Eating with Moses

We went out to a great breakfast with Swamprat and Dania at Ms. Martha's in Staunton, a place that had been voted as best breakfast in Southern Living - always a good thing. We were not disappointed! They then took us back to the trail, and they made a plan to new us again Tuesday. It was so awesome to finally meet Dania. She is a sweetheart, and we can't wait until we get to spend more time with her.
We knew we had a really hard day ahead of us - two really long climbs - and in the heat. First was Priest Mountain. Luckily, as we climbed it, we met Lone Star, from San Antonio, who had the gift of gab. He made Talks a Lot look like an amateur! We enjoyed his stories. He had ridden his bike from his home to Ground Zero several years ago. He made the Priest go by fast. Soon there were trail runners heading south who passed by us, telling us there was trail magic at the bottom. Always good news!
We reached the bottom, to find Moses (2011) with a grill in the back of his truck, cooking burgers, brats and dogs for the thru-hikers. His wife was helping to serve. They had chips, drinks, and coolers of candy, fruit cups and home made fudge. There was also a swimming area right there under a suspension bridge over the Tye River, so after we ate, we took a dip to cool off before climbing Three Ridges.
At an overlook on Three Ridges, we met a Ridgerunner named Regina, and enjoyed talking with her. We hiked on to Hanging Rock overlook, and really enjoyed sitting there for a long time, and having that tough climb behind us. We stayed that night with Lone Star at a really nice campsite near the Mauldin Field Shelter.




























- Steady and F100