[at-l] SOBO and coffee too

[Charles W. Davidson]

HI Gang,

           Woodelf picked me up at the Tye River (VA) and brought me 
home Saturday. We will have our family get together this week.
            I will be checking with work to find out what the status of 
my volunteer layoff will be into next year. Then I can make plans on how 
best to continue my hike. There is a possibility that they will only 
give me another month. If thats the case I will either flip  flop to GA 
and head north or skip down and continue south to Springer. This would 
leave a gap here in VA where I can more easily finish on weekends.
            Here lately I have enjoyed a pint of strong coffee every 
morning about 5:00am. I pour boiling water into a pint nalgene bottle 
which contains three heaping spoons full of ground coffee. After a 
couple of minuets I add a dash of cold water to the mix. This causes the 
grounds to drop to the bottom of the nalgene. I pour the mixture into my 
cup using a little strainer to make it even more pleasant to drink.  I 
still make those coffee chews from Folgers tea bag things. They are nice 
at work or anywhere a cup is not handy.  Tear the bag in half, cut the 
string in half, dump some of the coffee so that you can tie off the bag 
halfs with a piece of the string. A real thru hiker should just use the 
whole bag at once :-)
            So far my lowest temperature was on Three ridges at 12* and 
very windy Thursday night. The Shenandoah really got trashed from the 
ice storm and wind storm that followed a week or so later. Work crews 
are out removing the Hugh piles of debris in the trail. 4 to 6 inches of 
ice will break a lot of tree tops! I simply walked the Skyline Drive 
which was closed to cars anyway. Sobo's in Waynesboro was me, Jaybird 
at98, yo yo 05, yo yo 06, Combat from Texas who was gearing up for the 
cold. Wrongway stopped in, he had just finished on the 29th. BP, 
Sundown, Easy Feeling are back there somewhere. Havent seen Early riser 
but twice, on Katahdin and at VT 9.
           The miles have been coming fairly easy for me, but they do 
take there toll. I find I need a couple of days off every 100 mile to 
recuperate lol. I am anxious to get work from work so I can gear up and 
go. I may switch to a larger pack before heading out again.
           


chase