Miles Hiked: 0
Miles Left: 1404.5
Ending Location: Mile 780.8, Town shelter in Glasgow VA

The day started with the fire chief stopping by the shelter and telling us if any tornados developed that we were welcome to take cover in the fire house. The weather report was bad but after that we all decided a zero day was in order. The only problem, what’s there to do in Glasgow?

Well first, let me back up. The night before had been rough. Two of the people staying in the shelter had become violently ill to the point where they were puking off the bunk beds. As someone who had been trying to avoid getting sick, you just had to fatalistically accept the Noro train was coming and had no breaks at that point. That morning we moved our stuff and a local trail runner was dousing everything in bleach but riding out the rainstorm in the shelter had very limited appeal.

So we needed a place which hopefully wouldn’t kick a bunch of smelly hikers out after a couple hours and preferably had bathrooms and power. Public libraries to the rescue! Plus there were books there!

We stayed there from opening to closing and the library staff was very understanding and patient with us. It actually was one of the most enjoyable pure zero days I’ve had as I was able to update my journal, recharge my phone, read, and just relax. Still, I felt guilty being so grubby and more excited about the flush toilets than the recommended reading list.

Dinner was once again at the pizza place where I had an excellent calzone. The field where the shelter was had turned into a swamp which ruled out camping so I crawled into my bunk for the night and used lots of hand sanitizer.

My favorite part is that the cover story was “How to Walk off 10 Pounds”

Classy Reading