Day 76

As sad as we were to leave Snow’s house in the rain, the hike had to continue! Snow told us he’s drop us off at the Mid Atlantic’s ATC office downtown so we didn’t have to start walking in the rain quite so early! After thanking him profusely for his generosity, we were on our way! Our first 14 miles today were going to be through private farmland meaning one big thing in the rain - long, wet grass! Our feet were soaked nearly immediately and the tree cover was sparse, so we were soaked to the bone in less than 20 minutes. However, we were happy that it was raining rather than sunny so we wouldn’t burn up in the sun! Our first four miles went by in less than an hour and 10 minutes. We walked past a gorgeous old stone farm house with an overgrown, neglected family cemetery on the property and came to the I-67 overpass and then the route 11 overpass. It was 11:30 now and we were not only soaked (the rain came down harder and steadier now), but we were getting cold since it was only about 65 degrees and the wind was blowing. We checked our book and remembered Snow telling us there was a great 24-hour cheap diner just past route 11. We saw a note on the overpass from HB saying that the diner wasn’t far and that the food was good, so we decided to go get some coffee and a cheap lunch. When we got to the diner we texted Flash and he said he was going to hike on, so it was just Nokey and me. We checked the weather and it called for severe afternoon storms with hail. We decided to head next door to the Days Inn and get a room. I didn’t feel so bad about this decision given that we were freezing and soaked. We took hot showers and watched TV, made phone calls, and got some rest for hiking the next day. I don’t have photos today since it was pouring rain the whole time and it was too chilly to stop :)