May 8th: A Night at the Big Island, VA Post Office

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Nice night of rest, I guess. CC picked the tent spot for last night. "The dry leaves will make a soft bed" but the humped ground they hid made rough sleeping. We both fought sliding one direction or the other all night. The good thing was the temp was comfortable all night long.
We ate cold cereal and a Pop Tart for breakfast. One of the guys there had extra hot water and coffee, so I took a cup of his Joe. We were out of camp by 8:45AM. The plan was to only do 8.8 miles to the next shelter and hold up there until morning tomorrow and then hit town for a re-supply box. We made great time and decided to press the extra 1.7 miles to the road and hitch a ride to the Post Office. We made the road by 3PM giving us 2 hours to make the 5.5 mile trip into town. Other hikers who had made the trip before us said the hitch was easy. We sat for 30 minutes with our thumb out before a young man stopped to give us the lift into town.
Made the PO in time, however my daughter misunderstood when we would be here and the box was just mailed yesterday! So here we sit, on a grassy area behind the PO praying our box gets here in the morning.
The days walk was not bad at all. It was up out of the shelter to 3,372' on top of Bluff Mtn and a spectacular view, maybe 100 miles to the north and west. Dropped into Saltdog Gap at 2,575' some "PUDS" to Saddle Gap at 2,590' then one last climb up Big Rocky Row to 2,992'. The rest was down hill to US501 and the ride into town.
We have been watching the Mountain Laural for the past week in stages of budding as we walked up and down the VA mountains. Today we were blessed with those flowers in all their glory along with sweet smelling Lillys of The Valley.
We had more "Trail Magic" tonight. The woman who runs the Post Office ran CC 2 miles to the store and back for a few things. We had talked with a lady outside the PO earlier about the trail and her teenaged daughter's desire to attempt the AT. Her and her daughter came by our "Camp" behind the PO just now with a bag of goodies! The store where CC had gone was just a "Quick Stop" without real groceries. She did get some water and other essential items, but no real food. Our "Trail Angels" brought us some fresh fruit and muffins for breakfast. They also had a small ice cream dish for each of us. We talked about the trail and gave the young lady this web page address. To her and her Mom a special "Thank You." This has made the time we have to spend here in Big Island, VA. much more enjoyable.
So we had a 10.5 mile day and are camped on a very level lawn behind the Big Island, VA. PO all the way down to 735'. When we leave here it is back to the mountains and a camp at about 2,300'. Our next stop where we can Email out our Journal will be 5 - 6 days in Daleville, VA.
Patrick, Deborah Mooney aka OD & CC
All Who Wander Are Not Lost

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