April 19 / 20

It rained and rained all day and all night.  A hard, steady, relentless rain.  There's flooding throughout the counties.  Schools have been canceled.  Hiking the trail has halted.  I have taken shelter in a hostel at Laurel Creek.  It's free to stay here and I have the place to myself, right now anyway.  The hostel is a homemade cabin with many leaks in the tarp roof but I've found a dry section to sleep in.  Mountain Mike, the guy running the place, let me use a cot to sleep on which is much better than sleeping on the floor. I'm at mile 581. 

4 / 20  I awoke to partly cloudy skies with thankfully no rain.  Started hiking at 7: 30.  The trail is washed out in several locations.   So far so good.  I'm at I-77 about to cross over it.  Just stopped for a lunch break.  Yum....Slim Jims, beef stick, pistachios, cheese, dried fruit, and a Pay Day bar which I've taken a liking to.  Washed it all down with Propel Kiwi Strawberry flavored water.  Yes indeed!

I've mentioned it before but my am / fm radio has been great.  Around these parts, in southwestern Virginia fm 93.9 or fm 94 country as it's  called, rules the airwaves.  They have 100,000 watts of power and has been the only station that I can pick up clearly in the mountains.  So I've been listening to a lot of Riba, Garth, Hank, Willie, Waylen, Dolly, Conway, George, and all the other country music singers.  Hell I believe I'm turning country!  A couple of days ago they featured the Bristol Motor  Speedway race so I had to listen to that for a few hours.  Bristol  Speedway and NASCAR is a church, or the gospel in these here parts my friends. 

The bugs know it's spring.  The biting flies are the worst.  I've had to use my head netting several times for protection, but my legs are exposed to the blood suckers.  I saw my first snake today as well.  Not sure about the genus or species.  Solid black and non venomous or so I was told.  

Staying at the Jenny Knob Shelter tonight with a section hiker.  It's  just the two of us.  Nice to have lots of room to move about.  I managed to hike another 20 miles yesterday.  I'm right at or just crossed the 600 mile mark 👌.