Breakfast at the hotel and ready to go by 10:30a. Luckily an Uber driver showed up as available right away. We got into town near Ming’s, an all-you-can-eat buffet with sushi rolls! They had a koi pond – a living reminder of the seafood in those rolls.  When they sat us down, they put us way in the back in a separate room. At first we thought it was kind of weird, then more hikers were sat there and again and again. We quickly realized this was the hiker room. They segregated us! I had heard of restaurants doing it, but hadn’t experienced it myself until now. I was a bit taken aback and would have considered leaving, except I was hungry and it was all-you-can-eat.

 

 

After lunch we Ubered out to catch the new Wonder Woman movie. It was a nice taste of normal life. We got a little bit in trouble with the rest of the tramily because we weren’t clear that we were going to see it and they really wanted to join. I felt bad. It will become a teasing joke after this, but until then, we felt bad. After the movie we decided to walk to a couple of stores. On the way there it started to rain. We were absolutely soaked. Our shoes squeaked on the store floors from the puddles in our shoes. Finally the weather broke and we headed back to the hotel. On the way, we stopped by the Chick-Fil-A for dinner. Warthog was excited, it was his first time there. “Hey Mikey, he likes it” and I liked the bag of six cookies I took home.

 

As we started back to the hotel, a car stopped to ask if we needed a ride. We gratefully jumped in. I know that sounds absurd, but you can get a good feel for the weirdos pretty quickly. This guy was normal. It wasn’t a long ride, but long enough to find out the driver hiked the AT and lives in the area. He told us that his most favorite states were New Hampshire and Maine. I have been excited to get to those states and I’m even more so now.

 

Atlas and Lotus stayed at the bookstore until they closed. Warthog and I got to catch up with family while they were out. Wonder Woman, Snow Monkey, and Kirby arrived into town but were staying downtown, too far to walk. We would have to Uber to see them. They had errands to run like we did, so we planned to meet up at the trail tomorrow.

 

Earlier today, Warthog saw on Facebook that people were talking about a thru-hiker who had been arrested in town yesterday. Turns out we know him. I won’t write his name here. However, I will share the story. Waynesboro allows hikers to stay in the park for free. Apparently this guy and some others were there drinking all day. When they started to get in a physical fight, other hikers called the cops. When the cops arrived, they asked about the beer and steaks being consumed. There was a robbery at the grocery store that morning of steaks and beer. Guess who took them… day drinking guy. Well, he went to jail and his two dogs went to Animal Control. Later, the girlfriend went and picked up the dogs. The Facebook group blew up. Some people said they couldn’t have been hikers, they must have been homeless people. But the reality is, they were hikers, and it makes all of us angry. Especially because these towns open up their doors to us. We are already dirty and stinky, let’s not also add ‘criminal’ to the list. Most thru-hikers are respectful. However it is undeniable that there are some who are not. Lucky for the rest of us, these towns tend not to hold the actions of a few against the majority. The day after the robbery was when Warthog and I resupplied at the grocery store that had been robbed by the hiker. We were obviously thru-hikers, but we were never treated as if we were suspicious or were given the impression that we were unwelcomed. I am thankful for the patience and understanding from a town that sees countless hikers each season… the good ones and the bad. Without these towns, the trail would be immensely more difficult. As a thru-hiker, we have a responsibility to treat these towns with respect.

 

-ansel