Trail Days! Back in Damascus...

We are back in Damascus for Trail Days! Wedsnesday night, we stayed at Woods Hole Hostel where we slept on mattresses in a loft, showered in a solar shower, and ate some delicious salad and homemade pizza. One of the owners of the hostel offered to shuttle us from Pearisburg to Damascus. 10 miles on the trail from there to Pearisburg...so it was the perfect opportunity for slack-packing! And without a pack, of course I couldn't resist running the trail! Felt so free and fast! It was definitely a treat. Made it to Damascus where we are camped out in "Tent City," an area filled with outfitters, and hundreds of tents everywhere. Definitely an interesting, cool, crazy place...drum circles and bonfires lasting till 2 am, the occassional person running around playing a trumpet saying good morning to everyone at 7, and the many booths of FREE FOOD. People sure do love feeding hikers. We had pancakes, bagels, donuts, all from former thru-hikers who came back for Trail Days. There are tons of events planned for the entire weekend. Listened to a storytelling by a "cowboy poet" the other day at the library and heading to a contra-dance tonight (Gosh, I am experiencing culture shock in the South! Don't think the Fishkill library frequently hosts cowboy poets! and have not heard a lot about contra-dance!) This morning, we listened to a talk by Gene Epsy, the second person to ever thru-hike the trail. He said that he once went a week without seeing anyone; how times have changed! Parade today as well and a hiker talent show. And we have found our long lost friends Hobbit and Knickers--excited to hike with them again! Plan on heading out again tomorrow, onwards to Maine...great to be in town for Trail Days, but will be exciting to get back out on the trail as well. (Oh yes, and they had free showers and medical clinics at the church where they took blood samples, BMI, blood pressure---we are healthy and happy). Until the next town... T-Toe and Sparky