Miles today: 18.4
Total miles: 1648.2
We had a formidable task ahead of us today: 14 miles away was the town of Atkins, where there was a restaurant serving a 16 ounce hiker burger. Our goal was to get there for lunch and show that burger who’s boss.
We were so determined to get to Atkins that we only took one quick five minute break in those fourteen miles. It did help that it was misty/raining and cold, so we were not too inclined to stop. We got to Atkins by about 1pm and entered the no frills truck-stop type restaurant and ordered our giant burgers. Both Delta and I had no problem finishing our burgers and fries. Delta even got a BLT after finishing his. Over lunch, we talked about the next day–we had planned to go into a town with a grocery store to resupply, but if we did that it may cut our day super short to 7 miles with all the time it takes to get into and out of town with hitching, etc. I suggested that we resupply at a gas station down the street in Atkins and then be able to do a full day tomorrow and get to Damascus, VA sooner. We already are planning to take a zero in Damascus, so I wanted to get there as soon as possible–it’s about three or four days away. Delta really wanted to go into the next town to get fast food, but ended up agreeing it wasn’t worth cutting our day short.
So after lunch, we headed to the gas station down the street and did the dreaded gas station resupply. Resupplying at gas stations suck because the selection is terrible and it’s always overpriced. But it was only 3-4 days worth of food, so it could have been worse had we needed more food than that. After buying our food, we very reluctantly headed back out into the frigid air for the final 4.5 miles of the day. The miles flew by and we got to the shelter super quick. We passed a neat old schoolhouse on the way, which was fun to look inside.
I knew Cerveza and Milkrun were behind us and I was dreading that they’d get to the shelter just in time to wake me up again. Luckily, they showed up after dark, but early enough that I was still awake. It was nice to finally be able to enjoy their company rather than be annoyed at their late arrival. I also had just finished Catcher in the Rye so I was bored with nothing to read and grateful to chat with them before bed.