Saturday, May 24, 2014

The one where I earn my name

(This post only covers to the night of 5/9. Yeah, I know its really late. I wrote 95% of it more than a week ago...)

I haven't talked about my name since I got it on the blog yet. So I'll explain it the way I do when I'm meeting a hiker. (They'll be called A)

A: So what're your names?
Spyro: I'm Spyro.
Me: I'm Pussel-gut.
A: Apostle-what?
Me: No, Pussel-gut.
A: Oh, Pussel-gut. That's a unique name. Where'd you get that one?
Me: A waitress gave it to me in...
Spyro (he has this down really well): Franklin.
Me: We were eating at a...
Spyro: Shoney's.
(At this point Spyro starts talking to someone else.)
Me: And we had just given our order, when the waitress comes up to me and says, "I have a name for people like you. Pussel-gut."
A: That's weird. Why did she say that?
Me: Yeah, it turns out it was for drinking too much sweet tea.

(There are two endings here, one from before I figured out what it meant, and one after.)
Before::
Me: I tried to look it up, but couldn't find anything about it online.

After (its a word as pussle-gut)::
Me: I found it in the dictionary of American Regional English. Its a southern regionalism that means potbelly.
A: But you don't look that fat.
Me: Not now, but I assume its because I have a pussle-gut when I leave town.
(A gives a courtesy chuckle. Topic of conversation changes.)

When I left off last, we were in Damascus. We've had some fun since then. We started by putting in some big miles until I complained. Then we put in a 7 mile day after resupplying in Merion. Thats when I met Mio, Tandem, and Buzz. (Spyro met them the night before, when I went to bed early because my feet hurt.)

We saw that someone had been keeping score for a game of Kanasta (sp?) in the log, and 10 mins later Spyro was explaining the rules as we started playing. And I started getting bad sleep. We played 3 nights to finish a game. (IMHO it gets worse the closer one team is to winning.) Then we branched out, playing Yuker (sp?) and Cut and Burn (I do know how to spell that one)

Then we realized that our schedules were diverging. The 3 of them were planning on a shorter day to get to Woods Hole Hostel, which me and Spyro skipped. We celebrated the night by packing out a six pack of Devil's Backbone, and 18 pounders of Bud Light. Upon arriving at the shelter we (obviously) made friends, and Skittles showed us how to play Pass the Pig (not a card game). Then Buzz and Tandem wrecked me and Spyro at Spades, despite Spyro going low blind while also I made my bid of 5 exactly. (That was our only good round.) Afterwards I taught the group President (/ Asshole), which we played until the beers ran out around 11. (Which is really late, by the way.)

We went straight from there to Pearisburg, where I decided to go to sleep early and take care of things in the morning, after eating at an all-you-can-eat Chinese place. After I got into my bed at 8, I realized that I had lost the ability to sleep while a TV was on, and stayed up until the end of whatever baseball game was being watched, at 11.

Which meant another bad night of sleep, and getting out of Pearisburg around 1. Which put us in an interesting spot, since we planned to make 19 miles that day. We did anyway, eating lunch at 4:30 and night hiking for a little under an hour. The moths really bothered me, though. I killed 94 and 95 with Callandor.

Oh wait, that probably made no sense. My old walking stick (unnamed) was broken when it ran into some inclement weather (ie, Boy Scouts). I picked up a new one, and called it Callandor, since it looks sword-like with the guard, and keeping with the WoT and going crazy themes. I'm also keeping a count of the insects I kill, for no real reason. It was slow going at first, but now I'm killing between 3 and 10 a day. They are also doing a pretty good job fighting back. I'm covered in bites.

Oh, and of course I got to bed around 10:30 after my night hike. The next night I got some good sleep, though. I hiked with Gazelle a good bit, and we talked about nothing for hours. It was fun, sonething I hadn't done in a while.

And then we got some great views. The Dragon's Fang (I mean, Dragon's Tooth), McAfee Knob, and the Tinker's Cliffs were all great, though slightly rocky. Coming down from Dragon's Tooth was the worst.

And then we were in Catawba, where the Homeplace is, a all-you-can-eat family style restaurant (not buffet). It was great, and so much BBQ pulled pork. I of course ate faster than Spyro until near the end where I was full and he kept going a little. After that we managed to waddle a mile down the trail to a shelter.

And the next day we got into Daleville, and ate at a BBQ place, where I again got pulled pork. So much good. I had some trouble finishing the sweet potato fries at the end, but I managed. I did not manage to finish the banana pudding that thru-hikers get for free, though.

In Daleville we made sure to get our errands done at night, and we stealth camped pretty close to town. (Stealth camping is camping not at a designated campsite. Its allowed on most sections of the trail.) Gazelle and DaVinci were there with us.

Our next stop is Buena Vista, and we have Trail Days next weekend!

Pussel-gut

No comments:

Post a Comment