snacks and told me about a better place to look for a room than the hotel I had in mind.

I called the Purple Fiddle, a restaurant with live mountain music and a hostel for travelers. This is the place that the nice people told me about. They said they would take me and Domino and we headed there and checked in. I got situated and then headed over to the restaurant for a meal. The people who had stopped on the road were there and bought my meal and gave some more money for dinner the next night. All of the struggles I’d gone through to get here were washed away. I was looking forward to the live music that night.

After I ate I took a stroll around Thomas WV. Don’t blink. You’ll miss it. It was a very neat town. Used to be along a railroad and was a coal-mining town. Now a tourist destination for skiers in nearby Davis, WV. I saw an interesting shop. I walked in and a beautiful woman welcomed me in and showed me around. I told her about the walk and talked with her and her grandmother about it. She gave me some gifts from the shop and told me about some things to do while I was in town.

I get back to my room and I laid down and napped a little. I didn’t want to go all the way to sleep so I hopped up and headed to the restaurant where the music was getting ready to start. I met some locals and the band and Lynea. A pretty girl who offered to help me with anything while I was in town. She also told me that she had a boyfriend that is out of state in the military. I wasn’t even thinking about her hitting on me or me hitting on her. I thought it was funny yet smart of her to mention that. I asked for a ride to the grocery store the next day and she said she’d be happy to take me. That helped me relax a little as I really needed to stock up on food for me and Domino.

The band started and they were awesome! I was so happy to be there enjoying live music. I’m not cut out to live in these small mountain towns but they sure are fun to visit. After the show I hung out for a while and played pool with the band. We stayed up late and I eventually made it to bed.

I felt awful in the morning. I woke up too early and needed food and ibuprofen. I did the best I could to try to go back to sleep but couldnt. My head was killing me. I finally roamed out of bed around 12 and took domino for a walk and headed back to the little shop where the owner Jarolyn had a goodie bag for me. I was telling her that I had no idea how to get out of these mountains because it was starting to get too cold to camp and I was too far from any towns on my route with hotels. She said she’d look up some places and call around.

I headed back for my room where I took a great nap that I really needed. I checked my email and Jarolyn had found a place in a town 15 miles away. It was off of my route but it was all I had to work with. I called them and booked the place and I looked up how to get there. There is a trail where the old railroad used to be that takes me basically all the way there. And it’s DOWNHILL! No traffic and beautiful views. I am looking forward to it. Although it will be in the 30s tomorrow. I’ll dress appropriately though and hopefully get there before the sun sets.

It’s snowing outside right now. I’m going to head over and listen to the band play for a while and watch the snow fall that I’ll be walking on tomorrow 🙂