Cloverdale HoJos
One of the Howard Johnson rooms. D.C. gets prepped for her flight. High Spirits on the phone with family. Magoo and I went looking for food. I still had plenty of provisions in my stuffsack, and there was a Buchanan postal drop only two days' hike away.
Running into all manner of hikers here. Sole Power, Pink Panthers, Seuss, Sleddog, Slacker, Sweet Mags and Bud, Cowwalker -- maybe DelDoc and Huligan, too! The crowd that ate Troutville. Walked out of a Western Sizzlin' breakfast (pancakes and a LOT of O.J.) into a sunny cool a.m. Trail was right where I left it, and it was beautiful.
I broke out of town late morning, past the pasture along the interstate. Crossing I-81 at the exchange, over Rt 11 and the railroad tracks. Robust climb to ridgeline, five miles up to Fullhardt Knob. A heck of a challenge on a full belly. Not much of a view - a few subdivisions encroaching up the opposite hillside. The HoJos had been good to my feet, and my appetite.