Day 19

Finally approaching the windmills that I'd been looking at for 4 days

From the "top" of the mountain

Waiting out the wind and rain

Domino all snuggled up

Woke up early and packed up and ate breakfast during sunrise. I was on the road at 8 am. Great start! Today will be the day that I get over the highest point on my trip until the Rockies! I set off with confidence that I would make it. I looked at the mountain ahead and shouted, “I’m coming for you mountain!”

The first 2 hours were easy and mostly downhill. I got to the point where I could see the climb that I had to make to reach the top. I got to a resting point at the bottom of the hill and was facing my hardest challenge yet. I ate a ton of high-energy snacks and took off.

Not as easy as I thought. I had to break about 1/3 of the way up. I regained my composure and took off again. This time I played a game with the cars to take my mind off of the walking. I would try to guess how many seconds it would take the car that came into view from around the corner to pass me. I would guess and then count. I don’t know if I got any right or even got close. I can’t remember. But it did serve it’s purpose as the next thing I knew I was around the corner.

I still had a long upward way to go. A very steep grade. People passing by looked on at me in pity. I could see the top just ahead so I kept pushing and pushing. The windmills on top of the mountain that I’d seen from a distance for the last 4 days were so close now!

As I got closer I saw that there was a scenic overlook at the top that people can drive off and stop at to see the view. I figured this would be a perfect place for a victory dance! I eek on up and with a huge gasp pull Jenny to a stop and open my arms to a full Titanic, “I’m on top of the world” moment. I tried to stand up on the guard rail and totally failed and looked silly but no one saw it. I made it up the second time and yelled out shouts of joy and victory! I looked out at all the mountains that I’d crossed to get here. I had a moment to myself with Brittany. I got down and danced with Domino. She had no idea what we’d just done but I was trying to explain it. I laid down on the ground for a rest and Domino came to give me kisses and be close.

A few construction trucks pulled up to eat their lunch up there. One guy came over to make sure that I was alive. He said he saw me a few times earlier and was glad to see me there. He informed me that I still had a ways to go before I reached the top though. Waa waa waaaaah… Looks like around the corner kept going up instead of down. He was right. I kept pushing and pushing. I wanted to get to the real top so bad. That was my goal for the day and the biggest milestone yet on this entire trip.

I get to the top, again, and this time was a little less dramatic but I still looked back and said goodbye to the east coast. From the beach in Delaware to here. I put one of my cards up on a sign to claim my victory and turned around to keep going. I’m not even kidding, 5 seconds later I look up and a fighter jet is racing across the sky. The loud rumble following behind it. It was for me! I screamed, “YEAH!” I cheered for myself and for the moment. I was on cloud 9. I turn right to get to the gas station that Kevin the construction workers told me about.  As I began to see around the next corner, I realized that I was once again wrong about the highest point. I laughed it off and thought to myself, “figures.” I knew that after the gas station that I had to go over that hill though. I bought a lot of junk food and some soda. I knew that I’d be stuck in a tent for a while because a storm was coming through. I’ll get to that in a sec..

At the gas station I ate and talked to locals. I haven’t had cell reception all day so I asked questions like we used to do in the old days. I wanted to know where exactly is was and when the mountain would stop getting higher. It didn’t look promising. No one really knew. They just said it goes up and down for miles. Thanks guys…

So I set off again. This time feeling drained from all of the ups and downs (ba dump bump). I knew that once I got over this next hill that I would find a place to camp no matter what. A storm was coming soon and I wanted to take the time to set up a good enough shelter to comfortably wait it out.

I get to what i now think is the real top of the mountain and have another small moment but not getting too excited in case it wasn’t. Without Internet service I couldn’t look up my elevation profile so I really had no clue and was done trying to think I know anything about anything in these West Virginia mountains. I couldn’t find a place to camp for miles. The wind was blowing again on this side of the mountain. I was “over it” at this point. I had no choice but to keep on going though. I did see a lot of deer and turkey. That was nice. Everything else sucked.

I FINALLY found a spot to camp. It’s not completely out of site but I didn’t care at that point. I set up what I thought would hold off the wind and rain and got inside to relax. I got into some junk food and wrote this blog as domino napped. I got my Kindle out and read myself to sleep…