Day 72 -May 18 2017 – 18.5 Miles – Daleville VA to Bobblets Gap
I woke up in the middle of the night. My mouth was watery and I felt nauseous. Luckily I was able to make it to the bathroom before I threw up. I either had food poisoning or I just ate too much. Either way the money I spent at Pizza Hut went to waste. I took a hot shower to feel better and then went back to bed. Thankfully I felt better in the morning.
The trail leading out of Daleville was nice and easy. The temperature wasn’t as hot as the day before but the humidity was worse. Never the less, it felt great to be back on the trail.
At one point during the day Stoat and I crossed a small stream. The water looked inviting and our feet could use a nice cold soak. When we put our feet in the water a bunch of minnows came over to us and began nibbling on our feet. It was an odd sensation.
Towards the end of the day we crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway for the first time. The blue ridge parkway is a scenic road that parallels the AT, in varying proximities, for several hundred miles through Virginia. So far almost every time we crossed it there was a lookout nearby.
The scenery was nice but there was something about seeing it all from a road that detracted something from the overall experience.
We had about three miles left to go when Stoats leg started to hurt badly. He started to slow down, then he started to limp, then he had to stop and sit down for a few minutes. I waited with him and there was some discussion about what to do if he couldn’t go on. After a 10 to 15 minutes he felt well enough to walk again. Whatever had flared up had gone away enough for Stoat to walk again. For the final few miles we took it slow.
We went past an old retaining wall that had a hole in it near the bottom. From it emanated a cool breeze. We stood there for a moment and then hiked on.
Once we got to camp everyone agreed to hike fewer miles the next day to help to see if that would help Stoats leg pain. It was a little disconcerting that Stoats leg had begun to hurt on such an easy day. Hopefully he would feel better in the morning. All we could do was wait and see.
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2017 Thru hike 